20th Aug:: Day 12 || Artsy Day

Waking up to my ceiling fan & attap roof top. No air con, but the air is chilly enough (:

Outside my room: ducks already had their bfast in the padi field


Today is my last day @ Ubud... I should walk around & discover the other corner of the village

Today is the Galungan festival. The guest house made more elaborate offerings


Bfast: after my last banana jaffle, pack up & I'll be out the whole day for my discovery tour. Decided to take the path less travelled & cut into our neighbour's mini padi field instead of walking the main path. I was rewarded with some interesting sights...

Morning dew: nourishes the little lives & fades into thin air. How short-lived!

蓝色蜻蜓

The Wall

This is a wall at the path entrance. I sensed that it's not only a wall... it's more than a wall =.='

... so I jumped up & began the 1st part of my discovery tour. On the wall, I found pretty 喇叭花s...


Omg* ... the wall is actually part of the irrigation system 0.0" ...


... channelling water across the road. I look weird running up & down that piece of canal, so I came down & continued my journey, satisfied that I've made one interesting discovery for the morning ^^

The sign board said it all... lucky today is the last day of my stay (most shops will be closed for next 2 days *pengz*)

This is Campuan Bridge, the landmark of the village. It means 2 rivers meeting together. This area is quite near the end-point of white-water rafting

Quite an old bridge with lotsa holes... right down the valley =.="

Wah... look at this! Personal musuem 哦... The compound is located at a hill-slope & it's so big I found it a hassle to climb up to visit =.=" I should have one of this next time: "tc's life, tc's works, tc's dreams, tc's reality" ^^


Along the way, more galleries. Today shall be an artsy day (:

.
The Alchemist: I was reminded of the book's character when I saw this painting

"All in this life is just a beginning... nothing is Perfect... but, is always Beautiful..."
Philosophical, but I din understand what it means

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Crazy Boy: located at the far corner of the village. After 30min walk, I finally found it :)

Stylo pose by Crazy Boy

This is Crazy Boy. His real name is Necky. This's the 2nd painter I chatted with in the morning. His background is quite 坎坷 (like, angsty?) ... Borned in Jakarta, parents died when he's v young... he grew up on the streets. Did not attend mainstream arts school, he's a self-taught artist.

That's why you can see that his works are pretty emo... with broad messy strokes which reflect his emotions. He called himself crazy boy 'cos he's so obssessed with painting. He painted through the nights when it's more quiet & slept only for a few hours in the daytime & then start painting again. What a workholic. If only I can conduct my financial advisory work like him =.="

He's quite philosophical about life. Like the painting on the left, a perfect picture is obstructed by something. His motive is to make people think deeper: a picture is perfect, but why is it blocked by something...? It activates people's mind, to realise that this is not a normal picture; it's blocked by something & you have to shift your vision to look at it...

I spent 45min asking him questions & he happily & openly shared what he know, even though I'm not buying his works; artists like people to ask them questions, esp about their works. It's here that I learnt what is acrylic paint, how artists can use different styles to obtain different effects -- paint brush, scrapping or roller ... that's how he created the angsty effect.

I classify Crazy Boy as one of those esoteric painters. Not many people appreciate his works; his work are not meant to be appreciated by everyone.

In a way, my practice in wealth mgt is like a painter. I have my own style & philosophy. My work is appreciated by select groups of people; & I do not intend it to be accepted by the mainstream. What should I call myself? An artist? A practitioner?

Aint' we all artists? Each of us have our individual works; we constantly strive for Perfection in what we do. Unless we don't.

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Along the road, there're many different gallery setups. Like this one, which I believe is more chic & caters to the main stream (Visa accepted too)...

... for this one, the sign board says it all.

Lunch: I found a path up a slope & decided to venture inside. I found what I thought was the famous Made's Warung *yehhh* ....

It overlooks another neighbouring padi field. This place is full of padi fields ^^

Ordered another veggie dish, with fermented bean as satay

Zen design inside

As I made payment at the cashier, the man intro-ed his wife as Made... ok, that's it... this is not the original Made I read in the mag. First, Made wun be so young, & her hubby is an ang moh, not a local... & the dish wasn't that fantastic. Hmm... 'Made' is just too common a name here heh heh

After lunch... walked further into another village. Saw a banner on the opening of an art gallery & decided to find it (:

And lucky me, just as I was about to lose my way (again)... I stumbled into it 误打误撞: Manacika Art Gallery *yehh*... another artsy event. I had more arts in a single day in Ubud than in 1 yr in Spore ^^

This's actually a place to show case up & coming modern Balinese artists. Again, this is another different class of arts compared to Crazy Boy's... same artist, but different life.

Had a very warm welcome from the local people (: in fact, most attendees are ang mohs; I'm the only yellow-skin tourist there *so proud*

Local boy with big eyes

Snacks: local wine (forgot what it's called) & finger food

Omg... artist painting while the woman performed. 1st time seeing an artist in action...



Got bored & started wandering around... other artists in action...

Oh, I like this painting... painting of traditional Bali scenes. Look at the close-up details...

... the whole painting... looks very real, with reflections & different shades of light

More of the gallery

2nd level: the artists almost completing his work... alas, my stay there ended before I could see the whole completed work. Attending the opening really made my day, as well as talking to the artists (: no way I can do that in Spore; the gallery owners here are too atas to talk to ppl who dun buy =.="

That's about the end of my day in Ubud.... went for internet cafe to do some MSN... walked around somemore... was supposed to go to another jazz cafe, but realise jazz only on Tue. Today is wed =.=

Ended up in a restaurant selling indian cusine instead *pengz*

Well, at least I had my Bali orange to company me on my highly uncomfortable flight home (:


Thank Bali for the short stay. In Ubud, I obtained much insights into my own inner self. To be able to go with the flow, that's how I stumbled into so many of the wonderful things over the 2 days here. Am glad that I came here (:

All good things come to an end; same for bad things too... for now, it's time to go back to normal life.

To strive for perfection in what I do. To create a life while making a living. To be the best artist in very own craft. To connect with very audience I am created for. To live my own life to the fullest.

Hope you can too!

May you be always be secure...