Announcing...

The Dancer I will be painting in my Belly Dancer Series is 

AMEL TAFSOUT

Amel Tafsout is one of those people whom exudes a deep respect and appreciation for people.

Her dance journey is one of blessing others, by helping them gain more than knowledge of dance steps but the whole shebang: culture, costuming, and self expression.

She has lead a compelling and interesting life which she is going to share some of it with us tomorrow!

I hope you will return tomorrow to learn more about my conversation with her and see the progress of my painting of her.

Passion Moon Potions

All Natural Body Care Products

will be offering Chocolate Haupia Whipped Shea Cream

as this week's gift to a lucky reader!  

The Portrait of Amel Tafsout will be exhibited at this event...

email mauna.lea.studios@gmail.com for more details

The juiciest festival in Hawaii...

Mangofest is here!

The Big Island has double the fun with the Hawaii Healing Garden & Mango Festival Saturday, July 31 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort. This year’s Hawaii Island festival is a collaborative event with the Annual Mango Festival, expanding the flavors of the island’s summer mango season. Admission is free!

The all-day festival celebrates Hawaii’s delicious and diverse mango varieties, with juicy mango recipe and fruit tastings, a mango tree and plant sale, grafting and growing demonstrations, mango-themed activities, plus arts and crafts.

Also on tap are organic agriculture and cultural healing arts displays. 

Enjoy an Eco Fashion Show by Divine Goods,

Belly dancing by Stephanie Bolton & Liliana Alba, Hawaiian music and dramatic hula on the scenic, palm-fringed grounds of the Keauhou Beach Resort’s Royal Garden.

The annual mango celebration is a zero waste event and presented by Hawaii Health Guide and the non-profit Sanctuary of Mana Kea Gardens with support from the Keauhou Beach Resort. The event joins the statewide series of Hawaii Healing Garden Festivals, which offers an educational opportunity for the community to gather with cultural health practitioners, educators, botanical experts, chefs, nutritionists, gardeners, farmers, agriculture and sustainability experts, health-oriented businesses and nonprofit organizations to showcase Hawaii’s growing healthy, green services and cultural resources.

Why you will want to be there at 2:00pm for the Eco Fashion Show:

Make- up by Mindi Bachand

clothing from Divine Goods Hawaii... Oasis of Beauty

featuring Be Present Yoga wear

European Sparkle Dresses

Balinese Batik

And Haiku Hand-dyed silks

Accessories by Huluwuwu*

& Royal Crowns by Sahra Indio*

*available at Divine Goods Hawaii

Congratulations to...

AUSTIN APRILIA!!!

for your answer to 

If "they" would come- what would you build?

which was...

a dj ship, embedded with the dopest, most elaborate and heavenly sound booths and dance floors, decorated with lights and intricately costumed hosts, that travels continuously across oceans and along canals, pausing temporarily at harbors to throw massive multi-cultural dance parties. dj's and participants come and go as the ship cruises from city to city, country to country, bumping the freshest sounds of the world's dj's of every origin and every style.

You have been chosen by Kalae Kaina to win a lovely Indian necklace &; earring set

from my blog sponsor

An Oasis of Beauty

Please email Mauna.lea.studios@gmail.com 

to collect your prize

& thank you for playing with me!

The Nouveau Gypsy

Unveiling....

The Nouveau Gypsy

16x20"mixed media portrait on canvas of Kalae Kaina by Stephanie Bolton

Below is a sequence of the progress....

You will be able to see this painting and others in person for the first time ever at ...

This is going to be an exciting art show featuring my collection of dancer paintings, where Kalae will be performing with her troupe The Shakti Dance Movement.  There will also be fan & fire dancers and music.

A gypsy's paradise of jewelry, silks, arts & crafts in a bohemian night market at the Chinatown Courtyard in Down town Honolulu.  It is going to be exotic party to entice & delight your senses- I hope you'll be able to join us!

If "they" would come- what would YOU build?

leave a comment answering this question for a chance to win this Indian necklace and earring set from DIVINE GOODS

HAWAII

An Oasis of Beauty

Huluwuwu on Channel 9!!!!

I just wanted to share that one of my blog sponsors was on TV this morning!

