Liedeke Bulder Art

KAUAI REFLECTIONS

2020-10-04T18:55:00.001-07:00

KAUAI REFLECTIONS I, II, III

A few months ago I was invited to participate in a group mural exhibition at Viewpoints Gallery in Makawao, Maui, Hawaii.

The title of the exhibit is "2020 - Through the Eyes of the Artist". We were supplied with wooden panels, 10" x 10", and invited to share our expressions on life during these pandemic times. Artists from all the Hawaiian islands were invited and the finished panels consequently installed in the form of a continuous mural.

Since I was fortunate to receive three panels, my work took on a wider scope literally... Here is the brief statement I wrote to accompany the pieces:

"Here I am, on Kauai, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Beauty and peace restoring itself without the onslaught of visitors and no, or very low, virus presence....Yet, we are surrounded by and part of a world filled with fear and upheaval. How to maintain a balance of belonging and compassion without losing ourselves?"

Check out the show! All panels are for sale (also individually!) and the mural will be displayed through January 2021.

http://viewpointsgallerymaui.com/archive_featured/through_the_eyes_of_the_artists/index_through_the_eyes_of_the_artists.html

2020-05-13T19:28:00.003-07:00

BLUE JADE BLOOMS IN MY KAUAI GARDEN

My garden here on the garden island of Kauai, has been a true sanctuary and inspiration for me especially during these times of Covid-19.

Being born and raised in The Netherlands, gardening and flowers are in my blood. My first job as a young girl was in a nursery transplanting little seedlings. And as an artist, I continue to be drawn back to painting flowers. They are such metaphors for life and death. They bring solace and joy. “Earth laughs through flowers”, said Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Zeg het met bloemen”, say the Dutch, which translates to “say it through flowers”…

This year, the Dutch tulip farmers have had to destroy or plow under their endless fields of bulbs because of the lack of trade. Even the world’s most photographed Keukenhof gardens were closed to visitors this year and only visible digitally.

Not so in my Kauai garden! Years ago, by chance, I found a blue jade vine at the local Home Depot. And, to my amazement it took off and loved its spot in my backyard!

Strongylodon macrobotys, more commonly known as the jade vine, originates in The Phillippines. It grows from a woody trunk and its vines can grow as long as 18 meters or more. Needless to say, it keeps me pruning so as not to overtake everything else. However, the vine is not invasive! The flowers are an amazing turquoise to emerald to mint green, therefore the name: Blue Jade.

Take a look at my latest Blue Jade paintings!

You will find them under the gallery heading: Blooms of All Kinds.

Their titles are: MY GARDEN PATH, SEEKING THE GOLDEN LINING, JADE DANCE and EDEN.

Available through my website www.liedekebulderart.com or through www.hashisfineartgallery.com

2020-04-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

SPECIAL ART FOR SPECIAL TIMES

We are living in historic times indeed. For many of us our lives have been turned upside down in all kinds of ways. One way for sure is that it has brought many of us to pause and reflect on what was, what has changed and what the future may look like. Letting ourselves get too caught up in this obsessive spinning of thoughts is a bleak road to nowhere.

I thought that it might be a nice thing to share with you, in an affordable way, some art I created that comes from a different and quiet place:

The piece Nanosecond was created after an intense week of study with Zen Calligraphy Master Kazuaki Tanahashi. It is the Japanese enso circle, symbolizing the moment. The moment where we have everything we need right within us…. It is painted in deep silence and with total focus.

This piece “Turn, Turn, Turn” was inspired by the labyrinth and the Ecclesiastes text (also known as the Pete Seeger song). Labyrinths were created in early times for seekers who were not able to go and embark on far away pilgrimages. Instead we find them at churches, such as Chartres Cathedral in France and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. What beautiful metaphors for our human journeys! The black moths in Hawaiian mythology are messengers from Beyond… They put our hearts at peace with assurances that our loved ones, who have gone before, are all right….

Both of these pieces are available in a special edition of 50 archival prints in their original sizes, 24" x 16" on paper, and 12" x 12" either on canvas or paper respectively. Contact the artist or Hashi's Fine Art Gallery for more details.

In any event, I hope these pieces may bring you solace and/or be a focus for reflection or centering yourself in the time of Covid-19.

May Peace be with you!

