The story behind this painting.
For a while I was looking for something that would inspire me to paint. I had been looking in the many files of pictures that I have, pictures taken from our 3 recent trips to Tahiti. Fresh in my mind were the sharp vivid colors from the pacific islands with the sweet smells of flowers, the wild surfs, waves, plants, everything so beautiful. I knew it would come to me.
For me it is always about things that I love. A few months passed with nothing that came specially to my mind. But then, one morning I woke up knowing. Sat at the computer and started looking for the pictures I had taken from the trou souffleur, or the blow hole. Maman et papa had taken Jim and I multiple times there. They had taken us also when Vaite, my daughter, had gone on a trip with us. It brought back many sweet and happy memories. So I will share those too for this watercolor has a story to tell and I would hope that who ever ends up with it will hear it too.
Pass Papenoo where we did some fun body surfing, not too far from there, is the trou souffleur. It has retained its wild and primitive feel. The reef is right there onto the beach, the waves crashing not far, only a few feet away, breaking over black rocks jutting out from the mountain that is right at our backs, the eyes looking out to the sea as far as it can go , to the horizon.
This is the trou souffleur, unchanged from when I saw it when I was a little girl and now almost 50years later. The only difference is that back then, we could walk on the rocks, feel the spray of the blowing wave on our faces, look down into the blow hole itself. Now we are safely up on the road behind the rails.
So the blow hole is on the left and on the right is this beautiful, pristine, untouched, black sand beach. I brought back some sand from that small beach. It is coarse and very black with not a grain of white sand in it. It shines in the sun. You can tell it comes from volcanic rocks. On hot sunny days, walking barefoot only for a few minutes sends us all running to cool our burning feet in the cool water.
I have to pause. What we are looking at is actually the road, which is a very narrow road, hugging the mountain side. The last trip we took, I took a video of Jim, my husband, and Vaite, my daughter, and my brother Moe, and 3 or 4 of Vaite’s cousins, huddling on the side of that same mountain wall, to observe a hole which blows air at the same time that a wave goes through the blow hole. We were trying not to get run over by any cars coming by. As you can see, there is not a lot of space for cars, let alone cars and us.
So here we are. Watch Vaite’s hair. Watch my brother Moe’s expression. He is in the back. We are all staring down at a hole sticking from the ground which is connected with the blow hole.
That’s the hole. Forced air comes out of it.
A little bit of wind. We are all smiling. It’s cool.
Watch my brother’s expression. We should have known something was up! The stinker!
We got a big punch of air in our faces. It’s easy to see by the way Vaite’s hair goes flying. We were still all smiling. Cool!
The wind calmed down. We are pros— now. We know exactly what’s going to happen!
And BAM! We got blasted by air, noise, everything all at one time. The wind coming out of that hole was so strong, that it felt like we were in the midst of a hurricane. Vaite’s hair stood straight up in the air… we were all in shock. We reacted only a few seconds after in happened. WOW!
That was the best. I’ll never forget…
This is the photo that was chosen for the painting.
Voila papa et maman. A couple in love, full of energy. Papa thinks he can still move or run as if he was 20. He has the cuts and bruises to prove it. The hospital emergency room knows him by name and by sight… Papa rolls his eyes. “moi, m’arreter?”. Il rigole. He’s got too much to do, can’t slow down.
So this is my parents in a rare moment when they are sitting down, not doing anything, at the trou souffleur, waiting for me to take my pictures.
Ahinavai, la belle, my brother Jean’s daughter, walking and looking for things on that beach, ignoring me. I have been taking so many pictures non-stop since we got to Tahiti, that my family don’t even notice it anymore.
A stunning beach. Absolutely breath taking!
On the far left, in front of the rocks, is the beginning of the small channel that leads to the blow hole.
There is a lot of things that we have done at the trou souffleur:”blow hole”watching,braving the cars to observe the “other hole”, looking for treasures on the beach, even reef walking, as it is so close, we don’t even have to use a canoe, but there was one more thing that could be done at the blow hole…
and that is…
Sometimes laying in the sun, sometimes laying in the shadows of the moutain, in waters churning from the near by blow hole, catching a wave where ever it could be catched, and in this case, right here, we found surfers… but not any surfers…
See the little dots spotting the water ahead? Thoses are surfers… I had to take more pictures, it was so incredible!
Those were boys, young boys, may be 9 or 10 years old.
With not one adult in the water, those kids were having fun, surfing a few feet from the reef and stopping or turning away from the reef at the last moment. I just could not believe my eyes…
I was scarred for them at first. But then…It seems that their parents thought it was perfectly fine. Who is to say? That was their backyard, used to it, familiar. So I stopped worrying and just watched. They used snorkeling feet ware to help them stear away from the reef and swim away. They were good. But they were just kids, babies!!! Incroyable. I had never seen anyone swim there before…
Looking down into the blow hole from the safety of the road. Impressive.
“do not access” “dangerous area”
It was no lie, when it blows, it blows hard.
looking out from the trou souffleur, is that gorgeous view.
Had to watch a few video classes on how to paint water, use a few new techniques until I got the hang of it. A girl-friend suggested collage, so I learned that too. The trees and the green plant in the foreground became collage and voila…”Le Trou Souffleur” was done.
I found a nice frame for it. Sanded it down and repainted it a black color with no shine.
I think I am done with this blog
March 4th 2011, Hina.