Well, that is to say her fashionable baby products were!

Check it out!

BUT since that camera man did not even begin to do her products justice,

you will want to take a closer look at these goodies at her Etsy Shop.

Sneak peek

If "they" would come- what would YOU build?

leave a comment answering this question for a chance to win an Indian necklace/earring set from Divine Goods Hawaii

Kalae will be performing at the Art Show in Chinatown debuting the first public exhibition of my belly dancer portraits, October 1st 2010 at the Chinatown Courtyard in Downtown Honolulu. So I thought I would use this inside knowledge to make a painting that could act as a memory of this particular event.

A friend of mine gave me a mobile of little paper umbrellas that my loving children destroyed.

Once again I have redeemed their destruction by turning the fragments of it into collage elements for a painting.

Kalae was born and raised in Hawaii so I have thrown some subtle palms into the background of my painting to highlight the tropical island essence of her background.

Metallic paint, of which I have always been a fan anyhow, seems to pair nicely with the Oriental aspect of including Asian elements to set a tone of place.

Finally found an appropriate use for these Chinese coins my dear friend Braylene gave me a while back. I tried several different methods to clean them but they were oxidized beyond repair, so no good for a dance bra (which had been my original intention for them)...

covered in metallic paint however... they are perfect.

Here you can see I have used origami paper, orchid silhouettes, the trim from an Indian sari - the umbrella bits could be fans the way they are arranged... so I hope these bits and pieces bring together the bits and pieces of influences that we see Kalae fusing into her dancing.

I really think mixed media is the most appropriate way to illustrate belly dance because like belly dance- it brings together many different objects & influences to create a new & unique whole. This new creation composed of bits of old.

I'll show you more tomorrow!

Don't forget to leave a comment answering this question:

If "they" would come- what would YOU build?

What I have to work with...

Remember

leave a comment answering this question for a chance to win

an Indian necklace & earring set from Divine Goods Hawaii- Oasis of Beauty.

If "they" would come- What would YOU build?

I always ask for four images to work from.

That gives me some variety for my composition but also allows me to see my subject from a few different angles, which can help a lot- especially if I have never met them in person.

This profile shot was taken by Pixie Vision Productions.

This outfit has shot many well-known belly dancers and taken some signature photos, you probably would recognize. Really stunning work.

For almost a decade, the insightful lens of Pixie has captured the essence of the performer and created some of the defining images of the lucid dreamer in the modern world.

She has toured with numerous bands documenting life on stage and off, but it is in the studio where the veil between model and photographer dissipates. Her inner dialogue as a photographer is a dance between the character of her subject and her perception of their desire.

Pixie holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from the School of Visual Arts in New York City and her work has been featured worldwide in publications including Variety, Pulp Magazine, Playgirl, Metal Edge, Complete Woman, Skin & Ink, Modern Drummer, Revolver and Rolling Stone.

In photography, I've found a way to make people happy... besides the creativity, this is what I love most about it. The feedback seems to tell me that I make people feel better about themselves, love each other more... If this is my life work, I accept it.

"Make me look beautiful..." a mother of four asks of me as we find poses, angles and fabric to hide her size. Her friend writes me secretly days later how much the shoot meant to her, how desparately she wanted to FEEL beautiful, not just look beautiful. I saw the pleading in her eyes the moment I met her. We both turned it into fierceness... It is both of us working through fear... that is the psychology of photographing people...

My fear is easier to sort through... Will this person let me in? Will I capture that moment that she is brightest? Am I making the most out of a set, out of lighting and angles, of colors, props, clothes? Their fear is one of exposure... Each person gauges instantly what they will show me, what they will hide behind.. A big showy smile, wide scared eyes... Almost all of my clients begin a shoot this way, always with held breath. They all need permission to drop it, to be themselves, to shine... Tapping into people comes natural to me. I try to break down barriers faster with each successive shoot.

-Pixie

This one and the first one were taken by John E Powers.

This is more work by Pixie Vision Productions.

I have ended up taking bits and pieces from all of these photos and creating a collage, not just physically but compositionally of Kalae.

I'll show you some details of the painting tomorrow- so drop back in!

And remember to leave a comment answering the question...

If "they" would come- what would YOU build?