May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii

1 05 2011

Today, let’s make a lei, wear a lei, give a lei! May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii! This lei is strung kui style with yellow plumeria and orange kou blossoms from the garden. Aloha to you.

"Mommy tricked me. I came when she called "Walkies!" but she just wanted to give me a lei and have me pose. She even gave me a big smooch on my nose." ~ Alice Brown

Copyright 2011 Rebekah Luke

If you are new to Rebekah’s Studio, here’s my 2010 Lei Day entry. This year’s celebration at Kapiolani Park Bandstand—the 84th annual— runs until 5:30 p.m. today.

https://rebekahstudio.wordpress.com/2010/05/01/in-hawaii-may-day-is-lei-day/


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My tie to Barack Obama

27 04 2011

President Barack Obama’s announcement this morning inspired me to post this portrait I made of some members of my hanai family in Washington, DC. We visited the capital with Ivalee, our mom, who was in town to accept the prestigious Jefferson Award for public service, on behalf of the award winners of Hawaii.

Cherie, David Lee, Ivalee, Ruth, Terry, Sarah, Karl, Julie & Kathy in front of the White House in June 2008

I was best friends with Ivalee’s daughter Margaret (not pictured) in high school, and when my parents divorced, Ivalee and her husband Dave said I could stay with them. The couple had six children, and I remember her saying then, what’s one more? Theirs was the home where all the kids congregated, and she was always welcoming.

Not in the photo is “Doc” Sinclair, who passed over a few years earlier, and my hanai brother Brian who was busy tending to his physician duties in Hawaii, in the footsteps of his father. And me, who made the photo.

Later Ivalee told me she made it a point to import kids for her family to play with—much easier. Her husband was not home much—too busy at work.

This morning Margaret’s husband Jon sent me a message that the White House released Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Jon said he examined the birth certificate posted online closely and saw that David A Sinclair was the attending physician. How about that?

How about that indeed. I recognize the signature! Our dad, David A Sinclair, MD, ob/gyn, delivered Barack Obama. In Hawaii.

Copyright 2011 Rebekah Luke

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Categories : Friends & Family, Memoir

Lanikai diptych

11 04 2011

This is my finished painting of Lanikai Beach on Oahu. Oil on canvas. Each panel measures 20″ wide x 16″ high prior to framing. Beach goers are familiar with the iconic outrigger canoes, twin islands, and shady palms. This is the scene from Karl-and-Julie’s. I can’t wait for them to see it. © 2011 Rebekah Luke / All rights reserved

Wa'a Kolu, Moku Lua

Julie's Coconut Tree


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Family time: Kaaawa Valley 5K Fun Run/Walk

9 04 2011

The 2nd Annual Ocean Warrior 5K Family Fun Run/Walk sponsored by Kaaawa Elementary School and hosted by Kualoa Ranch was held this morning in Kaaawa Valley.

Kaaawa Valley slopes

The starting line

It's the second annual for Miss Marvelous, her Tutu, Mom and Papa

Turn marshals

Miss Marvelous, me, and Alice Brown

Alice Brown & Pua—the dogs enjoyed the walk, sights & smells

Copyright 2011 Rebekah Luke

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Punahou Carnival 2011

31 01 2011

This Friday and Saturday, Feb. 4 and 5. All the fun is bounded by Punahou Street and Wilder Avenue in Honolulu, from 11 a.m to 11 p.m., and I’ll be there. If you’re visiting, this is a great travel tip!

The big tent and the thrill rides are up, and they’re getting ready for the Punahou Carnival again. I’m here to plug my alma mater, with notes on my contribution and my favorites. It’s a humongous fundraiser put on by the junior class to raise scholarships. First-timers wonder how they do it. I’ll tell you how.

The school ropes in all the parents of the junior class and alumni to donate their time, labor, talent, and supply goods so that everything spent at the Carnival is profit for students.

