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| A glimpse into the life and thoughts of an artist |
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The Sum of the Parts The painting to the left is comprised of my favorite parts of both the White Bird of Paradise and the Traveler's Palm.
These majestic trees are related to the banana plant and are used in landscaping throughout the islands.
Each plant is beautiful in its own right, but it is also rather "gangly". It took me until recently to figure out how to show their true beauty in a concise manner.
The trunk of the palm (shown right) is made up of beautiful golden, brown, red, purple, and light green colors.
The leaves fan out from either side of the trunk, making the tree almost two-dimensional. The white birds peak out from between the leaves as they branch out.
My challenge was to show all the beauty and majesty of the tree in the confines of a full sheet of watercolor paper.
This riddle was solved when I divided the paper into three sections. The center holds the heart of the tree, the core from which the leaves emerge, the flowers, and the trunk. The leaves themselves cascade down the sides of the painting.
People often ask how long it takes to complete a painting. The glib answer is 56+ years. While it has taken me until this point in my life to be able to paint my paintings, that answer doesn't tell you how much effort (blood, sweat, and tears), or how much linear time, goes into a painting.
Unfortunately the answer is often quite nebulous. No two paintings are ever alike. Some take years to figure out (yes I have put paintings away for a year or two until I knew how to finish them); while others seem to almost paint themselves.
Each painting, just like each moment in time, is the sum total of all that came before it PLUS the energy of the day, and everything else going on in life.
The adult-ed class I teach ended this past week; we had a great class this semester. Everyone came open to learn new ideas and eager to paint their masterpiece. Invariably there comes a time with almost every painting when the artist gets stuck - that would the technical term.
When this happens, I encourage my students to take a break and ask their painting what is needed next (this is the advice I take as well). When we take the time to look, our paintings will reveal our next steps to us.
If nothing is forthcoming, start a new painting and wait until you do know what to do next on the stuck painting.
Until a painting is "finished", no matter how much it is loved, it remains incomplete. An unfinished painting isn't worth much. So although it can be scary to work on a painting that is loved but undone, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain, by working on it.
This same philosophy works for life too.
We don't always know what action steps to take in life, but if we take a breath between steps, we often find our way more easily. If the way seems clear, forge ahead; if the goal is known, but the steps uncertain, take a pause.
Hurried and harried is no way to go through life, especially during the holiday season. Make a cup of tea, or heat up a cup of soup. Then sit and sip for just five minutes. During that time you will have changed your perspective, perhaps just enough for you to know what your next step is to be.
Then breathe a sigh of relief and continue on.
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This Saturday, December 4th, join me at the Lanikai Association Holiday Art and Craft Fair from 9am-3pm. I will be in Pavillion space #2. Please stop in to say hello and see Sunset Mermaid and Underwater Ballet.
Whether or not you can make it to the fair, you can enter to win a 16x20 print of Release Your Inner Mermaid. Send an email telling me how YOU release YOUR inner mermaid to Patrice@artofaloha.com and you will automatically be entered to win!
********** The next watercolor class at Kaimuki Community School begins February 7th. Registration begins January 8, 2011 so mark your calendars! **********
Mahalo for reading this Art of Aloha eZine, for staying in touch, and for sharing these eZines on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn!
A Hui Hou,
PS You will find my official page on facebook by searching for Art of Aloha. Then become my online fan by pressing the Like button.
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"Do not require a description of the countries towards which you sail. The description does not describe them to you, and tomorrow you arrive there and know them by inhabiting them." -Emerson
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 Born in Port Washington, WI and educated at the University of Wisconsin/Madison, Patrice Federspiel first visited Hawai'i in January 2000. Within five months she had found a way to quit her job, sell her home, and move to Hawai'i to paint.
Previously an oil painter, Patrice learned the joys of watercolor upon her arrival in Honolulu in June 2000. She has been painting full time ever since. It is her intention to live her "Real Life" creatively, from the inside out; and to inspire others, through her paintings, art lessons, words, and example, to do the same.
"I paint with passion, live without regrets, and move joyfully forward through life." -Patrice Federspiel
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 Patrice Federspiel
PO Box 61707
Honolulu, Hawaii 96839
(808) 392-9104
Please JOIN MY MAILING LIST
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