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About the Artist
A little about me:
I got my start living 2½ blocks from Kailua Bay on the north shore of Oahu with my fam.
What an exquisite way to begin a life! The white powdery sand, sparkling turquoise ocean, and warm balmy breezes rustling through the palm trees were pure paradise for a keiki like me. Can you even imagine?
My father was then transferred to the Bay Area when I was 4. We moved to Napa. At the time prunes and walnuts were the main crops upvalley, north of Napa town before grapes and the boutique wine industry took hold.
Growing up in the valley was fairly uneventful. I could hardly wait to leave Napa, so I moved upvalley to a 40-acre back-to-the-land commune in the hills above Oakville when I was 20.
We were a bunch of hippies growing our own organic vegetables, raising chickens, ducks, geese and a milk cow named Rosie. Our summer parties were epic, since we had a spring-fed Olympic-sized swimming pool!
Then, my mom bought me a ticket to Hawaii to see my roots, my first trip there since I was a keiki. My life was about to change in ways I couldn't even dream of in a million years.
My first stop: Kona, on Big Island. As the plane descended, I peered out the window and all I saw was miles and miles of black lava rock. It looked like the moon and I literally panicked. I had no idea!
When I walked down the stairs from the plane and my left foot hit the tarmac, a jolt of energy shot up my leg like electricity. I felt like I was "home" for the first time in my life. I was stunned.
So, I bummed around the islands for a few weeks, then hightailed it back
Lava fields...forever
The road from our land at 2200' thru coffee plantations
to the mainland, sewed up my life there, and prepared for my move to Kona. The magnetic pull could not be denied!
After getting my affairs in order, I flew back to Kona, and settled in mauka Captain Cook at 2200' elevation with my partner. Our 13 acres shared a boundary line with watershed land. Literally right next to us was a jungle, untouched.
We were off-grid, using alternative energy sources for power and a rain-catchment system for water. We lived in a self-created bubble, unconnected from the rest of the world, in a remote area of a remote island, 2000+ miles from the nearest continent. I thrived on this basic, simple lifestyle and developed a deep attunement to the aina, the land.
With the rainy weather and mineral-rich volcanic soil, the plants thrived, some growing to gigantic proportions straight out of Jurassic Park!
Six years later, we moved down the hill to our 1-acre, on-grid property near Kainaliu. It was here that my painting odyssey began when I enrolled in a watercolor painting class with a local artist.
At the first class, I came away with a more than decent painting, such that the instructor said, “You have something here, you must keep going." And I did!
All my major watercolor paintings were created when I lived on the Kainaliu property, with its myriad of exotic tropical plants, trees, fruit and flora. We had rare Ornamental Banana and Torch Ginger; aromatic cedar; lychee; royal palm; banyan; orchids; monstera; lilikoi (passion fruit), papaya, and many varieties of ferns and palms.
The glorious, pastoral Sonoma Valley (artist unknown)
Life in Kona was right out of a storybook, yet, after 16 years, it came time to reintegrate back into mainland life.
I moved back to the Bay Area into a quaint cottage in an oak grove on a hilltop overlooking the Sonoma Valley.
This was classic wine country, with rolling hills, rustic laid-back vibe, fine wines, sparkling full moons and gourmet cuisine. And roses!
To this day, when someone asks if I miss Hawaii, my first thought is always the ocean...the crystal clear skies, warm white sand....and tree-ripened Haden mango, and, and, and….I could go on and on!!
Design Life
The Borg
Sleeping Fairy Baby + Bunny
The Family
Prototype Design
When I worked for Willits Designs, my titles were Paint Master Painter and Senior Color Consultant.
I hand-painted the prototypes of resin figurines that were used for photographs for the catalog and sent to the factory in Asia to be hand-painted and sold commercially.
The subject matter ran the gamut ~ the Borg, Jesus, little piggies, baby fairies, carousel horses, and a line called Ebony Visions, portraying the beauty, culture and dignity of African-American culture.
Product Development
Wooden Merry-Go-Round
My favorite job ever was when I worked as a Product Developer for HearthSong Children's Catalog. We created European-style wooden toys and other products for kids.
Think the movie 'Big'. I played with and designed toys for a living! Our new product meetings were so much fun.
In addition to items produced in-house, HearthSong carried children's products that companies would send us samples of hoping we would carry them in our catalog.
The "free" table in the lunchroom was like Christmas.
I was the lead on this Wooden Merry-Go-Round, inspired by a simple, unpainted version that one of my colleagues had as a child. I measured and drew the plans, chose the pantone colors and was the liason between HearthSong and the factory in Asia.
By combining these diverse facets of my creativity:
graphic + web design
prototype + product design
photography + photo editing
textile design, and writing....
I have created Canvas Prints + Art Merch with images of
my original watercolor paintings printed on them
The entire scope of this endeavor has been deeply fulfilling + happy making!
