Naked Men and Mangoes

These are the two reasons I have come to Ubud, Bali.
I can feast on my favourite food (the mango), and indulge in life drawing!

Much Bali black tea and much pastel all over my face and clothes.

I was invited to join Peter Efford's life drawing retreat and stay at Pondok Saraswati (the goddess of artistic pursuit!)

This is the entrance that greets you into the compound.

The staff make offerings every morning in many a nook.

Orchids just grow and dazzle in sunlight.

This is the view from my room on to rice paddies accompanied with harhooing women scaring birds and a tapping windmill.

The drawing retreat is just me and two old blokes. I like our odd little posse. It's more intensive learning! We draw in the morning and spend the afternoon eating our way through Bali. We've imagined our experience as a movie and decided the underlying theme would be the pursuit of the best coconut icecream in Bali - and that would have to be the final scene but as the credits role we all end up in minor hilarious disasters contrary to the conclusions we had come to on the retreat.

Peter said to me a few days ago 'you can draw, you know that right?' and I thought, hmmm, Mr Positive Reinforcement understands how the mind works. Mine quietly glowed with this thought and the words repeat repeat and the belief generates. In the brain, the neural pathway of "I can draw" - simply - is strengthened. And that ugly barbed pathway that says "I cant draw" begins to fade. And soon enough I think I might just be good at this drawing thing.

I have improved a lot in a week. Even in one day I'll jump in leaps and bounds. Here are my first and second sketch of Gusti.

The first one had me enraged with it's horridness. I always see 'highschool' in my work. But the second, ooh, is that mine?
Then I did a third and worked it up in colour. It really looks like Gusti.

And yes, he may look like he's "watching his house burn down" (Pete!) but it's my first experiment with colour and I like to play.

We've been studying anatomy of the human figure. Using both conti pencils (made from blood did you know?) and also learning how to use pastels. Here are some studies.

I like the word 'studies' as it sounds so art-professional as well as taking the pressure off the work. It's just a little study...

We have gone to a popular life drawing studio called 'Pranoto's'. He's a Java man, an incredible life drawer. A group of ex pats and Indo art students sit around the edges of a room drawing/painting/watercolouring/texta-ing a model. I love walking around the room to see the individual styles of the artists. It could almost be better to not look and develop your style. To attempt to emulate others is to neglect the YOU that you can only be. However I like to analyse and play with others techniques to add to my palette of options. Here is my favourite drawing from the first session...

It was a 15 minute sketch that I did after working on the same pose for an hour and hating that drawing!!

And I love my drawing from the second session...

I got so excited after seeing others in the group paint the model that I went out and bought some paint! I had to use gladwrap for my palette because when I got home at 9pm there were no appropriate palette options.

and I had to paint the only thing in front of me. A mango! Under a lamp...

I visited a temple and was washed over with the realisation that I just want to be a full time artist. I have been denying myself the opportunities to explore the many artistic things I want to play with. The list is endless, from glazing clay, weaving baskets, crafting silver, painting like a fauvist....

And Pete's parting words have been 'trust yourself and keep exploring'...

Let's see if I can survive the thought.

[current mood] The sound of Squeeky Clean Hair & Fruit with Coconut and Palm Sugar

Comments

[Michael]

I haven't 'spoken' with you in a few years but I thought I'd stop over to your blog and after poking around a bit I have to offer a little positive reinforcement of my own: You're amazing, you know that right?