Water Theme – The Bali Journal continiues

Water lily and dragonfly Water color pencil and ink Bali Journal 2015

I am still drawing in my Bali journal and quietly proud of it.  I am determined to complete it and although I have a number of different projects that I think I would like to try, back to the journal it is.  This will not be one of my many uncompleted projects.  With the completing of journals I feel the need to start some larger more finished art works.  It has been ages since I did a big drawing outside a journal.  (See one sentence is about finishing and the next is looking at the bright, sparkly idea over there, the attention span of a gnat.)

The drawings that I have recently completed in the Bali journal all have a watery theme.  One of the highlights from the trip was a tour we took to the north of the island to go walking through the rice fields.   I was also keen to get out of the built up areas of Bali and see the rural landscape.

Line drawing of rice fields Pen and ink Bali Journal 2015

Above is a line drawing of the rice fields, I haven’t added the colour yet, not sure what medium I want to use, but no rush.  On the way to the rice fields we passed by some volcanic lakes, one with an important water shrine, Pura Ulun Danu Beratan.  We had followed a whole village who were going for the yearly celebration to this important shrine, they were packed into every type of transport imaginable including large trucks with about 50 people squashed into the back.  It was a beautiful and tranquil place and here are a couple of water serpent carvings that were right on the lake edge.

Water serpents at Lake Danau Beratan. Matt water colour and ink Bali Journal 2015

While at Ubud I went to the art store, you can get some really cheap and unusual art supplies in Bali and I found some matte water colours which looked like fun.  I used them on the serpents, interesting with a chalky feel to them.  Undecided on whether I like them or not, but always fun to have new supplies. Below is a picture of the line drawing before I added the water colour.

Line drawing of water serpents Ink Bali Journal 2015

I had to have a close up of the water lilies in the journal as that pond was such an important part of our trip.  This picture was taken to catch a fleeting glimpse of a the dragon fly, but as such things happen I really liked the composition and decided to use it for my picture.  I took the image onto the next page to add some interest to the journal spread.

Life on the lily pond page Journal spread water colour and ink Bali journal 2015

Last of all is another Balinese inspired pattern, it has been a horrendously busy 10 days at work and I just needed the solace of a peaceful repeat pattern. Art is such a wonderful retreat where I can forget the problems of the present and return to my holiday.

Balinese Pattern, water colour and ink Bali Journal 2015

Karen

Temples and Palaces – Bali Journal

Ubud Palace Carving, Ink, graphite and water colour Bali Journal 2015

Bali is known as the island of temples and indeed it is easy to think that almost every building in Bali is either a temple or a shop.  On this trip I begun to have a better understanding of the Balinese religion and the role of the temples in every day life.  Every Balinese house has a temple, one at the door to avert evil spirits, and then a little temple complex in the house compound for temples to their ancestors and the particular gods that they worship.  They were sometimes very elaborate or just often just simple, the structure of the temple was not as important as the spirits they contain.

I just loved all the intricate carvings that were everywhere and in particular the juxtaposition of the white stone against the old red bricks of the building.  So many patterns and designs, it was heaven.

Palace Dog, Water colour Bali Journal 2015

There are many dogs in Bali, some are treasured pets, others are very street wise strays.  The Balinese used to have a terrible problem with stray dogs and rabies, but a concerted effort between the Balinese government and Australian and other international vets have helped to sort out the problem.  Without a specific breeding program the dogs have reverted back to their archetypal form as seen above.  Sort of like a pointy eared Labrador.  (I just learnt that fact from a TV dog show the other day, but 90% of the dogs in Bali were of this type so it made sense to me and I thought I would sound knowledgeable for a moment).  This one had a collar (but no tail) so I presume he was loved by someone in the palace.

By the way this is a drawing by me without any black outlines!!, it was hard to do, but occasionally I just like to prove to myself that I can do it.

Nature Temples Pen and ink Bali Journal 2015

Here are some of the less ornate temples, these were nature temples near a farm we passed.  The tall brick one is for the male nature spirits and the smaller wooden one is for the female spirits.  My understanding is they were to pray to the old nature spirits to say thank you for letting the farmer use the land and keep on the right side of them.  The Balinese religions combines their old nature spirit worship, Hindu gods and ancestor worship.  A full time job to keep all of them happy, but the island has the most beautiful quality to it, that many people put down to this sincere incorporation of the spiritual into their everyday lives.

Bamboo Bridge Sapu Lidi Resort Ubud Ink and water colour Bali Journal 2015

I really struggled with this drawing of a beautiful bamboo bridge, the proportions somehow got completely out of whack, but the feel is something like the original.  Here is also an offering box that are seen outside every house or business every day.  I think the bridge had one because of the cross over of a path and water.

Balinese Pattern water colour and ink Bali Journal 2015

Lastly is a pattern page.  Hope you have enjoyed this revisited of the journal.  I still have quite a few pages to go, so I will be back with more.  I am determined to complete this journal, then it will be the first travel journal that is finished.  It is the year for finishing journals, as I have only two more pages to complete my sketch book.  That is really exciting as I have never kept up sketching for that long either.

Karen

Sketchy Breakfast

Banksia Flower Journal Page Water colour pencil and ink

I am minding a friend’s house while she and her partner go touring around the Kimberly (Outback Northern Australia) in their 4WD.  An amazing trip through the wilds down the Gibb River Track from Kununurra to Derby.  So while being envious of their trip, I am enjoying some inner city living.  The house is in Northcote with plenty of great food and coffee, if you can get past the hipsters.  Lots to smile about here.