Liedeke Bulder

April 2020

2020-01-23T16:38:00.000-08:00

CURRENT

Just wanted to share one of my latest mixed media drawings with you. I had such fun creating this piece. It is part of my exhibition "Roots to Wings" on view at Hashi's Fine Art Gallery in historic Hanapepe town on Kauai through Friday, January 31, 2020.

As always there is some general idea of what I want to express but the fun comes when I prepare the sheet of archival paper or canvas with a wash of bistre, a pigment made from the soot of burned walnut shells.

Paying close attention to the process, the work begins.... I see a line, a shape or form and I add to the piece using different drawing and mark making techniques to tell the story.

Weave your own story as the viewer: the movement or "current" is upward....

Earthbound, airborne....

Full Circle

2020-01-16T14:40:00.001-08:00

Roots to Wings IV, mixed media on paper.

20" x 12"

How serendipitous it is for an artist to receive the gift of "full circle" for his or her work. This happened to me a week ago when I was doing my turn of 'sitting' the gallery and this very alive woman, about my age, I think, walks in and is really touched by my work. She was a collector from the San Francisco Bay area and we made an instant connection on different levels... Not only did she "get" the work but was moved by it to the point of making a purchase of the last drawing I had finished for this new show "Roots to Wings".

The piece, like most of my art work, tells a story about the cycle of life and transformation. Here expressed with the movement from earth and darkness and roots to air, light and wings. From cocoon to butterfly.... not an easy, painless journey....

I felt the joy and reward of experiencing my creative gifts "gone full circle".

2020 A NEW DECADE and NEW WORK!!!

2020-01-06T17:34:00.000-08:00

A new decade! A new normal and some of it expressed in a showing of new work, my first solo feature show in almost a decade...

This last decade was a tough one: I walked the Lewy Body Dementia journey with my husband of almost 30 years and stopped really being in the creative flow for a while.... But I am back!!!

The above piece is called FREE. Inspired by several things; meditative labyrinth walks, the cycle of life, the breaking of the bonds of suffering, the Hawaiian witch moth (ascalapha odorata) purported to appear after the death of a loved one to ??? And that is indeed how it happened in our case!

You can see this work during the month of January at www.HashisFineArtGallery.com
I will be at the gallery on Thursdays 12-4;30 pm or email me for more info.

Our Human Condition

2013-03-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

ECCE HOMO 2003-2010

Collage, oil stick, bistre pigment wash on Stonehenge paper

28" x 20" (image size)

I am battling the tail end of a cold virus that has lingered for weeks. The good thing is that it has allowed me lots of down time and time to play with my website and even attempt to write a blog for the first time in about a year...

Also, time to reflect. It is the time of year for remembrance: 10 years since America was filled with war cries and started the Iraq war. It is the time of Passover and the time of Holy Week. A time to contemplate on our human condition...

I created the above piece over a period of 7 years. I started it at the beginning of the Iraq war. We were living in a community were most folks were very pro war. So this was a way to process and deal with my own feelings. I would collect the newspaper pieces and put them into a file then pull them out as the Spirit called me through the years to work more on this.

As you look at the bits, you can see a photograph of a 'mended' veteran's face, Abu Graib, a grieving woman dating back to the Haiti earthquake, and on and on. As I finished the piece when our troops left Iraq in 2010, I became aware that what had started as an outlet to process the beginning of the Iraq war, over the years evolved into a statement about our human condition.

I do not know how the quote "Love is the power behind non violence" ended up right at the place where the human heart would be in the crucifix figure... "Ecce Homo".

May this week be a profound time for Christian, Jew and all of us searching for Divine Mystery.

ORCHID MANIA

2012-03-05T18:18:00.000-08:00

SKYWALKER 2010, original mixed media work by Liedeke Bulder

Almost spring on Kauai. Winter winds and rain are still pounding our rock in the middle of the grand South Pacific but soon it will be time for the annual spring orchid show. This feast for the eyes is put on by the Garden Island Orchid Society at the United Church of Christ in Hanapepe, Kauai.

The title this year is SPRING FANTASY SHOW. Show times are on Friday, March 30 and 31, 2012. Hours are from 1:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Friday the 30th and 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Saturday the 31st. There is no entrance fee.

I am pleased to have been invited to share an art booth with the society's resident photographer Ada Koene. Ada will be selling her magnificent orchid photography. I will be offering cards and prints of my Orchid series especially created for this occasion. It will be a great opportunity for you to purchase images of my work at very affordable prices.

