Closing up my studio.... aloha nui loha

A moment with my Vampire....

I found time today to visit with my vampire.   

We are leaving Hawaii on Wednesday, so my moments in the studio are precious......

Tomorrow I have to start putting things away.... sigh......

Vampire Lady will have to wait several months to get gowned.  

I'm envisioning a cloak with the lining of mirror mosaic shards....

Inspiration.....

A friend sent me these images.  Aren't they amazing?!   They are images taken by German photographer Hans Silvester.

Roberta Smith of the New York Times wrote on September 26th, 2008

"At once revelatory and disturbing, these color photographs taken over the last five years by Hans Silvester, a German photographer, document the extraordinary body painting of the Surma and Mursi peoples of the Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia. Semi-nomadic warriors, they live primarily by keeping large herds of cattle; their only Western accessory seems to be the Kalashnikov rifles they trade with Sudanese tribes.

They paint themselves or one another two or three times a day, using pigment made from earth or ground stone mixed with water. Executed quickly, the abstract, vibrantly patterned motifs reflect a sophisticated vocabulary of mark-making, finger-painting and hand-printing techniques; they extend across faces and sometimes center on a single feature, like a breast. They function as personal decoration, cultural expression and, when ash and cattle urine are added, insect repellent. Mr. Silvester says these people's interest in their painting supersedes any in sculpture, mask making, music or dance.

Mr. Silvester's pictures are almost exclusively closely cropped views of painted torsos, which objectify the subjects and enable us to look at them without them looking back. Yet the ephemeral art we encounter is humbling; it further erodes the idea of abstraction or painting as Western forms. They become basic human traits, expressed here with a skill that accrues through daily practice from childhood on. I'm grateful to learn of their existence, but can't help wondering what, if anything, art-world attention might bring them."

Back in the studio.....

Today was all mine....mine to fill as I wish....and what I wished produced 

3 transfer painting.   They're so easy and so fun.

Ahhh.......fun feels so good.

Heavenly peace and quiet.....

..... has returned to Kawela Bay, now that the kids have flown back to their homes....

but oh, it's way too quiet and peaceful now.......

                                                                                   

Our Red Carpet Moment.....

Our Red Carpet Affair was a complete success!

Since Aidan didn't get to finish the movie in time for a screening, we went ahead with the red carpet celebration and just had a preview shown on the computer.

We laid out the red carpet ( two orange yoga mats ) and the girls put on their party dresses....with Aidan wearing her mom's prom dress.  Aidan did their makeup and hair. We all got into the fun by pretending we were the paparazzi , taking pictures and interviewing the girls and asking for their autographs. 

I found coral rocks on the beach and made necklaces for each girl awarding them the "best actress award" and for Aidan, a big rock as "best director, screenwriter, cinematographer, make up artist, costume designer, and editor."    

In the midst of all the activity.....

We've decided to add PINK to the doors and eves of the house!

Not really pink....much more ORCHID, I would say.  Orchid and periwinkle blue, with yellow window trim against a sagey green house.  It works for me!  In Hawaii you can shout your colors outloud and the flowers will nod their heads in agreement.

The production continues......

Every day the girls get into their costumes......made up of my old fabrics....silk velvets, laces, chiffon scarves, beads and shells gathered from my art room....and they go off with Aidan leading, into the banyan forest or onto the beach for the filming of her movie "Nixies".

She has realized that she won't get the film edited and ready for showing before they all leave here, so tonite the girls are all getting dressed up in fancy dresses for a "red carpet" walk and a preview of the movie.  We have made cupcakes and jiggily jello pieces and it will be an affair to remember.  Now I'm off to find something that will become the red carpet.