Saturday, October 13, 2007

Maui, Day 9

The morning drive n'sketch plan did not go over well today so I took Penny around the Wailea Shopping Center as I needed the excercise but also needed to stay out of the heat. It appears that the Enchantress, one of my favorite boutiques that used to be located in the quaint little boardwalk town of Paia has gone bougie and moved into the mall. Their store photo album is filled with pictures of Paris Hilton now so what used to be one of the best kept secrets of Maui is all over the map and the tabloids now and the prices have gotten just as overblown. Penny and I had fun looking at the Halloween costumes though. The Terpsichores Daughters would have had a hay day in there with frilly bloomers and ruffle skirts gallore.

Afterwards, went back home to eat and see about more luck with nap time and lucky for me Penny was down so I got in more sketching time than I ever could have hoped for. I'm pretty happy with the new bird/pomegranate one.



Afterwards we went to fancy dinner and live (easy listening) music at Tommy Bahamas. I'm so fat and happy and I don't know why mom and I don't drink together more often!

Maui, Day 8

Yesterday was pretty mellow. The morning drive and sketch routine worked like a charm. I got to write a card to dad. I found this one that totally fits him - see image below by Darshan Zenith (Mike, see cruiserart.com):

I guess there is a Karmen Ghia one on the website but no cards left at the store or I would have gotten one for you. Anyhoo, this guy certainly found his niche, eh? I wonder why it is I can't seem to love one particular subject matter enough to master it and make it my bread and butter. Even though I'm on my 16th icon, the style seems to change between each piece whethor I want it to or not, and I'm beginning to feel really blocked when I know I need to come up with a new one. Sometimes I tell myself that this just means I've gotten all of the obvious stuff out of my system and this is where the REALLY good stuff begins. Other times I just get paralyzed by the fear of nothing coming, like now, and then nothing does. Usually this is when I would go to color to switch modes from the planning of paintings to actually painting but that's a little harder to work into the morning drive and nap routine. Sigh, sometimes I really do miss watercolor.
Went to a deli at the Grand with Mom for lunch. Penny and I saw a butterfly up close. She said "up" a lot and has been practicing standing on one foot and stepping over obstacles while cruising. Even though she slept for about an hour and a half in the morning she seemed ready for another nap by 2 but ended up staying up past bedtime. Desperate and exhausted, I read one last bedtime story when she started pointing at the light and signing flower and after arguing about this with her for a good long while I suddenly realised that she was pointing to the flower pattern on the lamp and had to laugh at my tired self.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Maui, Day 7



This morning mom's back was out so we got to borrow the car and go to the beach on our own. Penny fell asleep on the way so I got a blessed full hour-long sketching session parked in the shade just me and Nick Drake. I think I'm a little closer to deciding what I want to do for the Birth icon and worked up some new sketches.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Maui, Day 6

Penny firsts of the day:
The focus today was on motor skills, namely how to multitask while standing hands free: drinking water, shaking shaker, reading book - she did some pretty impressive squats from standing position and then back up to standing. She was more interested in this than doing any more walking today so sorry baby, no new videos today.

Penny was pretty crabby today after her teensy twenty minute morning nap, but mom was good enough to put up with it and watch Penny so I could put the ground in on a new icon painting. I also got to draw up some thumbnails deciding on the scale and direction of the work I hope to have in the upcoming Jacobs Gallery show. I meet with the gallery Oct 24th and I keep feeling a little unprepared, like I haven't done my homework. Maybe it's just that I'm not as far as I had hoped to be, but maybe they will be ok with what I've done, especially since it's a group show so quality vrs. quantity is definitely what I'm going for. I was able to work out that if I use the older icons in the show I will have 20-25 total pieces to choose from at most, and if I only show new work, I'll have 5-10 pieces total although 3 of them will be very large. Because all of the new work is so stylisticly harmonious and they all use the bird/pomegranate theme to weave my mythology of metaphor, I'm concerned the older pieces will seem out of place and comical against the tone of the new ones.


It's been a challenge staying with the bird theme, but I think picturing a real infant would only lead people down the wrong track with thinking that I'm trying to talk about a religious theme as opposed to a personal narrative. I think I've figured out an idea for the pregnancy piece but I'm still in the rough on my birth sketch.

Everyone sort of naturally drifted to their own corners of the house today so Penny and I were left to our devices of napping and playing. She liked the pool today and was very excited to encounter the poolside cats. I'll try to catch some pictures of them tomorrow. One of them has gorgeous markings that look like wood grain.

Here's a photo of this evening's sunset view from the upstairs balcony where I was painting today.


Earlier...

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Maui, Day 5

Penny firsts of the day:
She signed bunny,potty and fish; she also said the words bear and "yuck!"

Everything today was smooth sailing. Penny ate two breakfasts, took a bath without a fight and had an hour long morning AND afternoon nap, allowing me to get in some pretty necessary sketching time.

Mom took us to lunch at the Maalaea Grill and then to the Maui Ocean Center Aquarium. We only had an hour at the aquarium but had a blast. I wouldn't have guessed it but the sea turtles had incalculable, birdlike grace, circling and diving, arching their necks, and pumping their limbs like outstretched wings. Seeing this particual creature face to face had me so enamored that I forgot about the tank for a moment and was reminded of stumbling upon a fawn and in the middle of the woods as a child and, taking it as a personal visitation from the spirit world, walked smiling secret smiles to myself the rest of the day, telling noone.

My other favorite was the unicorn fish. They look like caricatures of mousy, neurotic CPA's with incessant head colds - their silly cartoon human faces mistakenly placed on the bodies of a fish and sharp noses that just beg for spectacles.

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Monday, October 8, 2007

Maui, Day 4

Penny took her first steps today! First to my mom and then to me. I can't believe we actually caught it on video! Mike will be so proud - and of course totally sad he couldn't be here - sorry baby, there was no stopping her. Ok, I have to admit we did egg her on a little. For some reason singing Happy Birthday like total lunatics inspires her to do things she knows will impress us.





She also signed flower and learned how to open and close a sliding door while standing up. After the big rainstorm we went to the beach at last. The rain cooled things off nicely and it was still overcast enough for we two pasty "haoli" to venture out in the afternoon hours. Penny promptly scooped some sand into her eyes but we did get to stay long enough to put our toes in. Can't wait to take her tidepooling.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Maui, Day 3

Today we tried the opposote approach to fending off the tooth monster - getting the heck out of the house. We drove to Kahalui which was a good half-hour drive. Fortunately that meant at least that long of a nap from Penny which is more than I could get from her yesterday. Even Maui has strip malls, yuk. Between Penny's abbreviated naps these last few days, the time change adjustment, the midday heat/humidity, and Penny's reluctance to be passed off to family for any great length time I'm feel pretty deflated. Making the trip to Ben Franklin's to get art supplies today is now seeming somewhat pointless. Hearing more about the ongoing war between my hosts and their neighbor - namely over his smoking in the common areas but now I've learned of his distaste for the sound of small children (the last family that lived here apparently had an infant with previously unmatched vocal projection) - so now I'm feeling completely on eggshells every time Penny cries and there's no way in this heat that we can keep the windows closed, and there's no way with these new teeth and sleeping arrangement that she's not going to cry. What's a momma to do? Homesickness has officially set in.