The Carnival is such a bonding experience, you remember it for life and return every year to support it. There’s fun for all ages.

Banyan in the Park, an original oil on canvas by yours truly, for purchase at the Punahou Carnival Art Gallery. 16″ x 20″.

My contribution

For the past several years I’ve placed my paintings in the Art Gallery—50% of sales goes to the school, and put my time in at the Hawaiian Plate “booth.” I also help serve up the meal (5 to 8 p.m. Saturday).

Last year my graduating class was the second oldest still working the Carnival. We report to Dole Cafeteria and don aprons and hats to plate the meal of Hawaiian food. For anyone not of school age who isn’t interested in the midway carnival rides, it’s a nice place to relax because there is air-conditioning, there is continuous live music, and there are real bathrooms.

We used to prep and cook the food, and in years before that we worked the famous malasadas booth with Mr. Bowers until we were banned for making non-regulation sizes and shapes ;-). And frankly, I don’t remember what we did prior.

My favorites

Usually I carpool with DH and his daughter, also an alumna. We each arm ourselves with an empty shopping bag and an umbrella. We go to a secret parking place if the lots on campus are full. Tip: take the bus if you can or prepare to park and walk from neighboring streets.

These are some of our favorites:

  • Silent auction—Items vary from year to year, and sometimes we’re lucky. We scope this out first.
  • Art gallery—Always like to see what other island artists are doing; it just makes me want to paint more, though. A great collection.
  • Plant booth—I’ve donated bromeliads and small avocado trees. For my garden I’ve bought herbs, red and pink ginger, native Hawaiian species, water plants, and turf grass. They will hold your purchase for you to retrieve later, if you wish.
  • Malasadas—Of course, with a hot cup of coffee at night.
  • Jams and jellies—E.g., red pepper jelly and mango chutney. I think it sells out in the first hour on Friday 😦
  • Books—At the end you can fill up a bag and get it all for something really cheap.
  • White elephant—Quick survey. You never know what you might find.
  • Food—Whatever your heart’s desire, a separate booth for each. Gyros, corn on the cob, fruit smoothies, fried noodles, pizza, teriburgers, veggie stuff, Hawaiian food, chicken, Portuguese bean soup, ice cream, saimin and meat sticks … oh la la.
  • Produce—A crew goes to the Big Island to pick. I do my next week’s fruit and veggie shopping here.
  • Games—The kiddie games are a world apart. It’s fun to watch the little ones. I think it’s time to take Miss Marvelous there. There are games for older students and teens too. My Facebook friend Yo and her husband are parent chairs of the prizes this year.
  • Will call—You can check your loot here until time to go home.

So c’mon to the Punahou Carnival, alumni or not. Spend your money. It’s for a good cause!

Copyright 2011 Rebekah Luke

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Working on a diptych

28 01 2011

Off and on since Thanksgiving I’ve been working on finishing a diptych—an image on two panels, each of which can stand alone. I paint with oil on canvas. After I finish the painting, I’ll wait a long time—several months—for it to dry, apply a coat of varnish, and put the panels in two frames, most likely of koa.

This style is “impressionistic representationalism.” The viewer is able to recognize the scene, in this case, classic Lanikai Beach on Oahu with the Mokulua islets offshore. The paint edges are soft and approximate rather than hard and exact.

I like to paint images of where you might have been and want to remember, or of places where you’d rather be. This diptych began en plein air on location. Thanks to my hanai relatives Karl and Julie for their hospitality on site.

METHOD.  I started by loosely applying very thinned-out oil paint wash, using two or three tints, to the canvases with a 1.5″ brush, in a random pattern, leaving no white showing. I’m trying to leave  about 5 to 8% of this under painting showing to give the finished work a jeweled look.

While waiting for the wash to dry, I did an ink sketch of the scene, including the shadows, in my small notebook.  I made more than one sketch, experimenting with different compositions. Hand drawing a sketch reinforces the scene in my memory with similar results as taking written notes at a lecture.