In addition to the show, there will be orchid plants for sale, and, of course, great food! Part of the proceeds from all sales go to support the programs of the Garden Island Orchid Society.

There will be an Orchid Doctor, Dennis Olivas, on duty on Friday the 30th at 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. Bring your sick plants!! There will be no charge for this service.

May the weather gods cooperate and bring us dry and sunny weather by then!

Mele Kalikimaka!

2011-12-21T17:15:00.000-08:00

MELE KALIKIMAKA / MERRY CHRISTMAS / HAPPY HANUKKAH

From my home and studio to you and yours!

Greetings to all of you near and far away friends, in cold and warm places. I think of each and every one of you and hope this finds you well as I am writing this from my computer corner in my studio looking out over the ocean.

More rain is pouring down outside. We are truly experiencing a Hawaiian winter here in the Kalaheo hill country! We have even had our fireplace on in the evenings more than once to ‘take the damp out of the air’ … Thinking back on all the sunny winter vacations we were fortunate to have on Kauai before moving here, I would say to the doubters out there: yes, I do believe in climate change…

Christmas on Kauai is a special time. Last week we attended performances by the Kauai Community College Jazz Band and the Brass Symphony. The evening went from Glenn Miller In the Mood to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker! Never mind the clarinet section was a little weak…the charming little ballerinas made up for it as well as the spirit of community and aloha here, the like of which I have not experienced anywhere else ever before. No room for pretense, I believe, or big city rush. The island will spit you out, back to where you came from, if the go with the flow way of island life does not sit with you…

It has been an exciting and busy year. In May our home was hit by lightening and we truly lost all our electronics! We were glad to not have had our house burn down. And, we were fine, even after the spaceship landed in the bedroom experience! The studio has been busy too. After shows this year at Halele’a Gallery in January and at Alley Kat Art in July, I am concentrating on playing with some new media. I am also doing some personal from the heart pieces processing some of the stuff that has happened in my life this year. I do hope for nine lives: too many exciting possibilities out there!

My moth orchid originals are - since last week - represented by Amy-Lauren’s Galleries in Hanapepe and Hanalei.(www.amylaurensgallery.com) and I am very pleased.

My spider orchids are now also found at Cedar Street Galleries in Honolulu. (www.cedarstreetgalleries.com).

Gicleé prints of my work are available through my studio. Check out my listing in Kauai Dining Art Shopping, page 20-21. And, of course, my website www.liedekebulderart.com.

Sending you love and best wishes for health and happiness in the new year to come!

With aloha,

A hui hou!

EPIPHYTIC

2011-06-30T23:22:00.000-07:00

Spiderwoman, mixed media on paper, 7" x 6"

I am back after quite a few months away from writing any blogs. Sometimes life gets too overwhelming and dear friends, sorry, but I am not that much of the digital age that I can pour my heart and soul out on line for all to see…

Yes I am back and opening a new exhibit this coming Saturday at Kat Cowan’s delightful little place in the alley at downtown Kapaa on the East side of Kauai Island on Kuhio Hwy.

The name of the show is EPIPHYTIC. I have been asked by a number of people: what is ‘epihytic’??

Epiphytic means: not drawing nourishment from other plants or ground but from air/moisture in the air and therefore not parasitic. I felt that to be a wonderful description for my orchid pieces. For me orchids are metaphors for us humans. Here today, gone tomorrow. We are earthbound with all our ego frills, vanities and needs yet spiritual beings on a journey to a higher dimension.

In this exhibit I am still on my orchid binge. Not necessarily only moth orchids like before but EPIPHYTES for sure. The majority of orchids grow as epiphytes on trees where suitable regimes of light and humidity occur. Most of the critters featured in this show are free floating, suspended in air, no roots. There will be a few of my moth orchid images as well. But the featured orchid is the spider orchid. And, yes, I did have someone in mind when creating some of the new, smaller pieces.

Opening reception should be lots of fun with live music by the New Old School band, refreshment, pupus, fire dancing. Kat throws a great party!

Hope to see you there. If not, the show runs through the summer and comes down 9/29/11.

Gallery will be closed, however, last week of August and first week of September!

