Bali - paddy fields and palm trees

Palm trees and paddy fields in Bali

28 April 1997

Neocolor II in Daler Rowney Sketchbook

I had paddy fields right outside the window of where I stayed in Bali.

However we saw some some pretty spectacular views of paddy fields on the hillsides of Bali as we travelled around the island.

One afternoon we stopped at a point where it's possible to draw the rice fields.

This was my sketch for working out what I wanted to do with my plein air pastel.  Sadly the latter never happened because:

• it took a long time to work out how to represent the palm trees and the paddy fields.  Never under estimate how much time you need to get your eye trained to draw new objects!
• it started to cloud over and then began to rain and pastel and rain do not mix!

I really feel like I didn't do the view justice - but it was overwhelming!

I still have the photographs I took while trying to work out the best angle for a drawing.

However it's very evident to me that even though photographs are generally unable to provide a reliable colour reference that my neocolors did not provide the colours I needed for this sketch.  Everything is looking a bit too blue whereas the vegetation while lush leaned more towards apple / sap green end of the green spectrum - with some deep olives around the palm trees.

Writing this post has made me want to have another go at capturing the scene and the colours.

You can see below some of the photos I took.  The view was spectacular.

Paddy fields in front of me - on so many different levels!

This next one shows the level on which i sat - I was perched on a narrow ledge just in front of one of the hawker's huts (which is hidden by the very prominent palm tree at the front of the photo).

I was sat on a ledge just in front (to the right in this photo)
of the Hawker's Huts

The spot where we stopped was obviously a regular tourist stop judging by the hawkers' stalls and sheds.  One of the hawkers provided a very entertaining sideshow for our expedition.  He was very adept at splitting coconuts for drinks and nibbles!  Plus modelled three hats at once to show how stable they were on one's head!

The most entertaining hawker
three hats on his head and ready to split a coconut at our command!

This last photo shows one of my fellow painters sat in front of the vista of paddy fields and palm trees.  Not a place for easels!

First take a big sheet of paper.........

From here we went to Petalu - a small village north of Ubud - to see the white herons (kokocan)  of Petalu coming home to roost in the trees along the road to the temple.  They arrive from all over Bali.

This is a video of the White Herons of Petalu by a couple called Hans and Fifi which gives you a good sense of the sights and sounds of Bali villages but doesn't quite capture the moments just as dusk falls when wave after wave of white herons arrive and land in the huge trees lining the road to the temple.  Magical!  (This site has some good photos of a celebration associated with the herons and the village - and provide some commentary on what has happened at the village in the past).

Links:

• Travels with a Sketchbook - Bali Sketchbook (1997)
• Pastels and Pencils - Katherine Tyrrell travels with a sketchbook - in Bali

46 Ananda Cottages at dusk

46 Ananda Cottages (dusk - 4 May 1997)
pencil in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

In 1997 I went on my second painting holiday to Bali. I first stayed in Bali in 1992 on a painting holiday organised by Spencer Scott for The Artist magazine

We were so impressed with the place that five years later, the artist and his wife arranged another painting holiday as part of the overseas painting holidays they offer (details at end).

We stayed again at Ananda Cottages on the northern outskirts of Ubud. It's located in the rice paddies and is far enough outside Ubud (about 25 minutes walk) to be very quiet and peaceful.

This is a pencil sketch of my room done just as dusk was starting to fall. There's no glass in the windows - just split cane blinds. Outside the rooms is the most amazing lush vegetation.

I remember being quite jealous of other painters who were on the ground floor with the open air bathrooms! It's a very memorable place to stay and still seems to be very popular with its guests

Bali Accommodation

• Ananda Cottages, Jl. Raya Campuhan, Ubud 80571, Bali, Indonesia
• Trip Advisor
• Ubud 
• Ananda Cottages
• Wiki Travel - Ubud

Painting Holidays

• A Making A Mark Guide - Painting Holidays
• Coombe Farm Studios - Courses: Courses Abroad
• Spencer Scott - Escorted Painting Holidays

Ary's Warung in Ubud, Bali

I thought while I'm waiting for my new glasses, I could post some of my sketches from a long time ago.

 More to the point - I've never posted my sketches of Bali as a series!

The Japanese waiting for a plane
Ary's Warung, Ubud, Bali
5 May 1997
pencil in Daler Rowney hardback black sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I've still got my sketchbook notes of my stay in Bali in 1997 and this is in fact the last day and very nearly the last sketch.

