Alice Brown the 7-year-old puppy dog upstages Ula the cat all the time. Today I thought I’d share a photo of Ula the photo assistant.
I was making an artsy photo of Native Hawaiian plants—Hibiscus kokio ssp. saintjohnianus in an umeke (calabash) turned from kou by island artist and friend Scott Sullivan. The Lyon Arboretum displayed the final image.
A look at the interior of Laie Hawaii Temple with two special visitors to the studio.
My glee club sisters Nani and Rae came to see my paintings yesterday! In planning the day, Nani invited me to join them for a visit to the Mormon temple in Laie afterward. It is newly renovated, and it is open for public tours through November 13 (closed Sunday). An open house!
Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Laie, Oahu
Note: After the temple is re-dedicated on November 21, it will be closed to the public, so yesterday’s viewing was a rare opportunity for us. You can make a reservation to see it by phoning 1-866-537-8457.
None of us three are Mormon, but we were curious to see the temple interior and interested in hearing why the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints builds temples and what the LDS beliefs were.
Clear signs from Kamehameha Highway in Laie directed us to the parking lot. There, ushers greeted us with white umbrellas for the rain and escorted us to a series of white tents for an orientation video, that gave a brief history of the Mormon religion, and for some remarks on what to expect on the 25-minute walking tour through the temple.
At the last minute I saw two familiar faces. My former project assistant Kura, ever cheery :-), and her husband joined our group. Kura and David were married in the temple before the current renovation, and this was their first time to see the new look.
Before entering the front door, volunteers gave us booties to cover our shoes.
Once inside, a husband-and-wife team (we have now been greeted by seven church members) guided us through the halls and different rooms. There was an usher at every turn and doorway. Near the end of the tour I asked how many people staffed the milestone open house event. The number varies with the day and time of day or night, but all LDS members on the island of Oahu are involved, I was told.
For the uninitiated, an informative brochure explains that LDS members have churches, chapels, and other meeting facilities for their Sunday worship services and weekday activities. The temple, however, is considered to be the most sacred place on earth. It is reserved for LDS members who are worthy in the eyes of the church. Then, the more one visits the temple to study, the closer one can become to God.
On entering, I am immediately impressed with the superb wall-sized paintings, art glass windows, and bas-relief panels in the waiting area. It is like being in an art museum. (Think Elgin marbles of the British Museum in London.) More large and fine paintings line the hallways and lovely murals line some of the rooms.
All of the interior space is very beautifully decorated, welcoming, serene, peaceful. Actually, it is divine, and designed to feel ethereal. (Think HGTV’s “Divine Design” with Candice Olson). I had a similar lightness of feeling touring Catherine Palace just outside of St. Petersburg, Russia. Tastefully grand. The temple, however, is much smaller, more intimate, and not ornate like the palace. Perhaps the way the art is treated reminds me of Catherine Palace.
What happens in the temple? LDS members believe in the Book of Revelations, eternal life, and are interested in their ancestors and their progeny, i.e., one’s family’s past, present, and future; hence, their dedication to genealogy research. In the temple one may perform baptisms for one’s ancestors who have died. A couple may seal their marriage and can have their children sealed to them forever. As one advances in the teachings given in the rooms for instruction on the commandments, one may grow spiritually closer to God.
Furnishings of hardwood, soft green upholstery and drapes, crystal chandeliers, gold leaf inlay, sculpted carpeting, white calla lilies, excellent craftsmanship — these decorated a waiting room, the men’s changing room (one must change into white clothes while in the temple), a bride’s dressing room, a baptismal font, instruction rooms, a sealing room, and the white celestial room at the top.
After the open house tour we were escorted to the refreshment tent for cookies, and Kura and David cordially chatted with us and answered our questions. Thanks, Nani, for inviting me. And thanks to the LDS church members for a pleasant and educational afternoon.
Rev. Rebekah Luke is ordained by the Universal Life Church that has two tenets: “freedom of religion” and “do the right thing.”
Halloween 2010
Allhallows Eve. Trick or treat! The neighborhood hobgoblins have come and gone, and the party’s winding down. I dressed to mimic Alice Brown. Do you detect any resemblance? . . . Woof!
Some painters claim they don’t know how to paint green. It must be why paintings of this hue are generally absent in the art galleries. In this post I’ll show how to paint green. With oil paint, the trick is to change your base color.
I love green. “Banyan in the Park” and “White Ginger,” two of my most recent paintings, are predominantly green. Looking at them gives me a feeling of calm, coolness, and serenity. More so, I can recall the satisfying experience of choosing the images and transferring them to canvas. I can smell the sweet scent of the ginger patch.
Banyan in the Park
White Ginger
Painting green is no secret, it’s a technique. As mentioned, it’s all about changing your base, your base being a yellow or a blue because yellow plus blue equals green. In the field, I still use a color chart I made when I took my first painting classes. Someday I’ll paint a new one!
My green color chart on canvas paper, a bit ragged but still useful!
You can make a chart like this too. Use a palette knife. Put a swatch of each of your yellows in the top row. Down the left column, dab a swatch of each of your blues, including black if you use black. The greens in the body of the chart are the result of mixing a blue with a yellow. For each combination of the two colors, I have added white two times to get a “light,” “middle tone,” and “dark” of the same hue. See how many different greens there are!
When I am on location, I literally walk up to the object—e.g., a leaf—and find the swatch on my color chart that most closely matches it, eliminating any guess-work. If the object is in the distance, I hold up my palette knife—with paint on it—in the air in front the object and squint to see if the hue and value (lightness or darkness) match. When you paint a green scene, step back for a moment now and then. If it’s starting to look all the same, maybe it’s time to change your base to “find” another green.
