Emerging from a creative slump

6 05 2015

If you find yourself in a creative slump…

Please see the current Windward Artists Guild exhibition of 2D and 3D fine art at Place gallery in Honolulu. The garden setting designed by Philpotts is at once lively, soothing, tasteful, and refreshing!

I am honored that juror Jay Jensen of the Honolulu Museum of Art selected my painting to exhibit. Thank you! No one seemed to like it until now. Here is the photo DH made of my piece, and me, in the window at last night’s opening.
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Until now, Hawaiian landscapes have comprised the body of my fine art work. I made “Mango Papaya Pineapple” several years ago when the still life of tropical fruit at the studio cried, “Paint me!” And so I was inspired to drop everything and do just that. I recall completing it in one session.

Juicy colors straight out of the tube, and strong, deliberate knife strokes on the canvas. All messy with oil paint everywhere on my palette and my hands at the end. A good tired.

This reminds me of what my late teacher Gloria Foss said, “People don’t care about what you paint. They care about how you paint.”

With that memory and encouragement from an acceptance of my art work, weeks, no, months of a creative dry period just turned around. I have decided to make what’s old new again.

When you go:
Place gallery is located at 54 South School Street, Honolulu, between Pali Highway and Barron Lane. Show is open daily during daytime business hours through May 22. Art is for purchase.

Copyright 2015 Rebekah Luke





Sunny rain

14 03 2015

This is the oil I’m working on now. A tiny diptych. Two times out on location en plein air. Somewhat of a limited palette. I like the looseness of a sketch. It’s not finished. Being careful to not overwork it. Not too likely since my painting hand has limited mobility from overuse. Sunny :-). Rain :-(.

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“Sunny Rain” © 2015 Rebekah Luke

 





Artist drop-off day 2015, Punahou Carnival Art Gallery

1 02 2015

Whether you are an art buyer or art appreciator, thank you so very much for your interest and patronage!

Guests of the school’s Board of Trustees and “motivated buyers with a keen interest in fine art” get first dibs at the Punahou Carnival Art Gallery tomorrow and Tuesday at by-invitation-only previews. Others will get their turn from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6 and 7, during Carnival hours. 

Today is Artist Drop-off Day. These are my contributions to the fundraising event, perhaps the highest grossing event for the sale of fine art in Hawaii. 50% of art sales is donated for student financial aid. Come, see the originals!

Waipao, 18" x 24" oil, ©2014 Rebekah Luke

Waipao, 18″ x 24″ oil on canvas panel, © 2014 Rebekah Luke

At Anchor, Kaneohe Bay, 16" x 20" oil, © 2014 Rebekah Luke

At Anchor, Kaneohe Bay, 16″ x 20″ oil on canvas panel, © 2014 Rebekah Luke

Bayfront, 18" x 24" oil, © 2014 Rebekah Luke

Bayfront, 18″ x 24″ oil on canvas panel, © 2014 Rebekah Luke

The Carnival takes place on the Punahou School campus. The main pedestrian gate on the corner of Punahou street and Wilder avenue, Honolulu.

For my descriptions of previous year’s events, please enter Punahou Carnival in the search box in the right column.

Copyright 2015 Rebekah Luke




My Hawaiian moon

7 12 2014

O Hawaiian moon
again you call me to rise
from my deep slumber

Your December light
silver magnetic moonbeam
peaceful surrender

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Copyright 2014 Rebekah Luke




Mango season not pau

6 07 2014
Mango Collage. 22.25" x 22.25" hand-dyed tissue paper on canvas

Mango Collage, 22.25″ x 22.25″ hand-dyed tissue paper on canvas

Mangos and more mangos! I am experimenting with a different art medium — collage with hand-dyed tissue papers. Here is my third piece finished yesterday, a diptych composed of two panels. I plan to put both into one frame for the square shape shown.

The big mango tree in the corner of the studio garden cooperated this year by bearing luscious fruit that we are enjoying. We are able to pick the mangos before the cherry headed conures get to them. That and the color palette of tissue papers that I had on hand inspired the work.

