pua maunu, artist

coming out of the no of all nothing into the infinite which is yes

Its been over a year since my last post.  Last year was such a very sad year for me.  On September 24, 2010 I lost my mom, my dearest friend and confidante, my mom who gave me confidence to be strong no matter what, who never judged me and unconditionally loved and supported the person I am.  I used to call her and ask her about things I wondered about--we talked a lot about life in Hawaii after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, about her life as a teacher's aide, about her life with dad.  She would give me tips on cooking good food and share news of family and friends with me.  We would roar with laughter at the silliest little things.  I could talk to her about anything and everything, and she listened.  Loosing mom has left a large void in my life, I miss her so very much. I didn't want to live after Mom died, I cared about nothing.  There are days more often than not that I feel like I'm moving in a dream I can't shake myself awake and life moves by in a blur.  Its hard to believe its been a year since I've written here. 

In March this year I started painting again--I was inspired by a joyful poem by e.e.cummings and painted an abstract painting.  The painting is named "lifted from the no of all nothing" from a line in the poem.  I am getting back to normal, coming out of the no of all nothing into the infinite, which is yes. 

 

A Brave New World

This week, I entered into new tech-i-tory. . . I signed up for skype and got a videocam to talk to mom, sisters and brother face to face.  Its all pretty cool and I don't know why I did not do this sooner.  I'm also using facebook too--I can find out what people are doing, who people are etc--we are way beyond "1984" with big brother.

  Excuse my digression from art and haiku.  My main reason for this is to post new work, my most recent work was part of a group show with Plein Rein at the Canvas in July. . .four new paintings from a new series called "The Secret Garden".  They are close up paintings of poppies (red and blue) and a rhododendron.  This series will continue as flowers bloom, most will be 12 x 12, with the occasional larger size.  As soon as I can download the photos from my camera, I will post them.  Its a brave new world, but sometimes I have trouble getting digital images of the thingamajig.

pua maunu

21 July 2010

southeast heiroglyphic

I'm madly preparing for my show at the Juneau Douglas City Museum to be happening in  March 2010.  I proposed to paint 8 large abstract landscapes, no dimension smaller than 48".  I have not painted large paintings for at least 10 years, and I've re-learned that I love the freedom and movement in painting large scale--the process of making paintings for this show has been a journey through color, movement, willful abandon, methods of application, including a very subjective appreciation for favorite brushes, brushes I hate, brushes I've worn out to stubs, filberts, rounds, brights, flats, synthetic, hog hair etc etc.  I have named my show "Southeast Heiroglyphic" based on one of my early paintings for the show, a painting of a peice of kelp that I saw on a trip to Mitchell Bay--big, shiny, slippery and still wet, abandoned by the low tide on a bed of shells, mussels, rocks and sand.  As the painting developed, I saw movement of lines and light that looked to be a language all its own.  I noticed as I continued painting for the show:  lines color texture and light formed a language all its own.   I have my eight paintings and just need to work steadily over the next month to have all edges painted, finishing touches, hardware for hanging and to sign all paintings.  I'm adding a few photos of me painting for this post.  I will add photos to the photo albums right before the show. 

 

p maunu  25 january 2010

Summer and Fall 2009

I can't believe it is nearly labor day 2009.   The other day someone said they can already smell the turkey.  The weather in Juneau was remarkable this year--for a couple of days the mercury reached the 90's.  There were many sunny days, many of us were afraid the balance of sunny days would cancel out the occasional sunny day throughout the rest of the year--I guess this is the kind of thinking that comes from living in a temperate rainforest--we are afraid of too much good weather!  This was a fun year for travelling on short trips.  I went to my nephews wedding in Las Vegas in March, then to New York City to meet my sister and niece returning from France in June, then to Portland Oregon for a work conference in July.  Add to that a busy construction season at work, fishing with Lenny, painting (including a June workshop with David Mollett), planting beautiful rocks in our yard and I can see how the summer flew by.  I am posting 5 new paintings to the website painted over the summer, and shown at our Plein Rein Group show in September.  Enjoy!

'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!  

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.   You can see his website at www.paintingjourneys.com/.  Check out 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!