More Than Just a Tree

     More Letters From Paradise

        More Than Just a Tree

Hawaii too has pine trees. They are of two kinds, either Norfolk Pine, or Cook Pine. Similar looking, and yet different when seen up close. Consider if you will a section of a freshly cut pine. Notice how the branches are connected to the main trunk, and the many growth rings. 
Place a chunk of pine on a wood lathe and create a beautiful thin-walled bowl. Tonto and I recently met a man named Francisco Clemente who does just this. Apprenticed to his godfather in Spain, he learned to make chairs. But when coming to Hawaii, he was turning bed posts when the idea came to him to turn and carve pine into art objects. "The wood is alive and yet dead, and then it comes alive again," he explains. I saw this  most beautiful bowl, and Tonto and I agreed we had to buy it. The bowl is about seven inches in diameter and five inches high. Inside are streaks of green, and best of all are the dark eyes on the sides, looking like eyes. These are what once were the branches of the tree. It is so beautiful. In his brochure I noted that the artist placed 3rd in some wood working shows. I thought then who was first? God? Anyway, I hope Tonto can send out a picture of it. You can see some of his works at:
fclemente@hawaii.rr.com  or www.galeriaclemente.com 
I probably should not have gone on like this but when I like something, I really like something. Have I ever mentioned I really like (love) Tonto? 

                   Aloha   
                   Grant