My daily walk in Paradise

I walk. A lot. I walk a minimum of an hour a day and sometimes two hours and get to see interesting things that people in cars often miss: flowers. trees, fabulous clouds, nature's tropical gifts. I gave up driving 22 years ago and never looked back, the beauty of Hawaii still shocks and astounds me daily, with its' fabulous colors so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites today. Noticing details in the natural world really inspires my artwork and gives me a sense that all is right in the world:

 Desert Rose

Banyan Tree

Kaimana Beach

Red seaglass pendant necklaces - NEW!

Red is the new trend for Fall!  Feeling very productive this past weekend, I made four, red, seaglass pendant necklaces (actually they are faux, or tumbled glass).  They are wrapped in copper-core, silver wire with beads and shells and I put them on a sterling silver  24" or 18" chain or green, silk cord.  Special price; $15.  Email me if interested: swartzkopf@yahoo.com

"Darth the Dragonfly"

Here he is, fresh outta the studio: "Darth the Dragonfly", my latest and greatest original, watercolor and water-based acrylic (the gold parts). I chose the name because I think his head looks like Darth Vader's mask-like head, so he may appeal to you Star Wars fans, too, lol:

Jellyfish Paintings

I have created lots of Jellyfish paintings in the last three years. They lend themselves easily to my creative, abstract style. I love how they are full of motion and color, free and yet they are also dangerous creatures in real life, a wonderful contradiction. I plan to do more Jellyfish paintings soon~

"Hawaiian Warrior Jellyfish", prints available here:http://fineartamerica.com/featured/hawaiian-warrior-jellyfish-erika-swartzkopf.html

 

"24-Karat Jellies" ~ Buy a print here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/24-karat-jellies-erika-swartzkopf.html

 

 "Psychedelic Jellyfish" ~ prints available here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/psychedelic-jellyfish-erika-swartzkopf.html

 "Clyde the Jellyfish" ~ Prints available here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/clyde-the-jellyfish-erika-swartzkopf.html

 

 "Gold Jellies"~ Original available, email me:swartzkopf@yahoo.com and prints available here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/gold-jellies-erika-swartzkopf.html 

 "Sunny-Side-Up Jellyfish" ~ Original available (email me:swartzkopf@yahoo.com)

"Lion's Mane Jellyfish" ~ Prints available here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/psychedelic-lions-mane-jellyfish-erika-swartzkopf.html

The New House and a friend's Memorial~

Hi All!  We have emerged from moving our house finally, Hooray!  It was kinda funny (well, NOW it is, lol) that I woke up last Saturday morning, the day we were supposed to move the big furniture with a raging eye infection. I couldn't wear my contacts because my eyes were so irritated, so I tried to find my glasses (packed up in any one of TEN boxes, accckkk!)  Finally found them and the rest of moving went pretty smoothly and by the end of the day, I had everything unpacked and decorated, check out the cool pics, I think we will be very happy here in the Kapahulu house:

Living Room

Kitchen area

Living Room

Our Bedroom

Spare Room

My husband and I also played music at a friend's memorial on what would have been her birthday. Sad, yet fitting because so many people came out and played music or came just to honor her and she would have loved it. We will never forget you, Maggie!!  It sure makes you put into perspective the little, bitty problems of everyday life when compared to fighting cancer. Life is fleeting, so enjoy it!. Here are some pictures of us playing:

Two Abstracts and I'm moving house this week!

So you all know how moving from one house to another goes: pack everything up til you're not sure where anything is and bring it all to the new place to find it all again and unpack until finally everything emerges and the world is right once again. I'm almost at the end but not quite, big furniture to be moved tomorrow and then unpacking will commence. Here are two older abstracts to distract you and next week we will be all settled !!

 

"Circus" ~ 11" x 15" watercolor on paper

"Flowers Trip" ~ watercolor and pen on paper

Staycation and my new Stand-Up Comedy hobby~

Stay-cacation, sweet Stay-cation!  Boogie-boarded Waimanalo, snorkled Diamond Head, found a new, bigger place to live and started to do stand-up comedy~ life is good here in Hawaii!

Diamond Head, me and Joe ;)

Sweet Waimanalo (below), love these waves the best!

So, I started doing stand-up comedy. It all started with a joke contest at the Dragon Upstairs at Andy Bumatai's weekly Comedy Showcase, Andy is a famous, local comedian here on Oahu. Young comedians get up and do their bits and Andy tells jokes between them. At the end, there is a joke contest and the 2nd place winner gets pop tarts, 1st place get steak knives. below are pics from the week I won the knives, it was pretty exciting!

Andy hamming it up for the crowd, bestowing the coveted steak knives upon me. How funny is it for comedians to give away steak knives, lol? here is the joke that won me the knives:

A young New York woman was so depressed that she decided to end her life by throwing herself into the ocean, but just before she could throw herself from the docks, a handsome young man stopped her.

"You have so much to live for," said the man. "I'm a sailor, and we are off to Italy tomorrow. I can stow you away on my ship. I'll take care of you, bring you food every day, and keep you happy."

With nothing to lose, combined with the fact that she had always wanted to go to Italy , the woman accepted. That night the sailor brought her aboard and hid her in a small but comfortable compartment in the hold. From then on, every night he would bring her three sandwiches, a bottle of red wine, and make love to her until dawn. Two weeks later she was discovered by the captain during a routine inspection.

"What are you doing here?" asked the captain.

"I have an arrangement with one of the sailors," she replied. "He brings me food and I get a free trip to Italy ."

"I see," the captain says.

Her conscience got the best of her and she added, "Plus, he's screwing me."

"He certainly is," replied the captain. "This is the Staten Island Ferry ."

Then, the next week, Andy gave me a 3 minute set. The pressure was on but I did well with my Haole and Waiter bits!

Then, I was asked back the next week and expanded my set to 10 minutes and the Pake Landlord bit was born! Luckily, people liked it. I must have practiced it ten million times~

Going back this week to do another set, and working on a mermaid painting commission stay tuned!