Going a step further beyond the colors on the chart:
To lighten, “warm it in the light,” that is, add the next lighter yellow from your palette plus a little white. To darken, “cool it in the shade,” that is, add the next darker blue from your palette.
This technique of warming it in the light and cooling it in the shade is known as “analogous,” meaning to use the next color on the color wheel. In the way I paint, I prefer analogous to “complementary.” Adding the complement—the color opposite on the color wheel—to a color will also darken, but it will also appear comparatively chalky. Put another way, if I want to darken green, I add blue, not red.
If you are still with me ;-), here are a couple of exceptions. When painting a landscape, colors become muted and lighter in value in the distance. In this case the painter would choose complements. Realize, also, that whenever you see gray, use the complement.
I learned these tips from my teachers Gloria Foss, Vicky Kula, and Peter Hayward who taught us how to turn the form and about the logic of light.
Thank you!
The old Norfolk Island pine tree is no longer at the Manoa Valley homestead where my hanai (adopted) mom lives. Mom decided to have the tall evergreen sentinel, damaged by termites and dry rot, cut down this past weekend before it fell down. With the wet and windy season approaching, I think Mom did the right thing.
This tree was big. The existing stump measures about 40 inches in diameter. I counted the rings and estimated the tree was about 80 years old. Termites used to live in the lower part of the trunk. Sections from further up, however, are still good and useful to woodturners.
By the time I arrived at Mom’s yesterday to make these photographs, she had given away some of the choicer sections to the tree cutters. There’s still plenty more wood.
I eyeball the diameter of the Norfolk Island pine to be about 40 inches. Tree sap still oozes from the cut
Sections of the trunk
Termites used to live here
More trunk sections, still good for making art
The dark and blond two-toned shades are characteristic of Norfolk Island pine wood
New view from the front porch
I counted the rings. Each represents one year of life, right?
Workers left their tools behind; they're not pau (finished) yet
Alice Brown and Pua
Pua is at the studio. I call her guest dog, but she’s really Alice Brown’s cousin and part of our extended family. On most days DH stops by her house to take both of them and Miss Marvelous for a walk down the beach. Yes, we’re dog sitting.
The one most inconvenienced is Ula the cat. She hates it. When Pua arrived, the cat made a mad dash to under-the-bed in the guest room. You might wonder, if Pua is the guest, then why doesn’t she get the guest room? Well, she doesn’t fit under the bed. Ah, now you understand why Ula hates it. And besides, Pua comes with her own bed. And food.
Pua chasing her mom chasing Miss Marvelous
She’s a good guest, and we make her welcome, though. As soon as she arrives, she immediately gobbles whatever is in Alice Brown’s dish and slurps up the cat’s food on her way out to the dog run to relieve herself. This, while the cat makes her escape.
Ula under my easel
How did we do it the last time? asks DH. Pua stayed over on the Fourth of July. It was some combination of a child gate and, hmm, what did we do?
We started with the gate to cordon off the second floor. Then we moved Ula’s food and water station to the guest room. Now, picture the cat having the use of the whole upper level and the rest of us on the main level.
When it was time to turn in for the night, I looked all over for Ula, as she was not under the bed anymore, and I finally found her under my desk behind a curtain. She’d been right there by me most of the evening.
Not a peep did she make. Ordinarily she is very talkative. A big brown bossy New York cat who meows loudly and frequently. Let me in. Meow. Let me out. Meow. Feed me. Meow. Now! She’s old now, still healthy as far as we and the vet can tell. But she’s also aloof. She won’t let anyone touch or pet her much. Please don’t try it; you might get shredded.
I reminded DH who was watching TV downstairs with the dogs to make sure he separated the animals when he came to bed. I fell fast asleep. At 4 a.m. loud barking and scurrying and hissing! Pua had found Ula and had cornered her! My guess is that Ula had come out of her hiding place and was hoping to make her way to the litter box.
Okay, so now we separate the animals. DH takes the dogs out to the dog run, and the coast is clear for Ula. My last act of service before starting this blog post was to move the litter box to the guest room, coax the cat back into the temporary quarters, turn the lights down low and close the door.
You see, at the studio Alice Brown is the Princess (see the masthead), but Ula’s the Queen.
… That was fun. A nice ending to a full day! The venue for my cousin Toy’s going away party was Terry’s Place in Honolulu Chinatown where another cousin, Sunway, and her band performed last night. I stopped by the bar after my glee club rehearsal and caught a couple sets with the relatives. Really good pop music. Good eats and fine wine.
Sunway giving it her all
The day started with driving four neighborhood aunties and the baby (Miss Marvelous) from our moku (district) on the windward side of Oahu to Honolulu.
I skipped my usual morning of painting. Aunty Cornelia, Aunty Mercy, Aunty Ramona and Aunty Dot wanted to see the milestone exhibition of the three wooden images of the Hawaiian god Ku on display together at the Bishop Museum through October 4—just three more days.
One carved image resides at the Bishop Museum, one is on loan from the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, and one is on loan from the British Museum in London. Museum literature states that two hundred years ago the Ku stood on heiau (temples) on the island of Hawaii.
Bishop Museum
DH (darling husband) who volunteers as a docent was delighted to give the aunties a tour, and we both were happy to provide the rides.
I used the time they were at the museum to grab some lunch, get my hair cut by Arlene and have photos taken for a new passport. I came back in time to catch Lokomaikai’s very enjoyable moolelo (story) about the hula before heading back over the Koolau mountains.
It rained some today, and as I drove down Palm Drive at Punahou on my way to glee club practice, I saw the rainbow over Manoa Valley.
Rainbow over Manoa
Rebekah’s Studio 
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