You might wonder what a mermaid could possibly lament, but if, like many women, you enjoy a new pair of shoes, this painting is self-explanatory.

The Mermaid's Lament celebrates whimsy, light-hearted fun, and perhaps a moment of sadness or regret ... one we can live with.

While we all have something in life we could "grouse about", why would we? Complaining rarely changes our situation for the better, and often makes us feel worse.

Instead, let's decide to look for the best life has to offer, no matter what our circumstances seem to be. 

Appearances can be deceiving. Artist and illustrator Rene Magritte once said, "Everything we see hides another thing."

What would this mermaid be without her tail but another woman with red high heels?

We don't really need another one of those, do we?

Let's all celebrate our own circumstances, no matter what they may be.

Join me every Tuesday morning at 11AM when I teach a FREE 30-minute Speed Watercolor Painting Class at Kuloko Arts Gallery at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach in Waikiki.

Using five bright watercolor paints from Cheap Joes and 90# Arches watercolor paper we paint our masterpieces. Each turtle (honu in the Hawaiian language) is as unique as we all are.

This is a great fun way to spend 30 minutes creating a memory to last a lifetime. Plus you have your own art to take home to grace your walls.

While at the gallery, check out hundreds of creations made by 35 artists living in Hawai`i. Watch art take shape before your eyes as a different artist paints, draws, or makes jewelry in the gallery every day.

Other FREE30-minute classes at Kuloko include an acrylic painting class at 4 PM on Mondays with artist Rebecca Snow, and a colored pencil class at 7:30 PM on Wednesdays with artist Teri Inouye.

Yesterday my friend Tamara Moan took me and another friend, Frances Hill, on a trip around Whole Foods in Kailua to teach us the ins and outs of keeping an Artistic Travel Journal.

Here you see Tamara showing us one of her many travel journals; this one is an accordion book. She's been creating her travel journals for at least 14 years, and has stacks of them. Whenever she leafs through them, she is transported back to the time and place of her trip.

A Travel Journal is the perfect way to record a trip, stay creative, and have fun, all at the same time!

Frances, Tamara, and I wandered around Whole Foods for an hour, recording what we saw. I can honestly report that the people working at Whole Foods do an amazing job creating beautiful visual displays! I wandered through twice and look at all that I found:

I started out sketching really really fast, unsure of what I would find, I wanted to capture as much as I could. I soon realized that if I wanted to recognize anything at the end of the journey, I would have to slow down a bit.

Sure enough, if you look closely, you will find tropical flowers, beets, peppers, fish, cheese, loaves of bread, even a baby that was sitting in one of the carts (yes, I asked permission first).

If you've ever thought of keeping a travel journal, I highly recommend it. Obviously you don't have to go far from home to find something interesting to record! We had a great time, the hour flew by, and we treated ourselves to a glass of wine and a slice of pizza at the end. Thank you Tamara and Frances for a truly memorable morning at Whole Foods!

AND, sometimes it's Not Art If Everybody Likes It!

There seems to be a very fine line defining ART. I don't mean the distinction between art and craft.

There is art, "fine art", "suitcase art", representational art, abstract art, inspirational art, contemporary art, renaissance art, primitive art, -- it's ALL ART!

There is no a "one-size-fits-all" definition for art. Art is a form of human expression and we are at the same time all so similar to AND all so very different from one another. Thank Goodness!