TREES TREES TREES!

Read about Ohia trees 

Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

Beauty, as they say, is in the eyes of the beholders. Phil is continuing his exploration into creating winged beings, and having had good success with his butterfly (from a few posts ago - 3/2) he has just completed a moth that was inspired by one of our local moths. The wings are made from a beautifully patterned piece of koa that he carefully sliced in half to get the mirrored wing pattern; the body is from redwood, one of the few remaining pieces we brought with us from Humboldt County.

"Black Witch Moth"
(Ascalapho Odocata)
"CLICK" to enlarge

Here in Puna, on the Big Island, of course Phil has many different woods to chose from. And, while Phil's completed work is obviously beautiful -- one of the projects Lunel has recently chosen is full of beautiful potential.

One acre is 43,560 square feet, and of those square feet, approximately 85% of it has been "beautified" over the course of the last 4.5 years. That includes about 1,000 feet of boundary around the acre, and it is those edges that have been the most challenging because of the dense under-story of the forest, most of which is infested with various junk shrubs and invasive vines. But, since deconstruction is one of Lunel's favorite art passions, the tools for this "art project" include chain saw, machete, pick ax and the indispensable o'o bar.. and that is not where we go "pau hana"** - it a heavy, thick iron bar over 6' long used to break up lava. .

Before work began -- What's in there?

Ugly but full of potential beauty (Lunel says)

So....a couple weeks ago she attempted a initial excavation, without knowing what was under and/or behind an area about  12 x 10' along the south perimeter. The first photo shows the area before work began.The additional photos are anything but "beautiful" except to Lunel who seems to have no limit to her ability to both envision as well as manifest beauty using a wide range of materials.


Plans are to use this natural basin area to create either a fountain, or perhaps a waterfall. Nearby, about 30 plants, many from our ohana neighbors and friends** are waiting in pots for replanting around the water feature. (Mahalo Barbara, Geoff, Bett, Karin, Sam...and others)

OK, so maybe you can't see a fountain or a pond... (YET)

Many kinds of ti, anthuriums & ferns

Sort of like this, but only time and more creativity will tell.

We are including one photo that shows some of the potential we see, but of course the final version will be different.)  Stay tuned -- more news at 11.)

(** First, there IS a real Bar named "The O'O Bar" -- it's a Hawaiian thing. And, "pau hana" means the end-of-work, or -- a time when you might go TO a bar. (??lost in translation i think...??) 

Twelve Fish-a-Swimmin'

Phil's handcrafted Hawaiian Reef Fish sell for $29

This summer has been hotter than usual, so rather than working on carving Ohia trees in the hot sun, Phil has been keeping cool in his wood shop -- making fish!

Phil has been selling his Hawaiian Reef fish at One Gallery on beautiful Hilo Bay.  This is a delightful venue for local artists located on Bay Front in Hilo.
One Gallery.

Here's the latest batch that he is taking down this week.  Of course every fish has its name on the back, and those interesting names include, Moorish Idol, White Spotted Goat Fish, Needle Fish, and Spiny Puffer.  Of course Hawaii's state fish is included -- the Humuhumunukunuku Apua'a.   (featured in the colored photo)

Phil is using several local woods, including Koa, Mango, Kamani, Mac Nut.   Since he brought a little bit of Humboldt County Redwood in our relocation to the Big Island -- there are even a few made of Redwood.

By the way, we have four beautiful Redwood trees growing on our property.  We found out that John Muir was instrumental in bringing Redwood trees to Hawaii many decades ago so we are glad to have that connection.

Purple Haze Haysmers

violet paint is in preparation for tile on the floor

Between hurricanes and lava flows, life pretty much MUST return to some normalcy -- mostly because we can't take the adrenalin toxicity!! So, Phil is working on the hand made REDWOOD screen door that will be installed on our new lanai soon.  The work is being closely monitored by the corgis who have access through the door via their OWN doggie door.

While Phil was sanding the door, I went around the yard collecting flowers for the table ---BUT I didn't plan the colors and didn't notice the violet and purple theme until after I actually loaded the pictures for the blog.  Notice the HUGE hibiscus flower that measures over 8" across. It's one of those rather gaudy hybrids, but we much prefer our natives and plan to include more of those in our garden plans.

"Elements III"

Guess I can include the art here -- it certainly fits in the color palette.  This is one of my "crash glass" art pieces which were popular in Humboldt County before we moved.  I have made three since we moved -- all are inspired by the ELEMENTS that surround us here on this land -- the wind, water, and lava.  There is a great sense of being nurtured here, warm and womb like, but life on the "edge" can also be dangerous.  So much like life.  This piece is being auctioned at a fundraiser and party on Labor day with the proceeds going to help cover surgery for a friend. 

Stay tuned to our BLOG for more Lava Flow Updates.  Since there's a lot we don't know and can't know yet we are choosing to LIVE ALOHA, BREATHE, PICK BOK CHOY and have fun.
 

Flora

This ti plant was a very small cutting our neighbor gave us back in October last year.  Learning that ti can grow in any medium, including "just lava" we decided to test that by sticking a bunch of stalks into the "ground" (red cinder lava) before we returned from our month long "house honeymoon" in October 2012.  Now this (and other cuttings) are over 3 feet tall.



Although there IS a strong connection between Puna and Humboldt County for their respective "local grows," look carefully at this picture of Phil's latest starts and you will see that these are Humbolddt County redwood trees!!

He's convinced that we will be the first family in Puna to have their own redwood forest.  And, based on recent documentation from HSU and research on redwood trees, (from Many Hands Gallery, of course)  they do seem to be doing very well despite the climate shifts to warmer temperatures.

Aloha Redwoods!