Palmarin Merges: In the Studio

location, location, location

     Coming home from school everyday, I expected to have something to eat right away.  My grandfather never disappointed me - tinula (chicken soup), bindoongoo (better experienced than described, trust me), taboongao (opo squash soup with atsuete powder and pork) the list goes on!  Hence the image of the pot which is always full of food and full of memories.  

    And just because the location has changed - Portland, OR and instead of Hawaii - the full pot policy has not.  It is embedded deep in my psyche.  When we go backpacking, where we try to cut down on as much weight as possible, I make sure Matt always carries at least 5 pounds extra of food.  Shh, don’t tell him.  Because no matter where you are, especially if you’re not at HOME, food is important!  Check back next week for further developments on the HOME Series.

Wanna Play?!

As a child growing up in Honolulu, HI, the neighborhood I lived in had an ‘Open Door’ policy.  We would just walk into any house and see if there was something to eat or if there was anyone around who could play with us.  Then, “Home” meant comfort, food, playmates, and if you were naughty, ‘da slippah’, belt or extension cord. Good times. We weren’t often naughty but there was always the mango tree to escape to!

mixed media - screenprint, acrylic paint, collage

Greetings! I’ve begun work on a new series which I am currently calling ‘HOME’.   There is no statement yet, that usually happens AFTER the work is done!  But I have been thinking about what ‘HOME’ means to me.  I am constantly thinking of my childhood in Hawaii, eating, playing and also of what home means to me now.  I’ll be focusing on the HOME series until the Aug. 2009 opening so any work shown in the weekly challenges blog will be all about ‘HOME’.  ;-) Stay tuned!

 I was inspired by Stephen Hayes recent show at Elizabeth Leach Gallery and was inspried to do a Landscape.  It started out as a triptych. The left and right sides didn’t look too different, so I got rid of them.  There is no light source which makes this piece look flat and uninteresting.  It could also be the color choice.   I don’t know how to use paint very well as a tool, and you can tell.  Ah well, that is what these weekly challenges are for….practice using paint as a tool.  Onward and Upwards!

 This is the piece beginning of

This is the piece in its final state.

“From My Heart to Yours”.  At the event I added some leaves that I inked up and printed onto a yellow background.

As you can see to the right, I cleaned up the gold leaf and added some acrylic paint.  I wanted to keep the colors bright and cheery.  It is a sobering thing to see pictures of babies weighing 4lbs who’ve had major surgery and only live for a few months afterwards. I am grateful to have participated in such a worthwhile event.

The inspirations for this study are several trees with heart-shaped leaves that grow in our neighbors yard.  Also, PULSE – the Fundraising event for the Children’s Heart Foundation - is in a week and a half, so I have hearts on the brain.  

This is my home but I cannot live here.

It is a study for a painting that may be in my show next year.  In and of itself, it is a finished piece.  But it is not what I had in mind for a finished painting.  So, I will do more drawings, paintings and studies.  As a friend keeps telling me, “Onward and Upwards!”

step 2 on the way to the finished piece

I started out with a 22″ x 30″ piece of Rives BFK paper.  Here you can see the birds, ferns and circles which were screenprinted.  The blue sky was monoprinted at the Print Arts Northwest Monothon earlier this year. Other elements were drawn with india ink.  You can see in the finished piece (see blog entry entitled: The Heart is a lonely hunter) that I cut the rooster and moved it to the other side & the swifts as well. Here is the poem I wrote for it:  

The Heart is a lonely hunter 

spooked so quickly

its quarry taking wing 

while I sit in ambush . . . . . . . . . . waiting.

I’m going to be participating in PULSE, a fundraiser on NOV. 8, 2008 for the Children’s Heart Foundation and have hearts on my brain.  This piece won’t be part of the fundraiser because the works are to be created during the one-day event and I’m doing this now as my weekly challenge.  This particular piece will be in the Multnomah Arts Center Instructors Show & Concert Oct. 28 – Dec 2, 2008.  The opening will be on November 7, 2008 from 5-7pm with the Music Faculty Concert at 7:15pm.  Good Times for All!  I hope to see you there!

our hearts and roosters work at cross purposes sometimes

I need to spend more time drawing.  Enough said.  Maybe the challenge should be daily drawing weekly painting? 

plastic sheep, burning bush

I bought this brush in an antique store. I liked the feel of it in my hand and its weight.  I imagine that it had a full life with a former wallpaperer.  Or maybe not and now its lot in life is to become this week’s challenge. Paint on!

a nice sturdy little brush