More from Bali

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

Ubud – Come and meet our Lily pond

Lily Pond at Sapu Lidi Resort Ubud. Water colour and ink

We are spending most of our time in Ubud.  I visited quickly on my last holiday and decided to spend most of my time here on this holiday and I am so very happy that I have.  There is so much to do and see here, with slightly fewer tourist.  Ubud is more in the centre of Bali, it is seen as the cultural heart and they are so generous in sharing their culture and history.

The drawing is the view from our room.  It literally sits right on the edge of this lake/pond and I look over it from my bed and sit on the edge (another day bed) and draw.  It just doesn’t get better than this.

Water lily pond Sapu Lidi Resort Ubud

We have been watching all the wild life in and around the pond and I have tried to add them into the picture.  The stars are the water lilies, they open at night after dusk and will close again at midday.  The buds grow at incredible speed they will poke their heads up out of the water in the morning and grow at least two feet during the day and just start to open by the evening.  They will flower for a few days then slowly sink back under.

There is also the swallows that fly over the pond skimming off the bugs from the surface.  So many do this that you can hear the clack of their wings.  They tag team with the bats who take over at dusk (though they didn’t get into the picture)  There is also a water hen that stalks the lily pads at dusk and dawn and makes quite a racket.  There are some very large fish and one huge golden carp that you just see a flash of his gold back as he jumps for food.  There are also a couple of two metre water monitor lizards that cruise across the pond on a regular basis going from the bank to under the pavilion.  They will drag themselves out over the lily pads if they get in their path.  I dangled my toes in the water on the first day but not after seeing these creatures.

Water Hen on the pond near our patio. (you can see the edge of the day bed) Ubud Bali

There are also great big fat, black, shiny bumble bees with one red stripe that hover over the lily flowers drinking their nectar and amazingly bright dragonflies some red others blue.  It has been such a joy to just sit here and observe all these creatures in this gorgeous location.

Hope you liked it too.

Karen