As part of my Sugar Mill Art Show with Drew Toonz at the Waialua Sugar Mill, I designed a series of surf art posters and pieces to have sell of for the first time. As I often make commissions or paintings for Wyland, I wanted to make artwork that was simply from the list of free flowing ideas that has been building up in my mind since moving to Hawaii. My small jewelry business called Soph Sells Seashells began with just ceramic charm necklaces inspired by comical and island related surf ideas. I wanted to create artwork that would pair well to sell alongside my jewelry. The first idea I had was to make a “pufferfish” painting, or pufferfish smoking cigarettes simply for the irony and for the fun of it. I also lately have been inspired by the artwork on decks of cards and wanted to replace the character in a Queen of hearts card with a “queen of waves”, keeping the mirrored symmetrical figure as the template.

 

Because the art at this show was at the Waialua Sugar Mill with two other artists in Third Stone, I also hinted at the surfboard shaping factory we all worked at in some of the art too. Not only does the queen of waves have a Third Stone board but the outer space piece also has hidden mementos of the factory woven in. Along with the pufferfish, I also have a few other repeating motifs or characters within my Soph Sells Seashells art and jewelry, another being the “magic conch” on the sss website that releases new necklaces when one comes out- I also have a magic conch necklace as one of the 16 designs. The print I made with the conch shell has a speech bubble saying “call your mom” kind of as a reminder for both kids and parents to keep in touch with those you love while living far away in Hawaii (or wherever you are.) I will have some of these prints for sale at the Waialua Surf Shop soon.

​

Along with my jewelry and these art prints, I also made a whole set of ceramic sculptures just for the art show you can view here with more info on the show as a whole besides just the artwork series. You can read more about the art show and Drew toonz there as a whole as well.