So to get into the lifestyle I have been going out for breakfast on the weekend and taking my sketch book with me.  Today as I was walking to the café, I passed this lovely Banksia tree and the lemon yellow flowers had caught the autumn sun.  So I stopped to snap a couple of pictures to draw.

Banksia in the autumn sun

I wanted to try a looser and quicker style, as I had slowed down again with all the cross hatching I had been doing.   I decided to start with the colour and map out the main areas then go over them with ink for some loose details, but first where is the coffee?

The banksia flower

Adding in the leaves, water colour pencils before the addition of the water.

It is fun to just lay the colour down and not get to fussed over the precise layout of the leaves and great to work quickly.

First ink outline

Once the paper had dried I added the first inky outline.  I was a bit nervous opening up my pencil case, as I had just flown to Sydney and back for a quick work trip and realised that my fountain pens were in the case.  I had only cabin luggage so they were pressurised, but I was bit nervous on how they had made the trip.  The Lamy safari with the EF nib had no leakage at all and worked just fine.  The Noodles Ahab did leak into the cap, but cleaned up ok and no spillage.  Felt lucky at that moment.

Slight break for breakfast. Yum, avocado, feta, bacon and poached eggs on sourdough

After contemplating the drawing through breakfast and discussing it with the wait staff, (also artists as well, most of Northcote is creative), I went back in with some more coloured pencil and then thickened up the outline in places to give more variety to the line.

Finishing off the drawing with my last coffee.

Not my greatest drawing ever, but a fun and quick exercise that played with a few techniques.  Took me about an hour, food included and such a fun thing to do, hope you enjoyed coming to breakfast with me.

Karen

 

No Fear of Flying – Collaboration Piece

 

No Fear of Flying Dragonfly Water colour and ink

I am currently involved in two different collaborations, which can get confusing for all of us.  This post is about the first,  is using lovely little A5 booklets that Anna Warren found.  There are three of us involved Anna Warren, Kylie Fogarty and myself.  I have already worked in one book with a seaside theme (see here) and this is my second which has the theme ‘No fear of flying’.  Anna’s post on her drawings in this book are here.

Anna’s double page spread

I loved the theme, but was really stumped with what to do with it.  I went through all the thoughts about flying and then I thought who are the best flyers in the natural world.  (Not being much of a people drawer I usually go to the natural world for my artistic inspiration).  For me, dragonflies are the best flyers, having the two sets of wings that can move independently they can hover, twist and do the most amazing aerial feats.  They certainly have no fear of flying and I reckon the look in their eyes shows little fear of anything.

For the front and back covers I choose images of unconventional flying.  The front cover is of a ladybird hitching a ride on some dandelion fluff and I just loved this little image, it has a real sense of adventure to it.

Flying frogs. Water colour and ink

On the last page I drew a flying frog, it is a representative for all those creatures who really have no business in flying (not having wings as such), but have managed to do it anyway.  These flying frogs are the weirdest in that strange and intrepid group.

These collaborations are really a great deal of fun and tremendously rewarding, but oh my are they intimidating. All of us have experience at doing art and at being artist, but having to draw in someone else’s book brings all my early fears back again.  What if I do this wrong, is my work good enough, their work is so much better than mine and what the hell am I going to draw!  But again the rewards of doing these collaborations and the joy of watching the amazing work the others do and to see how they respond to our themes outweighs the trepidation of setting pen to the their books.  Also the response from our readers has been fabulous and everyone is so supportive and interested in what we are doing.

I hope I have done this little book justice and have not sent the theme in a wrong direction.

Karen

 

 

Patterns in Nature a new Artistic Collaboration

Patterns in Nature Journal Lichen spread Water colour pencils and ink

Here is the journal for the latest collaboration that I have entered into.  This is again with Anna Warren (see her blog here) from Sydney and two lovely American artists, Gale Stahlke (see her blog here) and Cathe Jacobi (see her blog here).  They will all be blogging about the journals they are working on as we work our way through the collaboration.

This time we decided to do things a little differently, to the other collaboration I am in.  We will be each making our own little journals, choosing our theme and doing the initial drawings, before we hand them onto the next person.  The first page will be a joint effort, then we will each do a double page spread then there will be a shared double spread and finally a little paragraph on the back page on what we did and why.

Patterns in Nature Journal Cover

So for my journal I decided on the theme Patterns in Nature – Forrest.  As most of you know who have followed me for awhile, I love patterns and in particular patterns in nature, so it seemed to be a great theme for the book and easy for each artist to interpret in their own way.  I have also been fascinated by lichens and have been meaning to do a drawing of them for ages so I narrowed the focus to patterns in the forest.

So I made the booklet out of 300g Somerset CP watercolour paper for the cover and used a lovely creamy Japon proofing paper for the interior.  I had great fun playing with the cover and used some spray inks on it, then to waterproof these I covered it with matt medium, then drew a abstract lichen/moss pattern over the top.

Patterns in Nature Journal Front group Page and inside cover

For the first page I couldn’t go past an image of a curled fern frond.  Then for my double spread I was able to play with the lichen.  I got a little carried away with this drawing and it became more complex then I wanted for this project, but hey once I got started away I went.  Very happy with this, think it could be done again in another format.  For the last spread I drew a fern frond with spores on the back.  These were all done with ink and water colour pencils.

Patterns in Nature Journal Group spread

Well I am about to post my book up to Anna for her to add her pages before it wings its away across the sea for the others to work on.  I can’t wait to see what they have done and how they made their books and out of what?  Just love these collaborations.

Karen