Balinese Door Water colour and Ink Bali 2015 Journal
Although I am now back from Bali, I still have some more drawings that I want to do in my journal. I had a great time there, relaxing and so beautiful. I really like the Balinese they are very welcoming and have a great sense of humour.
Breakfast over looking the rice fields Ubud Bali
One of the things that I enjoyed in our stay in Ubud was having breakfast in the outdoor restaurant overlooking the rice fields and watching flocks of little birds feasting on the just ripening grain. It took us ages to find out what they were as there were two different colourings of the same bird. So here is a drawing of a cinnamon munia, but there were also ones that were dark chestnut and cream.
Cinnamon Munias Water colour and ink Bali 2015 journal
The gardens at the resort were beautiful and these following two drawings were at the resort. There were loads of heleconias, one of my favourite group of flowers as they are so architectural. I have seen some of them in florists, but this is the first time I had seen them growing, truly bizarre shapes.
Heliconias watercolour pencil and ink Bali 2015 Journal
The first drawing in the post is of a doorway leading up to on of the villas at the resort, they had different doorways for some of the villas. The carving and colours were just so beautiful I had to draw one.
Karen
Karen Bailey Studio 
Beautiful drawings.
Thank you. It is easy when the subject matter is so gorgeous
You’re right about Bali, it’s Paradise, with a capital P! Vibrant life, vibrant colours and colourful designs, they’re not afraid of mixing and matching. I first came across heliconias in Hawai’i many years ago (a place I wanted to move to). Yours look clean and vibrant. That bird looks very cheeky!
The colours are fantastic and as you say the Balinese will put colours together that we westerners would not. Such a wealth of inspiration.
Lovely art. Such a beautiful way to remember your journey to Bali.
Thank you, continuing to work on images from the trip lets it last longer.
Looks like you had a wonderful peaceful holiday Karen. The rich colours are very you – there is such a tropical, summery feeling to it all. I love the shapes of those heliconias too, exaggeration in nature!
Thanks Anna, it was a great holiday and so much inspiration. Your holiday looks like it also has provided great inspiration for your art as well. Travel really does nourish the soul.
Karen, I just want to walk through the beautiful doors you created. This is a feast for the eyes, such a beautiful post, so exotic and visually rich! What a wonderful trip and I love how you are translating it into you sketchbook. I loving seeing all of this through your eyes. I agree with Anna, Bali is the perfect palette for you! I love how you have added the decorative script to you pages. It makes it all that more wonderful and it’s already off the scale wonderful! Thank you for sharing all this beauty through your blog. I hope you will share more as you create it!
Thank you Cathe, you are the one who inspires me with the decorative script. Your lettering is so lovely in your work I am determined to get better at in and include it more into my journal pages.
You are so lucky to visit Bali, I am dead envious. Your journals are a wonderful way to remember. My experience is that if you draw something it stays with you at a deeper level. Love the little bird, bet they were fun to watch. Sue
My journals have become an important part of my travel. I will draw different things often to what I will photograph. It also makes me think more about what will represent the place for me, what makes it unique and different to elsewhere in my eyes. I also love looking back on them.
Iit is such a pleasure for me to see someone else’s Bali sketchbook. Your drawings are much more labour intensive than mine. I try to sketch every day while I am there and finish my book about the time I leave. I will be making a sketchbook for the next trip very soon. I love the heliconias too.
I thought the same thing when I saw your. I would like to do all my drawings on the trip, but I do not sketch fast enough yet. I love how yours are so quick and fresh, more practice is required, you have inspired me.