goodbye john poynton

                        

last year I blogged here about meeting John Poynton, a well known artist in Samoa. Today I heard the sad news that John had passed away earlier this month. Warm thoughts for a truly talented gentleman. Goodbye for now John...

samoan fale

this is our Samoan fale - the first building to be built on our family property in Samoa. It's a modern version of a faleo'o (traditional house) and is found just meters from the waters edge and the swimming rock pool.

building

(1 acre building site is beyond the mango tree on the right of the photo)

  

(another view of the section beyond the mango tree sloping down to the ocean)

(the section slopes down with easy access to the ocean)

we're undertaking a building project in Samoa of a holiday home by the sea. Work had commenced before we left with the site being cleared and made ready for building. We're building an open plan house, with a small Samoan fale and subsidiary buildings nearby. A new build is always going to be a big challenge and our project will be made even more so as all our materials etc are being sourced from New Zealand and then being sent on to Samoa. Exciting times ahead!

john poynton

one of the highlights of my Samoa trip was meeting John Poynton, well known artist in Samoa. I met him completely by chance at a local cafe and I got the opportunity to view his portfolio of current work. I bought 3 works: 2 watercolours and a pen drawing and got them framed as soon as I got back home. Here they are on display.

more from Samoa

dogs and pigs snooze in the quiet shade on a very hot day.

each village has at least one tremedous church structure - strong and proud

palms, breadfruit, papaya trees grow everywhere

an average Samoan village house

a view of the sea from our family land

tatau and the turtle

at the Faleolo Airport is this sculpture of Samoan warriors wrestling a large sea turtle. The warriors bodies are tattooed with Samoan cultural patterns and designs known as 'Tatau'. Legend has it that the tatau came to be in Samoa when  Taema and Tilafaiga, female siamese twins who were joined at the spine. When the twins were grown, they decided to travel away from Ta'u, the island of their birth. As they were swimming, the spar of a canoe struck them and severed the join between them.

After several adventures on other islands, the twins reached Fiji where they meet two tatau (tattoo) artists, Tufou and Filelei, who taught them the art of tattooing. They also taught them a song to recite when they were tattooing someone. When the twins returned to Samoa, Tilafaiga became a war goddess, while Taema became a tattooist and teacher of the art that she had learned in Fiji.

Have a look at the Samoan turtles pond in the grounds of the Malua Theological College. 

first sights of Samoa

the warm, enveloping heat is a very fine welcome to Samoa. The sky is clear and sunny. The palms nod in the afternoon breeze. Picture perfect!