Sketchbook Show
A coffee shop in my valley hosted a show of my watercolor and pen and ink drawings. I called it my Sketchbook Show, because most of the pieces were created right in my sketchbook and ripped out and framed - torn hole-punched edges intact. The scenes and objects depicted were right out of my daily life - freckle-faced orchids blooming in my yard, lei my landlady taught me to make, moon phases I was memorizing for 'olelo class.
When:
June-August 2016
Where:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
For:
Morning Glass Coffee and Cafe
Process
Fig 2. Front (left) and back (right) of the handdrawn and typewriter-written flier for my art opening.
I spend several mornings a week drawing the world around me, and improving my skills through classes at the Honolulu Art Museum School. Morning Glass Cafe invited me to put up my work on their gallery wall. I developed a set of 11 finalized drawings and paintings of flowers, geckos, valley viewscapes, moonscapes and other objects and scenes from my life and imagination. Morning Glass hosted an art opening, at which I sold all but 2 of the framed originals and many more of their giclée prints.
My next series will be a set of intaglio prints depicting a possible future of Waikīkī returning to a swamp under accelerated sea level rise.
Products
Why is this important?
For me:
I derive significant joy from sitting in the coffee shop drawing objects and scenes from around me. It is especially delightful when others enjoy what I create. When I draw, I am the most observant form of myself - wherein many tiny discoveries can be made.
For others:
This project was mostly for me, though I know that others enjoyed participating in my art and taking it home for themselves. In the future, I hope to be able to incorporate my Hawaiian knowledge into my art in the future, but I need to find a way to perpetuate the culture without appropriating it.