Bali and Java captured on toned paper

[Guest post by Doug Russell in Java and Bali, Indonesia]

During the summer of 2017, my wife and I traveled for a month through Java and Bali in Indonesia. Borobudur was the initial reason for our visit to Indonesia, but I found myself sketching and enjoying many other wonderful sites – both the venerated and the commonplace.

One of the first drawings I did on this trip set the mood for the rest
(see above).  Early in the morning, on the front porch of the Yabbiekayu
bungalow studying the light falling on the opposite bungalow put my
mind in the right place for travel: slow down, look, observe, record,
enjoy.

I am always looking for ways to change up my drawing process. A few years ago, I decided to limit myself to one hour per sketch – with the potential for a “bonus” ten minutes of fast sketching to finish it up if absolutely necessary. The quickened process prevented overworking a piece and also brought me into a closer relationship to my subject and drawing materials.

For this trip I retooled my travel sketching kit, choosing to use toned gray and brown paper and a limited palette of Prismacolor pencils. The paper provided a value and color to play off against. I also chose to expand my palette away from my typical monochromatic pen and ink work on white paper. Indonesia seemed to demand a more tonal, colorful, and textural solution.

Rice Fields at Yabbiekayu Bungalows, Yogyakarta, Java

A view from the back porch of our bungalow in early morning.

Yabbiekayu Bungalow, Yogyakarta, Java

A view of our bungalow from a handmade bamboo tower.

Plaosan Temples, Yogyakarta, Java

This was a pleasant change from the larger and more touristed Prambanan
Temple complex we had visited the day before.  As I drew, workers at the
archeological site watched quietly from inside the building behind me.

Rice Fields near Borobudur, Java

As the evening calls to prayer echoed in the distance, I drew from the porch of our bungalow at the Rumah Dharma Guesthouse near Borobudur.

Mendut Temple, Java

One morning, my wife and I borrowed bicycles from the Rumah Dharma Guesthouse and rode to the quiet and beautiful Mendut temple.  I found a quiet and shady spot and worked on the drawing for about an hour. 

Pura Lempuyang, Bali

This is a small shrine inside the larger Pura Lempuyang complex.  The temples here have many other more spectacular gates and features, but I found this small shrine to be a humble small subject.  Though one can climb all the way to the top of the temple hill (over 1700 steps), we opted to go just part way up that day – enjoying the mist shrouded forests and temples along the way.

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, Bali

This was one of the most spiritual and breathtaking moments of the trip.  We arrived early to find the entire lake and temple covered in fog and mist.  As the morning progressed, the clouds rolled over the waters and repeatedly revealed and concealed the temple.  When I began drawing the entire site was quiet and empty.  By the end I was waiting for the selfie-takers in front of me to move so that I could get one more glimpse of the temple.  As the mist turned to rain, one of the on-site professional tourist photographers graciously offered his umbrella to me.

Pura Batu Bolong, Tanah Lot, Bali

There was no obvious and convenient place to draw the view of the temple I had wanted to capture.  So, I chose to stand and lean my drawing board on a stone lamp on a main path overlooking the cliff.  I soon was surrounded by an ever changing group of polite onlookers.  My drawing and I became the subject of many people’s tourist photos and selfies that day.

Villa Gate, Sanur, Bali

As with the bungalows in Yogyakarta, I chose to focus here less on the famous and historic – and spent a morning studying the play of light and shadow falling across one of the villa gates at our hotel.

Poolside, Sanur, Bali

While waiting for our ride to the airport, I snuck in one more quick sketch – looking out across our hotel pool. The gate I had drawn earlier is hidden in this sketch behind the foliage on the right.

Drawing kit for this Indonesia trip

Drawing on site is a way to be a witness of a place, a moment, a space in time. In that moment I am fully focused and present. It is truly one of the joys of travel and of drawing. I often augment this experience by recording stereo audio files of ambient sound. Along with the drawings I’ve done, the recordings I’ve captured help to bring back those fleeting moments to me long after the trip is over – a kind of audio sketch. You can listen to a few of my Indonesia recordings here on SoundCloud.

Doug Russell is an Associate Professor of Art who teaches drawing at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, USA.   You can see more of Doug’s travel drawings on his website.