Creating in Bali: My Lace Painting

There are few places on the planet as embraced by the arts as Bali. Bali and particularly the village I live in called Ubud is full to the brim of hand-crafted artisans. Artisan skills are passed on between generations, such as beading baskets, silver making, painting, and wood carving. But what is fun for a creative is to take something old and do something new with it—for example, carving a new product that is both practical and aesthetic or designing something with artisan skill that is now only done by machine.

Bali is a candy store for a creative mind! Now this idea is not without its mud holes. For example, you can think of products, but can you communicate what you want to local village craftspeople who don’t speak English. Add to that that in Bali time is a rubber band. When they promise to be finished in a week with something, they don’t mean it. They mean when they can finish it, everything hangs on the ceremonies, Magic day, the full moon and how often it has rained.

Inherent in new product development is learning what does and does not work with some new product and typically you have to make a lot of prototypes before you get it right. This requires great patience and putting yourself on a starving- to- death program. None of this really appeals to me, but is a built in requirement with the muse is ever at my front door.

The art of Lace Painting:

So, I would like to tell you about my latest artistic journey that I call Lace Painting. Like many artists, ideas come in the night in dreams and visions. I had several dreams about lace seen with light behind. These images inspired me to think further.

When Balinese women dress up to go to the temple or a special occasion, they wear a uniquely feminine colorful outfit. This outfit always includes a blouse-like design made of lace they call a Kebaya that a local tailor will have sewn just for them. They look elegant and almost sexy in this fairly sheer lace top that they wear with wrapped around skirt (sarong) and sash to the temple. Even little girls wear Kebayas. They believe that God loves bright colors, so their kebayas are a rainbow of bright colors unless they must wear white for a more serious temple ceremony. Tailors specialize in sewing these tops and most Balinese women have many in their closet. So, I had the idea of taking the leftover scraps the tailors don’t use when they cut the customized kebayas out and doing something fun with it.

I began to collect their scraps in big bags that the tailor had saved up to burn. My Ketut picks the bags up by motorbike and pays them enough rupiah to make it worth their time. Then, we carefully separate the good scraps from the bad, sort by color range and throw about 80% away. This lace is what I paint with.

When I get a design idea in my head, I sketch it and begin thinking about a suitable palette, which is a sheer fabric I can find at a outdoor textile market. I love to layer the intricacy of design and begin by layering and cutting shapes into images. Once that is in place with hundreds of pins, Ketut, my helper will carefully hand sew the layers on. After that I begin accenting and blinging the piece with sequins and beads so that the painting will dance in the sun. In the suns light it’s like looking under a microscope … revealing complexity and like a startling brush stroke of paint… you see the inner force of it. The energy of light adds to this unconventional creative process.

This process takes a very long time depending on the piece and many take months because we work each part of the process with patience. Next is the custom frame. I have discovered carvers in a village south of me that can hand carve my framing ideas from wood, so I personalize the piece with a ‘frame’ that uniquely fits the piece. Every paining comes with a short poetic story and my signature etched on a piece of sea shell.

Wah – La… “My paintings Love Light!”

I hope my paintings will give you as much joy and inspiration as I have making them.