I also set up my palette, generally arranging the colors following the color wheel order. Then I was ready to block in the scene on the canvas, using a brush and paint and referring to my ink drawing. I was careful to sight the objects to make sure my proportions were correct.  Yes, I actually stretched out my arm and measured with my thumb or a brush handle!

I mixed the “local” colors (middle tones) on my palette, as well as a dark and a light of the color. I painted analogously. That means, to darken a color I mixed in the next neighboring (on the color wheel) cool color for a shade. To lighten a color, I added a little of the next neighboring (on the color wheel)  warm color before adding white.

As a general example, take the local color red. For a dark red that one would see in the form shadow of, say, a tomato, I would mix in alizarin crimson. For a light red, I would add a little orange to the red before adding a little white. In teaching this technique, my teacher the late Gloria Foss called it the “Tomato Theory.”

Gloria taught that painting analogously was prettier than simply adding black or white, or the complement color to darken.

I love the idea of being able to call on your neighbors to help out instead of going  across the island!

When I finally got paint on canvas, I first put in the local colors that had the lightest values—usually a tint of white, and the darkest values. These were the off-white outrigger canoes and the dark coconut palm fronds. I put the lightest and darkest values in first that let me know all the values in between were relative to those two extremes.

As I painted I held up some paint on my palette knife against the object, like the sky and the ocean, to check that I had the hue and value (lightness or darkness) correct. I learned these last two tips from the late painter Peter Hayward.

I painted all over the canvas at once, by hue, considering both panels at the same time, so that the painting would become a tapestry of color. There are color repeats throughout.

In the end, much of the artwork is about the light. What direction is the light coming from in the painting? In plein air landscape painting, the sun moves constantly. What is the logic of light? That is, what does the light do when it hits a certain form? When it reflects?

Copyright 2011 Rebekah Luke

Related post: https://rebekahstudio.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/its-rock-star-snowing-on-lanikai-beach/


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Categories : About me, Fine Art, Hawaiian, Travel

Weekend reflections

24 01 2011

Got up early this morning to write a longer blog post, reflecting on a relaxing weekend.

FRIDAY. How honored I was by a lovely visit from Karen who stopped by after taking her wife Pat to Buddha-Buddha in Hauula for a weekend writing retreat with Mark Travis. Karen and Pat are authors of Courting Equality and spend part of the year in Massachusetts and part of the year in Hawaii. We’ve traveled to Kahoolawe together more than once, and a couple of years ago they stayed in the studio to take care of Alice Brown, Ula and the garden while DH and I went on vacation.

Among other things, Karen and I talked about tai chi over lunch. She left and then I cooked for seven.

I like to cook, especially for others, so I invited my hanai mom Ivalee and her son David and his wife Cherie who live in Alaska, and my friends Becky and Susan. I’d not seen them in a while.

The rain stopped, and it would be a nice drive for them from Honolulu to the windward side of the island. We all had to go to work on Saturday, so it would be an early evening, I promised.

The rain started in December—see my post “Waterfalls and the wet season”—on the day of DH’s birthday dinner, and  most of the guests didn’t make it out. The weather made driving treacherous. I had a bit of food left, plus I’d gone to Costco for that party. I haven’t had to do major shopping since. I just had to look around the freezer and pantry for inspiration to create Friday’s menu. Which was:

Hummus and pita chips / pork casserole with prunes and onion / veggie lasagna / bread /mixed field greens with housewife’s dressing / sachertorte / coffee or tea

Afterward my foodie friend Linda said the menu was “ambitious.” That is often the case with me, and it did feel like TV’s “Dinner Impossible” at times, except that it was possible and I’d planned and envisioned well, figuring out when to prepare each dish so they would all come out at 6 p.m.

I had made all the recipes before. Hummus is easy, I learned from DH’s daughter. The recipe is on the jar of tahini, one of the ingredients. Just make up a batch now and then and keep it in the fridge ready to serve.

