Indonesian Beach

 The year after I retired, I spent an amazing 10 days in Indonesia. My Weekly-ish Challenge was "Far Away," and that is definitely the most far-away place I've ever been.

I took the photo for this particular view on our first day.  After landing at the airport, we were taken several hours away to our first village. Along the way, we stopped at their version of a convenience store where there were soft drinks, a kind of bathroom facility, snacks that were unrecognizable to us... and this view from the small parking lot.  

Can you imagine seeing that every day? 

If you look closely, you'll see guys standing barefoot on the big rocks in the surf.  They were fishing with really long poles!

To this middle-of-the-country Arkansas girl, the waves looked like what the news shows when there's a hurricane, but they were just their regular every-day waves here.

I have about 900 more photos of this trip, the orphanage, the high school classrooms, the kindergarten school, the homes, the meals, the villages... but perhaps another time.

Here are a few other paintings I've done from that trip:

https://wordweaverart.blogspot.com/2024/06/underwater.html (turtle release)

https://wordweaverart.blogspot.com/2023/03/fruits-vegetables-under-umbrellas.html (village)

https://wordweaverart.blogspot.com/2022/12/lily-pad-pool.html (lily pond)

https://wordweaverart.blogspot.com/2018/05/indonesian-sunset.html (sunset)

Original Palette Knife Oil Painting on 8"x 10" Wrapped Canvas

Click Indonesian Beach if you'd like to purchase this little painting. 

Lily Pad Pool

A few years ago I had the opportunity to do something amazing, so amazing that I can hardly believe it was real.

Along with four friends, I stepped off a plane, loaded into a van, and headed into the mountains of Indonesia for a week and half in the villages there.

This huge stone basin with the blue sky reflected in the water and lily pads spreading across its surface was one of the first things I saw as I got out of the van for the first time. We had stopped for lunch at an open-air pavilion that overlooked the greenest greens I'd ever seen. 

My weekly-ish art challenge was "Water Contained."  I thought about water in a vase or a glass... Water in a swimming pool or puddle... Water in a goldfish bowl or fish tank... Then I remembered this giant pool of water lilies. Even if no one else could ever quite figure out what it was a painting of, I knew this would be my "Water Contained" painting. 

Original Oil Painting Done with Palette Knife on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas.

Click Lily Pad Pool if you'd like to purchase this painting.

Golden Sunset

I'm honored and humbled whenever someone asks me to paint for them.  At some point I always want to know, "Why?" or "What's special about this image?" or "What's the story behind it?"

Earlier this year I painted this image and told my story of watching the sun set on a beach in Indonesia.  You can read about that here.

Recently I got a note from someone saying that they loved the picture but wondered if I could paint it again... only much bigger.
What a pleasure!
Of course I had to ask why.  
I found out that their baby girl will be born next month, and the meaning of the name they'll give her will be Golden Sunset! 
Ahhhh.... sigh... I loved knowing that as I painted.
And, my painting will hang in her room!  Like I said at the beginning, I am honored and humbled!

I know what her name will mean, but I am anxious to know exactly what her name will be! 

Original Oil Painting on 24"x 36" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

Indonesian Sunset

Recently I had a pretty amazing opportunity.  (I hesitate to call it a once-in-a-lifetime experience because that implies I won't ever get to do it again.)

On the first day in Indonesia, I got to teach an art lesson to a group of children... 2 hours surrounded by 60 kids ages 5-13 none of whom spoke a word of English... I painted a sunset, then they each created one of their own.
      It... 
          was... 
                wonderful...
                    ... like a dream I never even thought to dream.

On the last day in Indonesia, I got to enjoy an evening surrounded by new friends... Walking with feet in the waves... picking up shells and bits of coral... then sitting down to a food-filled a table in the sand watching sun set over the ocean... 
     It...
          was.....
               wonderful...
                      ... like a dream I never even thought to dream.

** Thanks to a precious interpreter who 

made the art experience work seamlessly.

** Thanks to my friend Olga who was the 

perfect model for the painting I knew I'd do.

Original Oil Painting on 18"x 24" Wrapped Canvas
Click "Indonesian Sunset" to purchase this painting.