Location 2.Ubud.A town in central Bali high in the mountains, it is famous as an arts and crafts hub, and much of the town and nearby villages consist of artists’ workshops and galleries. There are some remarkable architectural and other sights to be found, and a general feeling of well being to be enjoyed, all thanks to the spirit, surroundings, and climate of the place, and why I chose to paint in the rice fields here. This place has an amazing energy all of its own, also being the artistic hub of Bali, it felt so natural to add to the artistry with a work of my own. The energy had a huge impact on this work especially the two parts to my anxiety and depression depicted in the work.
Location 3. Bedugul, Pura Ulun Danu Bratan (Lake Bratan Temple). This is perhaps the most photographed temple on the island and is certainly one of the iconic images of Bali. The temple sits on the western shore of Lake Bratan, and it can give the illusion of actually floating on the water. Built in 1633, the temple is devoted to Ida Batara Dewi Ulun Danu, goddess of the lake. A beautiful temple in a truly stunning setting. It was truly an honour to paint here I took a sit down meeting with the local Banjar in order to paint at this location and to my knowledge, I am the only westerner to be granted permission to paint here. I don’t usually paint what I see, but this place had such energy, I combined what I saw and what was the perception of the place in my mind.
Location 4.Jatiluwih .North of Tabanan has paddy fields following the contours of terraced land some of the most famous terraced rice fields in Indonesia set against the background of spellbinding Mount Batukaru and Mount Agung. We camped up here for 5 days In the rice fields nothing but rice and chilli for food but set in front of Mount Agung it was spell binding, but along with the serenity was a lot of head chatter .
Location 5.Mount Bromo(Indonesian: Gunung Bromo). Is an active volcano and part of the Tengger massif, in East Java, Indonesia. High in the hills, freezing, and with almost an eruption every two hours, an amazing place to paint and document using time-lapse photography. This was such a mission to get to. Two planes, 16 hour drive and freezing cold at night, volcanic dust was in everything, but with its moon like backdrop, I was constantly blown away. Five paintings in and this was a difficult time, self funded, and running low on cash it created a lot of stress. My inner workings depicted on the work.
Location 6.Jimbaran . This was formerly a real backwater of south Bali, just a tiny fishing village with a daily market. The bay itself has a pleasant white sandy beach and is a hive of colourful fishing boats, leaving and returning from daily fishing expeditions. Background activity was always important in the decision-making when it came to any spot. Hot as hell painting at this location, but super peaceful, It also was like all locations, never short of a huge audience. There is a shooting star captured in this Tim lapse.
Location 7.Git Git Falls.Follow narrow winding road from Lake Bratan down to Singaraja to find Git Git falls The falls drop down many levels, the tallest of which is around 45 meters (149 feet). One of the few purely natural spectacles. An amazing and spiritual place to paint. The sound after 5 days nearly sent me around the bend, not to mention damaging all the gear with water mist. After finishing my work and walking out of the falls, the local people were blown away that with out me knowing, what they believed the water spirit looked like, I somehow managed to paint a very close version of it, like most of my paintings, I never know what I will paint until I am standing in front of the canvas. I had an overwhelming desire to produce what I did and had never produced anything like it before. It was pure emotion.
Location 8.Local Produce Markets.From 3am to 10am for 5 days, estimated 3000 locals, one painter, 3 cameras, for a slice of Old Bali. The local food/small goods market on the intersection of JI. Pantai Kuta and Jl. Raya Tuban, Kuta, with sights smells and colours of daily local life, it was a must to document, and a challenging location. I really wanted to re-create the madness of Indonesia and being how manic the location was, I managed to produce how low and hard things were at this stage of the journey.
Location 9.Lake Bratan, Bedugul.I returned to this amazing place later in the year for the amazing stillness and unique weather patterns on the other side of the lake, for and unforgettable time-lapse experience. With clouds coming in and out, sometimes it felt like you were actually painting in the clouds, like when a plane flies through the clouds.
Location 10.Monkey Forest, For this ,most go to Ubud, but I was after something a little different. So located after talking to locals, another more sacred place to the local people, the monkey forest, about two hours South of central Bali. An experience and amazing spot under a very sacred tree in the Balinese religion, an honour to paint in this location. Again I needed to sit with the local Banjar to gain access and permission. I also had to employ three helpers to keep the monkeys from stealing gear but one monkey did steal a full tube of Colbert blue. As the days went on, more and more blue monkeys began to appear, the local keeper of the temple assured me no monkeys became ill, but he did comment on how funny they looked. The temple was a vortex of time space and culture.
Location 11.Krakatoa(Indonesian: Krakatau) is a volcanic island made of lava in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. I stayed on the island, slept on Bamboo, endured Giant lizards, eruptions, earthquake’s. Daily hikes to the rim of the volcano alone to paint and film, and a very traditional un-sea worthy boat to get to and from. I ate fish from passing fishing boats and swam with pods of dolphins. The volcano blew chunks of rock twice during my stay forcing me to leave all my gear and run for cover, four days after I left the volcano, it erupted spewing ash lava and rocks into the ocean leaving me feeling very lucky, and also bringing home just how mad a decision it was to paint at this location. I had to get permission from the government to stay and paint on the volcano .when Krakatau first erupted it was the loudest sound ever heard in modern history, with reports of it being heard nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from its point of origin.
Location 12.Tanah Lot Un-Named Black sand beach near the temple of Tanah Lot. ,Tanah Lot means “Land [sic: in the] Sea” in Balinese language. Located in Tabanan, about 20 km from Denpasar, the temple sits on a large offshore rock which has been shaped continuously over the years by the ocean tide. The Tanah Lot temple was built and has been a part of Balinese mythology for centuries. I painted just to the left of the temple. I used ash from Krakatoa and sand from the black beach in my mediums here, with the sound of the ocean and constant stream of locals to the temple. This was a very pleasant experience.
Location 13. Mount Bromo, Returning to this spot later in the year and discovering a lush savanna in stark contrast to a landscape that could be used if needed to demonstrate the meaning of the phrase, desolate beauty, then this is surely it. Rugged, barren volcanic peaks, gravel plains and that sea of sand. Truly unworldly. And again a massive mission to get to this spot lugging all gear down into the crater on small horse back. A real treat like slipping back in time, a long five days that left me spent, exhausted and emotion pretty much like the finished work. So many fears and thoughts, this was the outpour of that emotion.
Location 14. Borobudur,
Barabudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. Said to be the oldest Buddhist temple in the world! This was always going to be the last spot, truly out of this world. I had to fly to Jakarta and meet with the government officials to get permission to be on site to film and paint. After a lot of forms and dinners, I was approved to be at the temple, the first and only painter to my knowledge to be given such a privilege. The temple is one of the heaviest guarded landmarks in Indonesia. This spot was tricky, with so many tourists and locals wanting my photo, to autographs to wanting me to explain why the image I am painting looks nothing like the temple ha ha ha A question often thrown at me whilst painting on all fourteen locations.