Haiku View...Maui

Marissa's View 

Here's another Maui sketch...this time from Up-Country, in Haiku. Unfortunately the photo doesn't do the sketch justice. The left side is all washed out.I don't have a scanner here, so I have to try to photograph it...yuk! Anyways, it'll do.  

I love it so much up in Haiku. It's the country, what I'm used to. Away from the tourists and the crowds and the traffic. It's just so relaxing. We had a nice visit with our friend's Marisa and Chip yesterday and as we sat on the deck, Bill played guitar, and I chatted and sketched the view. I was taken by the atmospheric sense of distance, and that's what first inspired me to sketch this scene...the light is great up there! I loved the hill, and how the graceful tree shape echoed it...and I just love those crooked fenceposts. It was a bonus that as I was finishing up, some cows and a horse wandered through the scene!

Moleskine in Paradise, Part 1

Moley in Paradise

Here it is! Proof! That I've been doing something other than lying on the beach all day. I'm lying on the beach AND drawing.

There's also a painting in the works, but it's not quite ready to show to you yet.

My daughter and I found these very interesting pods about a week and a half ago. They're round, and split, with a spirally looking thing in the center and they smell delicious. They're brown and hard, and very intriguing. So ever since then, I've been trying to hunt down what they are, and yesterday, I figured it out!

I was having a lovely Thai Iced Coffee at my favorite Wailuku Coffee shop, on my odd day "sans ma famille", and a delicious fragrance was wafting through the shop. I noticed the flowers on the tables looked a lot like the ones that grew on the trees that dropped the pods, and discovered that they're called a "Tahitian Gardenia" or "Tiare Flower". I like the second name best, because it sounds kind of like my name:) So I proceeded to sketch the flower, and finish my moley spread. I think it would look better with color, but I don't have anything to color it with yet...

Sorry for the Long Absence

"Charlie" a commission for a great friend

8" x 10" oil on canvas panel

I know I haven't posted in awhile, and perhaps I should change the title, as has been suggested, but I do really hope to be back to "Almost Daily" soon.  Life has been busy...I've been creating...a lot! Just trying to find my direction, which has changed since I started this blog. So thanks for your patience!

Totally NOT Paintings...Sock Monkey and Sock Horse by Tahirih

So, I've been painting a bit,  a few commissions for Christmas and such, but I'm in a bit of a slump, so I thought I'd try my hand at a bit of a different type of creativity. My kids love stuffies, and we found the pattern for the horse in one of their library books and thought we'd give it a try. The horse is all hand-sewn...talk about time consuming! I think she took about six hours. But I picked up a nifty old vintage singer sewing machine at a garage sale, and not only does it look cool, it sews well. So the monkey took about three hours. It was fun! Now I want to make a whole menagerie of sock animals!

Jacob and Carlos the Monkey

Rhiannon and Sparkles the Horse

New You Tube Slideshow

Hi all, 

I've been travelling, teaching a workshop and working on commissions for the past month, so I haven't got any new artwork to show you, but I have a little slideshow set to music that I made up today.

Enjoy!

BoldBrush Painting Competition Entry- Owl in the Mist

                                  Owl in the Mist ~ 18" X 36" oil on canvas  $1650.00

I've entered this one in the November Bold Brush Competition. If you like it, follow this link here and click on the LIKE button. (This only works if you're a facebook member) It'll help me get a bit more exposure, and possibly get in the FAV 15%...Thanks!

The Red Shawl -- BC2Africa Project

The Red Shawl - 9" x 12" oil on canvas $425.00

I painted this one a few weeks ago, but I didn't post it until now because I can't get a good picture. It still looks quite glarey...(is that a word;)?)

I was experimenting with painting really thick, like, slamming the paint on with a palette knife thick. It was a lot of fun, and the painting came together really quickly. I left some passages a little unfinished and clumsy looking (not at all like me) and tried to loosen up. I'm pretty happy with the result. It has a spontaneity to it that many of my paintings lack that I've been trying to achieve. Now to get edges, values, and accuracy...sigh...the learning never ends! Lol!

I can't take credit for the reference photo for this one. It comes from babasteve, or Steve Evans, a wonderful photographer of people, whom I found on Flickr. He graciously gave me permission to use his photos. 

30 percent of the proceeds of this painting will go to BC2Africa. BC2Africa was formed by a group based in Bella Coola, with support from across Canada, working closely with the people who run the C.R.I.B. (Children Rescued in Burundi) and Nyakabiga facilities in Bujumbura, Burundi. The Bella Coola 2 Africa Hope Society was formed in early 2006. Their website is here.