I baked the dessert first, giving it time to cool and to free up the oven for the hot dishes.

The pork casserole is more elegant than it sounds. I first made it at Sunset magazine where I worked a long time ago, and where I met Linda—so great that we’ve remained friends. It’s in Quick and Easy Dinners. It bakes in prune juice, but to kick it up a notch I substituted umeshu, Japanese plum wine. Choya brand in the green bottle with the green plums at the bottom is my favorite. It’s from the same fruit, right? 😉 DH always says, “You can make that again.”

While most of the diners are carnivores, Becky is not, so I always like to have something especially for her. The lasagna recipe was meatless. Three kinds of cheese, red pasta sauce and roasted red peppers both from jars would have been adequate to layer between the noodles, but I had some long eggplant to cook up, so I sautéed slices and added them.

The two main dishes baked in the oven at the same time.

I purchased the greens already washed and mixed to save time. To save money, I whisked the dressing myself, using a little olive oil, a squeeze of lime juice, a smidgen of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Minced shallots would have been great but I didn’t have any.

I learned to make sachertorte after sailing with Viking River Cruises to Vienna a couple of winters ago. It’s a classic, to be enjoyed with coffee in the ubiquitous coffeehouses there. It’s very chocolatey and meant to be slightly dry. Click on this word recipe.

What I hadn’t planned was a table setting, so I just served buffet style, and seven of us managed to gather around the coffee table to break bread together.

SATURDAY. I gave mini Reiki sessions at the Hawaii Wellness & Healing Expo in Aikahi Park. I do health fairs sometimes in addition to private sessions at my healing space. Although well advertised, the fair was tiny in terms of number of vendors and attendees. Faithful Lori, one of my Reiki teachers and now friend, stopped by with her mom.

There was a high booth vendor fee that I paid to get in, though it wasn’t an issue, really, because I wanted the opportunity to do energy work on people. Channeling Reiki helps me heal, harmonize, and balance myself as much as it helps my clients. There was no charge for folks to experience the Reiki; I worked on a freewill donation basis.

In the end, because of the low turnout, the sponsor gave me a free booth for next time! That will be at Koko Marina in the spring. Thank you so much!

DH, who helped set up and break down the Reiki tent, and I came back to the studio and crashed. In channeling Reiki, I have plenty of energy while with clients, using techniques to clear old stuff and refresh. However, it is work, and at the end of the day, as it is for everyone else, a warm shower and a good sleep are in order. Even the neighbors sipping wine across the driveway at happy hour couldn’t lure us from bed.

SUNDAY. Karen and I agreed to attend a lecture on tai chi chuan together given by Pastor Chris Eng at Waiokeola Congregational Church. The lecture was part of a “Ministry of Healing” series of eight talks. I will be presenting about Reiki at the church on February 13.

Besides being interested in tai chi, I wanted to preview the venue and audience. Karen and I practice Yang style, but we have different teachers and we thought hearing Dr. Eng’s perspective could only add to our knowledge. I said hi to my cousin Barbara who directs the church’s music and healing ministries, and I ran in to my friend Dorothy, a poet, from years past. She looks the same!

Because I don’t drive over the Koolau Mountains for just one thing, I went to Barnes & Noble across the street at Kahala Mall to spend a gift card. My bag included a book on bass playing, O The Oprah Magazine, and Your Chinese Horoscope 2011 by Neil Somerville.

The Chinese fortune reminded me that Rats such as I have a tendency to “become involved in too many schemes and chase after too many opportunities at once.” Haha! “If he [the Rat] can slow down and concentrate on one thing at time, he can become very successful.”

I am not a good multitasker. As 2011 is my year for “expansiveness” too, it looks like I’ll have to be disciplined as well and stay balanced in the upcoming Year of the Rabbit.

Copyright 2011 Rebekah Luke

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Categories : About me, Friends & Family, Memoir, Reiki Healing

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