Featured Cover Artist: Patricia Leo
The holiday theme of artist Patricia Leo’s painting showcased on this issue’s cover is a dreamlike scene from a magical, enchanted forest in Hawai‘i, illustrated in vibrant, glowing colors.
Part of her ongoing series, 16 years of Christmas in Hawai‘i, she describes it as “celebrating the beauty and simplicity of the special way that the Christmas season sparks the aloha spirit here.”
From her home studio in Puna, Patricia finds inspiration all around. She has her workplace available at all times of the day or evening. Her Koa‘e home is surrounded by wise old trees and rainforest jungle that is so thick and vibrant that one can feel it growing all around you.
Patricia first arrived in Hawai‘i in February 1974 on the island of Kaua‘i. “My first true residence there was a treehouse community called Taylor Camp, which has now become a feature-length documentary.” (TaylorCampKauai.com/live)
It was there she met her husband, Andy, and, with their son Josh, moved to Hawai‘i Island in 1979.
“Andy builds all my canvases from the ground up, cutting the wood, making the frame, and stretching the canvas,” says the self-taught artist.
“I love painting with acrylics on those canvases, on watercolor paper, and on fabric, which I then use for my quilted baby blankets. I use various techniques, freely exploring further horizons that painting in this versatile medium allows.”
“I find that ideas, visions, and inspiration fly into my thoughts from any angle at any moment in time. I like to work from my sketches or photos. To sit down at the workspace, refreshed and ready for the day of painting, is most ideal. At times, the vision of how I want to express an idea on the canvas reveals itself so clearly that there is only one thing to do—paint then and there. I will often bring a painting I am working on into my bedroom, where, upon awakening with the first gaze of morning, I clearly see where I’m going with the piece and where I want to go next.”
“I am beyond in love with the beauty of Hawai‘i. From my very first footsteps on the Nāpali Coast Trail of Kaua‘i, to looking in any direction in my yard, I can feel ideas coming to me that become inner visions of the artwork that I want to create.”
Patricia has a number of named series for her paintings. “I have different realms in which I like to dwell for my paintings. When finished, each one finds a comfy place in my collection.”
Some of her series titles are Path of Gold, Back in the Day, Exploring the Gem that is Puna, Loose and Flowing Watercolors, Mandalas, Seascapes and Waves, Above and Below the Ocean, and her newest inspiration—Childhood, my Violet.
“A highlight for me this year has been the completion and publication of my children’s book, Little One.”
“My other strong, creative urge is to make dolls, elves, fairies, felted creations, and baby blankets, with a Waldorf influence for the children in my life,” she says.
Patricia’s home studio is open to visitors by appointment. It is located in Koa‘e on the Beach Road or Wa‘a Wa‘a road, not far from the 1960 lava flow in Kapoho.
Some of her original paintings may also be seen in Dreams of Paradise Gallery in downtown Hilo and at Jungle Love in Pāhoa and Kailua-Kona.
Contact Patricia Leo: LeosArt.com
808.936.2568
Karen Valentine
Karen, along with Barbara Garcia, envisioned and created Ke Ola Magazine in 2008. She acted as co-publisher and editor until 2012. She has lived in Hawai‘i since 1999 and has family on Hawai‘i Island. She was co-publisher of Hawai‘i Island Journal until 2005, when she moved to Honolulu for two years. She has worked as an advertising copywriter, publisher of several magazines in Michigan, book editor and writer for such magazines as Hawai‘i Business, Enterprise magazine, Southwest Michigan Living, and Better Homes & Gardens. Karen has a college degree in journalism and art, and is a practitioner of Hawaiian cultural arts, including hula. She enjoys sailing her yacht throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
