Serendipitous Meeting of Authors on Maui

Colors often inspire my paintings and my writings. Colors that I see around me, everywhere, such as the glazes on Arabella’s pottery. These colors were pulsating through the ocean waves off Flemings beach this morning as a canoe race from Maui to Molokai began off Fleming’s shore. The paddlers and the multi-colored canoes were one with the sea green and light blue hues of the choppy ocean waves.

By chance, during my weekend “inspiration gathering” trip to Maui, I met well known Maui author and ceramic artist, Arabella Ark. I had previously read about the artist who lives in a secluded homestead in Hana producing amazing pottery but had never met her. While admiring the graceful pottery on display (shown in the background) I was thrilled to finally see some of Arabella’s work in person and commented, “oh wow, this is Arabella’s work, it is incredible!” From somewhere in the gallery, I heard a buoyant voice chime in, “Well I’m Arabella”. And that began our colorful exchange of thoughts and ideas on art, writing, publishing, the environment, local politics, goals, friendship, and possible future conversations and sharing. We swapped books as typical island persons would do with one another. I think the smiles on our faces tell the rest of the story.

Get out there and explore your surroundings! You might just be surprised.