Happy Anniversary to me!

13 years ago, on June 2nd, I moved to Honolulu with the intention of becoming a full-time painter. When I moved here, I didn't know anyone here. My cousin Mike and his wife Jeannette, lived here on O`ahu, but I hadn't seen him in 25 years and didn't really know him.

Being a full-time, professional artist had been my "Life-Long" dream and, clearly, the time was right. Opportunity met up with intention ... and here I am living my dream.

Once I arrived, and because I didn't know anyone, I had a lot of free time on my hands, so I often went to the beach. Some days I was so exhausted from the harried life I had left behind, that all I could do was stare out at the ocean.

The Hawaiians say that you cannot sit on the beach and look out on the "po`ailani" (the horizon) and feel stress; and it is true. My excursions to the beach were soft, kind, restorative, and educational.

One day while watching the sand crabs digging sand out of their holes and scurrying across the beach, I realized that everyone has housework to do.

Within the first month of my arrival in Honolulu, I signed up to take a watercolor class with Helen Iaea at Hawaiian Graphics and another class on doing business in Hawai`i. I was focused and committed to following through on my dream.

I took a part-time job at a local copy shop to help me schedule my time (I wasn't used to having it all to myself). This allowed me to meet others in the community. It was there I first met Sue Stagner.

Sue has been painting in the islands since the 1970s and was a member of the Zoo-Fence Art Community for years. Artists have been selling their originals and prints along the Zoo Fence (literally the fence surrounding the Honolulu Zoo) since the 1960s.

Patrice wearing a parade headdress at the Zoo Fence in 2004

Many well-known Hawaiian artists launched their art careers there. In November of 2000, five months after arriving, I too started to sell my art along the fence.

In 2001, Sue introduced me to Linda Bachrach and Lavonne Baldwin, two "malihinis" (newcomers) who were taking watercolor classes from her. Within another year, the four of us were "talking-story" every weekend as we painted and sold our work along the fence.

Soon we decided to get together for adult beverages during the week. We would meet up at one of the hotel beach bars in Waikiki to remind ourselves of where we live ... paradise.

Oh, wait ... you thought everyone in Hawai`i lives on the beach and enjoys umbrella drinks every day ... brought to us by Hula Girls, and we pay no rent, no electric bill, and have no water bills, and we live in grass huts? At least that is what some people on the mainland think.

The truth is that many people who live here work at least one, but more often two or three jobs; AND they live with their extended family in a multi-generational home.

Over the years, my group of friends has continued to gather along the beach to talk- story, learn of new galleries and business ventures, share ideas, and share our food & beverages. Life keeps getting busier for all of us, yet our traditions bring us together. We start early (5-5:30pm) and go home early (7-8pm) thus, our name ... "Girls Gone Mild".

Linda Bachrach, Diane Beal, Lavonne Baldwin, Sue Stagner, Rebecca Snow, and Patrice Federspiel on San Soucci Beach in Honolulu, 2012

The "Girls Gone Mild" are not the only friends I have here. I also get together with a wonderful group of artists on Friday mornings to draw from a live nude model ... and yes, to sip some wine before lunch.

Our friends are the family we gift to ourselves. These friends are not meant to replace our family of origin, simply to enhance our life.  

I feel very lucky to have so many friends who share my love of painting here in the islands, and of course, to count you, my readers as my friends as well.