Traveling is such an eye opener and the influences from my trip to Bali & Borobudor in Java are showing up in my most recent painting which is my biggest painting ever- 35″by 35″! The Tree of Life and bird women idea came from the stone relief carving I saw at Borobudor and the carved wooden bird woman that I picked up in Bali.

I started out with my background color as a lovely pinkish tan color that picks up the color of the woman’s dress in the postcard and developed the tree with Golden Interference blue paint curlicues and a lot of texture- especially in the petals around the eyes.

The postcard I am using has a blind man in it & a woman with an open umbrella walking past him- it is titled “Pity the Blind”. An uncomfortable title in our politically correct times but I do pity the blind that they cannot see the beauty of this world…that is why I started filling in the background with nature shapes- flowers, fruits and animals. You will also see backgrounds completely filled in by shapes of this theme in traditional Balinese paintings.AND in this painting, which is about recognizing the sacred feminine,it is about pitying those that are blind to it’s existence.Right now I am struggling a bit with the painting because the background has become so prominent- I think I will sand it down a bit. I am unsure of how I will paint the bird women or the flower petals- I am in that stage of painting where I am intrigued by the possibilities of problem solving! Stay tuned for furthur developments

I recently posted a blog about the daily life of the Balinese which made me reflect a bit on my own daily life- get up at 7, shower, fix oatmeal with yogurt & fresh fruit which I eat on the way to work. I’m the director of the Craft & Design Center at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. On May 2 &3 we hosted a wonderful work shop taught by Alyson B. Stanfield on “No Excuses Art Marketing”- Here I am with Alyson and Carol McIntyre. Alyson offers free marketing advice with her weekly newsletter. I have an interesting job that involves art- I’m grateful for that!!

Then there is the glamorous part- haha- the Art Openings!!The Dreamland Show in Fort Collins opened the night before the workshop- here I am (notice the hot pink metal embroidered top that I had made from a sari in India- that’s the glamor part ) at the show with Laurie Zuckerman who builds breathtaking altars, has awesome photos of shrines and creates “Memory Jugs”

and Suzy Foy who uses painted papers and mixed media to create colorful 3 dimensional “paintings”

After work and on at least one day off I get to paint or create assemblage- this is my latest painting that I am working on about the sacred feminine. It is heavily influenced by some relief stone carvings I saw at Borobudor and by traditional Balinese painting. The postcard says:”Pity the Blind”- it works on two levels- pity the blind that they are not able to see the beauty of our earth & pity those that are blind to the sacred feminine.

Burning Man is coming up-Labor Day Weekend- so I have started on transforming my bicycle- it has a big clock in the front & is called “Time Flies”

It has 5 sets of wings so far- that I will pull together with antiquing color a la the secrets of Rusty Things taught by Michael deMeng.

Joe is getting started on a very BIG project for Burning Man called Vishnu’s Dream- this is just the tippy top!! I’ll help with the painting later on in the project.

And then there is the spring projects for the yard… I had a stand of pine trees at the end of my driveway that were heavily infected with mistletoe- I knew when they were all cut down- (which I had to do because the mistletoe spores burst out of them & infect the surrounding trees)-

there would be a BIG bare spot- the trees weren’t big enough in diameter to chainsaw carve them so I decided to turn them into a “grove” of painted poles.      Joe cut them

I hauled them     and in the fall I’ll paint them

It’s essential to my well being to fit my social life in there somewhere too- Joe, my sons, my friends and family- including my dog, Joy who had 30 stitches 2 weeks ago from a big hunk taken out of her side by a coyote!!

Whew….busy but never bored (and I am NOT having to carry 23 bricks on my head- thank god!- see the blog of: April 12, 2009!!

Around & around we drove switch backing up the dense green forested slopes to the Dragon Temple, Pura Lempuyang. One must wear a sarong & sash to gain entry into the temples of Bali.                                          My boys & Joe checking out their sarongs:

Me and my favorite mythological animal- the dragon (I also happen to have been born in the Year of the Dragon)

Here are some photos of this amazing temple:

Okay, I’m going to wind up this series on Bali with some scenes from daily life. Here is a washing machine that has an anti-rat proof base (and with all the mice that get in my rural house in the fall I like this idea!) Speaking of daily life I thought it would be fun to share some of my photos of my studio & the art I have collected in my next blogs…..

Scooters are the vehicle of choice- with families of 4-5 riding on one scooter-including the babies!

a shoe repair man

a country store

a snack cart

a gamelan player (the music of Bali)

a trash can made from an old tire-clever!!

a typical toilet- admit it- you were curious- they also have squat toilets but many are flush with a water bucket or hose for rinsing yourself & 2 buttons for the flusher- one for #1 & one for #2 to save on water- also clever!a

and last but not least- our typical daily view from our cabana on Sanur Beach-see the volcano? (it looks like it is across the water but the land curves around)- big sighs of good memories!!