Painted church

St. Benedict's Church, south of Kona.

I love little country churches, and there are plenty on Hawai'i's Big Island. This is one of two "painted churches." You go through the portico into a tiny space all painted with religious scenes. I particularly remember one from Hell (possibly inspired by the nearby volcano), but others are happier. The supporting posts are swirls of color like candy canes. Ceiling is painted too --no inch untouched. And no doors: it's built like a three-sided box, with the open porch on the fourth. Over to your left is a steep cemetery, with graves marching down to the Pacific. But of course, not all the way down. It's far.

Eeek--my Volcano!

The volcano on my table has erupted, & it's not pretty. But see that tiny scrap at top right? It says, "Bueno."

Volcano vision

Top* is where I am, bottom is where I was Saturday, at the end of a fabric + collage workshop with Maya Schonenberger. The idea is to collage a landscape. When I got home, I wanted to change what I'd done. So I closed the door, put on Hawai'ian music, and ...

1. First you make a base. Mine is burlap, cotton, felt, silk, packing material, magazine pages, & a little paint. Saturday I had a violet sky. Now it's black.

2. Glue all those pieces onto (19" x 19") plain white cotton.

3. Next, stitch it down.

4. Then layer with lava, smoke & fire.

I feel like a little god, making things.

*The pink is my tablecloth.

Hawai'ian Quilts

Best part of my Hawai'ian quilt pilgrimage was the surprise of talking to people who share my passion. It zapped right through formalities. There were two small quilt shops, one in Volcano, HI, and the other in Waimea, where I saw a few fine Hawai'ian quilts. The upper photo shows one. I know! it's blurry. One woman said she can't get her teenage daughter interested, because quilting is so painstaking & kids want immediacy. Another told me that grandmas today are out working or watching the grandkids while their moms & dads work; they don't have time to quilt. So, she said, families are keeping the old quilts for themselves as they become rare. You can still get cruder versions in the open-air tourist markets, & these are on the beds of many guest houses. Here's the site that led me to Big Island quilt shops.

My favorite was Dragon Mama in Hilo, HI. Japanese fabric (costly). Rice paper screens and rice pillows made to order. I bought kimono scraps of indigo-dyed cotton and brilliant rayons/ silks, which you can see in the bottom photo.

Volcano 'Copter

Our helicopter ride over Kilauea Volcano was my biggest Hawai'i thrill. The pilot took this photo just before takeoff. Then she lifted off, with six of us aboard. We gazed down into a tube of red lava that was like plumbing under the mountain's skin,

and over swaths of blackened lava that has hardened sharp enough to strip the soles off soles of hikers' shoes, and into the blackened garden and house of a man who refused to leave the mountainside. He thumbed his nose at the volcano as it surrounded his home. (He trudges several miles to get a ride to Wal-Mart for supplies. AND he welcomes overnight guests.) This eruption began in 1983 and continues today.