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...??)