Managing the thin, flimsy papers with glue, water, and X-ACTO knife is tedious work and messy. At times it is carving paper, either wet or dry, being careful not to poke a hole in the canvas! In the end, I love the effect of layering and the jewel toned quality of the finished collage.

My colleague Susan Rogers-Aregger taught me how to create with this medium. She learned it from Gloria Foss, our late oil painting instructor and mentor. Together they wrote Paper Dyeing for Collage & Crafts (Honolulu: Belknap Publishing & Design, 2004; ISBN 0-9723420-3-6).

Susan has scheduled her next paper-dyeing and collage workshops for February 2015 in Kaneohe, Oahu.

Copyright 2014 Rebekah Luke




Where I am in Hawaii today

24 06 2014

Every now and then we’re thrown a curve ball and need to perk up. So I left the studio and headed over to Ka Lahui Hawaii, a Native initiative for sovereignty, http://kalahuihawaii.wordpress.com, to offer some information to the Hawaiian community.

Representatives of U.S. Department of Interior were on island to listen to comments about whether and/or how there should be a government-to-government relationship between the U.S. and Native Hawaiian community.

I went to yesterday’s three-hour public meeting at the Hawaii State Capitol because I wanted to get up to speed about the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. I had the feeling the panel would be in for a surprise. The testimonies were emotional, for the most part saying the D.O.I.’s presence was inappropriate and unwelcome (I’m being kind here).

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The panel looked tired and sad after a while. Twenty such meetings are scheduled throughout the Islands and America. Two of my Hawaiian neighbors have asked me for a ride to Wednesday’s meeting in Kaneohe, closest to our homes. 

This morning I’m headed to Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden to create some cheerful collage art with hand-dyed tissue paper. The public is invited to watch the artists and see our exhibit in the Visitor Lecture Room showing daily, now until the end of June. The entrance is at the end of Luluku Road in Kaneohe.  This is my “Kalo.” Today I’m working on “Mango.”

"Kalo Collage," 15" x 30" hand-dyed paper on canvas. $385.

“Kalo Collage,” 15″ x 30″ hand-dyed paper on canvas.

 Copyright 2014 Rebekah Luke




Sweet memory—“Blue Koolau Mountains”

25 05 2014
Blue Koolau Mountains by Rebekah Luke

“Blue Koolau Mountains” by Rebekah Luke. The study of shapes and values and their relationship is what makes this oil sketch abstract.

The afternoon of day 2 of the Native Hawaiian Arts Market in Honolulu. Many visitors to the Bishop Museum have stopped by the display of my landscape paintings and admired them, but no sales. The sky is threatening thunder showers, and DH who is my “easel” is hinting to pack up.

My things are high-priced items for the average craft fair, so I don’t expect any volume. If I make one sale, it is a good day. I make up my mind that the next person who stops will go away with a new piece of art. It’s a young couple.

“You know,” I say, “I haven’t sold anything all weekend. If you are art collectors and you see something you like, I’ll work with you on the price.”

They discuss something and then show me an image on her iPhone.

“Do you have this one?” she asks. It’s my “Blue Koolau Mountains” from my website. A tiny 5″ x 7″ oil sketch made in 2008!

“I do! But it’s not here. It’s a small one. If you’d like it I can deliver it tomorrow. Where do you live?”

They explain that they live in Minnesota and are leaving Honolulu tomorrow, Memorial Day. They saw my paintings at the Native Hawaiian Arts Market last year when they lived in Hawaii; then they moved to Minnesota. They explain they were looking for something with the colors of “Blue Koolau Mountains,” found me online (obviously), read that I would be at the Bishop Museum today, and came looking!

Oh, for goodness’ sake! “If you want it, I’ll ship it to Minnesota for you at no extra charge,” I say. I close the sale, and everyone goes home happy in the rain. Some things take a long time, but I’m willing to wait. I hope they like the wide gold frame I chose.

Thank you, Lovey! Mahalo e ke Akua!

Copyright 2014 Rebekah Luke