Easter Island Moai

I’m thinking about Easter Island a lot these days, as I'm setting a scene in my novel there.

Picture of some Easter Island statues called moai that I found on a cool Easter Island site. They're on the slopes of Rano Raraku, an extinct volcano; they quarried stone for the monoliths or moai here. The stone is basaltic tuff, that is, stuck-together foamy clinkers.

Here’s another picture of the Rano Raraku site that I found on Wikipedia.

I’m starting on a painting of a surfin' moai. Next week I'll add the board and clean up the shading.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 13th, 2006 at 2:29 pm and is filed under Rudy's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “Easter Island Moai”

Ross Says:
May 14th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
In 1948, Arkham House published a novel by Donald Wandrei titled THE WEB OF EASTER ISLAND. It is considered by some to belong to Lovecraft’s “Cthulhu Mythos.” Lovecraft himself wrote of the novel, “You will like this novel— especially the poetically cosmic second half, one chapter of which is a masterpiece of underground horror.” (Reference: HORRORS AND UNPLEASANTRIES: A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY & COLLECTOR’S PRICE GUIDE TO ARKHAM HOUSE by Sheldon Jaffery; Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1982.) (By the way, I have not read Wandrei’s novel.)
Hey, I love the painting, Rudy.
Steve H Says:
May 15th, 2006 at 6:29 am
It totally changed my view of Easter Island to learn that all the statues look inland instead of out to sea. Apparently they thought they were the last humans alive and turned inward. Also, they are supposedly portraits of individuals, so that the immortality they hoped for when they made those statues has arrived in a way they never would have imagined. What would these old chiefs think of being on magazine covers, websites, t-shirts, and now surfboards?
linus robinson Says:
May 15th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
interesting commentary……. can you camp out overnight on Easter Island? Scarry!! I can hear the stirring “In Search Of….” soundtrack blackening the whole island…. I have a better idea…. can you camp out overnight on Easter Island with Leonard Nimoy arranging an impeccable “In Search Of….” guided tour?? Chilling….
concerning the painting of the moai on the surfboard: like I’m totally sure…. what would Godel think if he saw this?….