A hui hou!

http://www.alleykatart.com/ http://www.liedekebulderart.com/

Hanapepe Cafe and Bakery

2011-04-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I hung one of my orchid paintings titled “Bridge over Troubled Water” in the Hanapepe Café at the invitation of owner and book group friend Helen Lacono. With that title, a nostalgic memory to us baby boomers, the painting makes an appropriate (and elegant, I might add) backdrop on the performance stage of the Café. On Friday nights, and sometimes during the luncheon hour, Kauai artist Cindy Combs performs her beautiful slack key guitar music there.

I love the Hanapepe Café and Bakery. Especially the Bakery!! Helen and her daughter Andrea have made the Café an anchor of historic Hanapepe Town with its collection of galleries and businesses and famous swinging bridge.

Our book group is reading Sara Miles' spiritual memoir "take this bread". An amazing book about a left-wing, lesbian journalist's conversion to Christianity. Food for thought while we are being fed in the flesh by Helen's lovingly prepared breakfast spread one morning a week. Kauai is an amazing place. I could have never imagined in my wildest dreams about 'retiring on this island' to find such community, such sharing and beauty on all levels...

Every Friday night Hanapepe town comes alive with musical performances in the street and people browsing the galleries during the weekly Art Walk. And that night Helen Lacono puts on a feast at the Hanapepe Café. The place feels like having dinner at grandma’s house… Comfort food, healthy food, deserts to die for…

Recently, we took my ‘baby’sister and husband there. They had come to visit me all the way from the Netherlands. It was their first time in Hawaii and their last meal on island before their return the next morning. We feasted on wild mushroom soup, paella and the best pineapple parfait ever.

Thank you Helen, Andrea, Mary and all the wonderful staff!

Reservations are a must for two seatings at 5pm and 8:30 pm.
　

Shipwreck Beach

2011-02-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

It is in the blood.. Born in a country where so much of the land has been reclaimed from the sea, I now live in a place surrounded by ocean and equally threatened by the elements of wind and water.

One of the gifts of having visitors come to see us here, is that I get to see the beauty that surrounds me with fresh eyes. While winterstorms rage all over, we walk barefoot in the sand.

Recently my 'baby'sister and husband came to visit all the way from the Netherlands. I took them on our favourite walk from Brennecke's Beach to Shipwreck's Beach along the ancient Hawaiian fishing grounds. There is so much mana in those old rocks.. We see a glimpse from days of old in a local fisherman throwing his net or casting a line... Much has changed but the smell of seaweed, the salt and the wind surely remain the same...

I painted this location once shortly after moving here. I wanted to capture everything there was to see in this beautiful place in a painting then. Something you can take home and say, I was there.. The people who own the original loved it because their girls grew up surfing on Shipwreck Beach.

I remember being inspired to paint the location: it was a late afternoon and kind of overcast. Black mountain mostly in the clouds. It was fun to try and capture the force of the surf in acrylic paint on canvas. I am not a plein air painter per se. So I sketched and photographed and then made it my own in the studio later on.
The prints of this work continue to bring joy as as a memory to take home. You can find it on my website, http://www.liedekebulderart.com/. in the gallery 'Kauai Skies and Stuff'.

I am trying to learn from the sea turtles swimming around the coves of the sacred fishing grounds at Shipwreck Beach. Moving on. Going with the flow of life. Once wanting to capture it all in a pretty picture. Now letting go of certainty and definition. Oh my goodness, do milestone birthdays have something to do with that??

Spider Orchids

2011-01-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

Spider Orchids

Free Fall, mixed media on paper, 30" x 22"

Spider Orchid

The picture on the invitation of my ongoing exhibition is of a mixed media painting called Free Fall.

I was asked to write a few paragraphs on the work.

As an artist I have mixed feelings about that. Of course, I like to talk about my work but also I feel that the work is there for an audience. The viewer hopefully will connect with the piece.
He or she will feel pulled in and connect with their own story. A title is an entrance but art is not a formula..

Having said that, I love orchids. And, in Kauai they grow without (almost) any effort! I plant them by my front door after their indoor shine has worn off. The spider orchid obviously liked where I put it because it recently has shown its gratitude calling out to me with many budding stems..

I could not resist: out came the sketchbook then the camera. Then into the studio.. I went to work in my usual way: preparing paper with gesso. Applying a bistre wash. Waiting to see what the paper was telling me: first I thought spider shapes, then they became stars, then dancers, then skydivers, or whatever. I had fun keeping the shapes and patterns taut and tight against the looseness of the flowing wash.

Free Fall: no roots, no stems, no nurturing leaves. Just out there: letting go. We are all like flowers...