puanani maunu, artist

'08 ends with a bang!

2008 was an exceptional year for creating and exhibiting art.  First with the show at Annie Kaill's in May, then a continuous exhibit at Ad Lib over the summer months, to and exhibition with Plein Rein at the JAHC Gallery in November, and then, 10 new small paintings at Ad Lib for December's Gallery Walk--I swear, if I could do it somehow without becoming a woeful starving artist, I would!  Oh, where are all the wealthy patrons?  The great news is that I will be painting 8 large abstracts next year (minimum dimension is 48") in preparation for a show at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum in March, 2010.  I have not painted that large in awhile, much less an abstract landscape!  Enjoy the season, and best wishes in the new year!

Deer Critic and Atlin

    When we were out painting the beautiful fireweed this past weekend, a deer, no more than 50 feet away stopped his grazing to look at us.  The wind was blowing towards us, so he calmly went back to grazing and slowly disappeared into the landscape.  Luckily, Cristine Crooks had her camera and took this photo of the deer (its a little difficult to see in the grass, but see if you can find it!).  Generally, it has been a rainy summer for painting outdoors, but a trip to Atlin about mid-July produced six new paintings.  On invitation from Sharron and Cliff Lobaugh to stay at their bunkhouse,  Monica O'Keefe and I drove to Atlin for their annual Arts and Music fesitval.  It was a fun trip.  One of the many highlights was taking a workshop from an artist named Dominik Modlinski, a prolific  painter inspired by the Group of Seven, and a very inspiring painter himself.  Hope he will get to Juneau next year to meet the rest of the Plein Rein painters.  You can see his website at www.paintingjourneys.com/.  I've also added some of my new paintings to the Recent Paintings page, so please visit there!

mojapu

This painting is a collaboration between MOnica O'Keefe, JAne Lindsey and me (PUa) painted at the workshop led by Kes Woodward last summer, 2007.   It is one of my favorites because the outcome of three artists is wonderful!

Is it spring yet?

This painting shown is of a very cold rhodendron tree outside of my dining room window.  It has been a good gauge of temperature depending on the color of the leaves and how close they huddle to the stem.  I know it is warming up when the leaves turn a lighter green and spring outwards.  Now that it is spring, the buds are quite full, and soon, there will be a burst of pink blossoms which crown the rhodendron.   

In May, I had a wonderful opening of new works at Annie Kaills, and a few of my large paintings are still there.  I also have a number of small paintings at Ad Lib, Cathy Munoz and Sally Engstrom's store on Franklin.  They have exhibited my work in their wonderful shop for the past 7 years

Under Construction

"Under Construction" . . . I guess is the terminology used for someone who is attempting to create something with new technology with no idea of what they are doing. . .  Well, welcome to the  puanani maunu, artist site now "under construction"! I have been thinking of doing something like this for at least 5 years--both this and my income taxes are limping along just fine!