This was morning and lunch on the last day.

5th May 1997 Taxi down to masseur (Metari). Bought shirt for J and T shirt for me. Changed money.  Thai calamari salad, lemon grass tea and white cocolate cheescake at Ary's Warung.  Sketched interior.  

Venice has Harry's Bar and Ubud in Bali has Ary's Warung.

Looking at what it's like today, I'm rather glad I visited it back in the 90s before it introduced chrome and the starched linen!  It looks as it's changed a lot.

Back then it was cane, cane and rattan on the verandah which contrasted with the lush greens of vegetation outside where I sat, watching the world go by.  There was a constant stream of customers - although some waited rather longer than others such as the Japanese couple in the centre of this sketch who were obviously killing time before the journey to the airport.

This is what I wrote when I first posted on Making A Mark about this place

I sat in Ary's Warung on the main street in Ubud in Bali and started to draw some people while I had a pot of their lemon grass and ginger tea. And it just turned into one of those sketches where you order another pot of tea and then lunch as your sketch keeps creeping across the page until every last bit is filled. People came and went - which was a bit of a challenge - and the Japanese couple with their suitcases that I had started sketching originally finally left for the airport to catch their flight.MAKING A MARK: Ary's Warung 27 April 2006

What I do remember - across the years - is the lemon grass tea.  I think it had a sliver of ginger in it as well.  When I think of Bali now I think of the lemon grass tea - and I've never been made able to make it the way I had it there.  Must be something to do with the freshness of the lemon grass....

I'll see if I can get my sketches about Bali posted before I get my new post-operative glasses at the beginning of next month - at which time sketching can return to normal.

Address: Ary's Warung, Jl. Raya Ubud Kedewatan, Ubud, Gianyar, Bali 80571, Indonesia
Contemporary Reviews of Ary's Warung on: Trip Adviser | Lonely Planet | Frommers.

You can see other sketches from this particular travel sketchbook on my website at:

• Travels with a Sketchbook - Australia
• Travels with a Sketchbook - Bali

You can also see other sketches from different places in the Travels with a Sketchbook galleries on my website "Pastels and Pencils".

3rd April 1997: Flying to Australia - via a beach in Bali

My travel sketchbook for Australia actually contains sketches of my back-to-back trips to Australia and Bali in April/May 1997.

As I needed a flight to Australia which did a stopover in Bali on the return trip - for a painting holiday - I also had a stopover in Bali en route to Australia. So I flew London to Bali, had a 12 hour stopover and then flew another 6 hours onto Sydney. Bali is also a popular holiday destination for many Australians.

Labelled topographical map of Bali
courtesy of NASA and Wikipedia

I'm afraid the sketchbook for Australia doesn't start straight away whereas the first few sketches in the sketchbook were done while on my 12 hour stop over in Bali.

I scooted straight out of Ngurah Rai International Airport and went to the beach just below PJs, one of the restaurants belonging to the Four Seasons Hotel at Jimbaran Bay (Jimbaran is on the west of the little neck of land just south of the airport which leads to Nusa Dua, ).

Jimbaran Bay

from PJs below the Four Seasons Hotel, Bali
8" x 11", pencil in sketchbook

copyright Katherine Tyrrell

PJs has a wonderful location and view being located on the foreshore with a clear view of Jimbaran Bay. This map on BaliBlog shows the location.

I relaxed on the beach and then sketched the above in the late afternoon. It's entirely possible this was done under the influence of a gin and tonic from the beach bar while sat on a sun lounger lapping up the sun! This is a 'working' sketch of a contre jour scene and includes some annotations.

The boats in the bar at PJs
9" x 8" pen and sepia ink in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Later I had dinner at PJs beach restaurant and sketched the boats behind the bar during dinner before calling a taxi and heading back to the airport for my 6 hour night flight to Sydney. Drawing the inside of the roof was very absorbing and relaxing.

I have a very clear visual memory of that stopover on the beach because of doing those two sketches - which is just one of the major benefits of travelling with a sketchbook.

By the way, for those who are new to this blog, food and drink always tends to feature alongside many of my interior sketches - often because they are the reason for me being in a particular place!

In the next post I arrive in Australia!

and there'll be more about Bali later....

Links:

• Wikitravel
• Bali
  
• Nusa Dua
• Jimbaran
  
• Bali
• Four Seasons Hotel, Jimabaran Bay
  
• PJs
• Bali International Airport
• Baliblog - map of Jimbaran