Times Kailua Mural

(I know it's Tokyo Central's wall now, but as a Kailua girl - it will always be Times!)

Day 0:

My dad and brother helped with the projection. I know some people don't think using projection is art, but I don't feel that way about this because my design was handdrawn and not traced for the original. To go large scale like this on a professional project I just don't have enough practice to do it in the required amount of time. I hope one day I can do it without a projector.

It took a while to get set up and then it started raining so we actually didn't get much traced. We finished around 10pm. It was so fun to be up there at night. I could see all of Kailua town. Super grateful to my family. They are all stepping in to help. We're all from Kailua so this mural means a lot to all of us.

Day 1:

Today started out rough. I accidentally scraped the car on a short metal post - as if I needed another thing to worry about and fix right now! I called my dad shed a few -- okay a lot of tears. He talked me through it and reminded me that these things happen in life and no one got hurt and nothing else got damaged and the car can be fixed. That plus having to wait till my husband got done with work meant I got a late start. I painted for maybe 30 minutes and then a sweet hoailona happend -- I got to meet the family of one of the women I am portraying in this piece.  This is Pat and Adah. They were absolutley full of light and mana and were everything I needed on this first day. They talked to me about Bella Richards and asked me about the design.

After they left. I painted for another 10 minutes before it started raining and we had to call it a day. The rain is definitely making it difficult! How do other muralist do it?!

Day 2

I feel like I'm in a crash mural course and it's pretty awesome. Today I used the doodle grid techinque to sketch out the rest of the mural. I tried to use this app that's supposed to stream from your phone to your ipad so you can trace, but that didn't work cause the wall is so big so I had to go with plan c - the doodle grid. I actually really liked the doodle grid and it almost made the design more meaningful because now there's an extra layer in there that no one will see, but I know it's there. I made the doodle grid about Kailua and I don't have a very good picture of it cause the pens I used were not strong.

This did pose a little bit of a problem as the sun got hotter the pen disappeared. In a way though it was nice so then I didn't have to cover it up after.

Overall a good day! Made progress and excited for tomorrow.

Day 3

My brother came to help me today. He was so quick. He pretty much did the whole Olomana Gradient all by himself. It rained on us giving me time to grab him some lunch as a small thank you. He's been awsome. Showing me the ropes with the lift and just basic construction etiquette. It's kinda a dream come true working with him cause I look up to him a lot.

Day 4

My mother in law came to help today. She helped to blend Olomana's gradient and brush the paint to the very bottom of the wall which was so helpful! I worked on the top details and put in the bright kalo. It's all really bright right now. We'll see if I have to tone down that orange lau later after I put in the people and Olomana.

Day 5

I actually forgot to take an after picture from today's half day, but I did take a morning picture. These colors GLOW!!!! in the sunrise. I was up at 5am to get some hours in before the blasting heat and also there was a huge volleyball tournament going on so I didn't want to be there the whole day. Went home at noon and hung out with the kids.

Day 6

Day 7

Day…10?

Day 11:

Thanks for stopping by Micah and ohana! How special that you brought Aunty Lani’s great great grandson to meet her. What an honor to have been here for that. Send me the picture you took and I can put it up here on the blog 

Day 13:

Sorry guys! I thought this blog would be manageable, but my focus has been on painting and I keep forgetting to update the blog. Today we had some family members of these wahine stop by. If you're ohana to these wonderful wahine and reading this I just want you to know that it's an honor to paint them and I've spent many hours reading about them and studying their faces. I have felt them very near especially when you visit. It's a work in progress so please know that when you stop by, what you see might not be the finished result. This week is focusing in on the faces and getting them just right. I cleaned up the edges of the background so I can focus on the portraits. It sure is tricky!! The scale and wanting to do it without using a projector has made it full of life, but also a slow and meticulous process. I worked all day on Aunty Pilahi today trying to get her eyes right. I'll be working on Aunty Bella and Aunty Lani tomorrow and the next day.

Day who knows:

Worked till 7pm so I didn't get a good picture. I had to make up for missing yesterday due to the Tsunami warning. 😠

Here's a picture that a friend Ula took while walking by one day. I think she captured the colors so nicely and look at how it blends with the sky. Don't mind the faces in this one cause they were just sketches and have since improved.

Day Done:

Well this has been quite a journey! The other day while I was painting a young boy came with his father to watch and his father told me how much his son has loved watching the progress and reading the blog. I was going to call the blog quits, but because of that little boy I'm bringing it back! This section is dedicated to you young man! I can tell you're going to be a future artist!

The day to finish was Wednesday the 7th of August. I dropped off my kids at school and as I turned the corner to go to the mural I couldn't believe my eyes - There was a gorgeous, full rainbow stretching over the entire mural. I only got video and forgot to take a picture so you'll have to watch the video on IG or something to witness it, but it was a straight hoailona (sign)! My kane said he was doing research on hoailona and Mary Kawena Pukui explained that there can be two parts to hoailona anuenue. The first part is seeing the hoailona and the second part is the hoike or the part where you get the impression of what it means.

The hoike I got after seeing this hoailona yesterday was that these kupunawahine, after seeing all of the love I put in to this project and the struggle, wanted me to know that they accepted my work. It was a pure moment and I wish you could have all been there with me. It was a moment that taught me that this was never really my mural and that I was always being guided through it. I was just the paintbrush!

The rest of the day was sunshine and rainbows. Everything came together, the wall passed inspection by A&B, and some of my closest friends and family came by to give me a hug.

There is so much that could be said about this design, these women, and this project. Part of me wants you to know it all, but the other part of me feels that the magic of it for you is discovering parts of it yourself and not troubling yourself with all the parts that I had to go through as an artist.

I'm sure more will come with time. The side wall short wall at some point will have a little written on it about each of the wahine, but until then I want you to know that I felt the love of these wahine for you. I felt that they loved all of Kailua - from the transplants to the old timers. I didn't feel that they loved all of the changes, but I felt that they believed in us to do better and to not forget the importance of community.

Mahalo i Ke Akua no kana alakai ana ia'u i keia hana paakii. Nana no i hoopakele ia'u i na wa popilikia mao kuu mau kupuna. Na lakou i kakoo ia'u, na lakou i hapai ia'u i loko o ke kaumaha, mai lakou mai ka mana e hooko i keia hana nui. Mahalo nui, mahalo.

7am light

6 am light - my favorite time to see it. The literally look like they are glowing embers!