Sketch of a Padlock

There are two padlocks in the shop that I run. Both of them look the same. I use them for locking the doors of my shop at the end of the day when I finish work. Today I decided to sketch one of them.

I put the padlock on my working desk and decided to sketch it using a 2B Graphite pencil. I also used charcoal pencil and black ink gel pen to darken and sharpen my drawing.

Boys and their Canoes

Numfor is an island in the southern region of Pacific Ocean. It is between Biak island and Manokwari regency (in the mainland of New Guinea). I went there several times with foreign visitors who wanted to go there to enjoy snorkeling, and birdwatching. These visitors came from the Netherlands and Czech Republic. While I was in Numfor, I saw that most of the villages were located along the coastal areas. The children liked to paddle their boats to the sea where they could catch fish or just swim in the warm tropical waters.
It was sunset and the boys were returning from the sea. They rowed two outrigger canoes. In Indonesian language these small boats are called perahu. They spend most of their times at sea.

Numfor is a beautiful island that is surrounded by coral reef. The tropical rainforest that covers the island is also the natural habitat of various kingfishers, Blyth's hornbill, sulphur crested cockatoos and birds that like to eat fish. Birdwatchers should consider this island as their birding destination. by Charles Roring

White objects sketching

To improve his or her sketching skills, an artist must perform life drawing exercises regularly. I also do the same. Last night I gathered some white things that I found in the kitchen and put them on the cover of Canon Pixma - my desktop printer. Then I took my A4 size sketchbook and Maries C7300-6 charcoal pencil to draw them. I feel that doing still life drawing is more challenging than drawing from photograph. An artist needs to create an imaginary boundaries for the subjects that he wants to "move" onto a paper. This can easily be done using a view finder but I don't use it. I prefer to set the boundaries using my own eyes and fingers. 

The first appliance that I drew was a Philips incandescent lamp.  Then I drew an emergency lamp behind it. The Philips water heater that I sketched on the top right was added as the third last object on the paper. There were some sentences around the heater symbol but I didn't draw them. The letters were too small for my charcoal pencil that had been blunt already.
In addition to drawing with charcoal and graphite pencils, I also like watercolor painting. However, the accuracy of pencils and the spontaneity of watercolor are the media that I most prefer. So, I use Derwent watercolor pencils to drawing and paint human figures, landscapes and animals for my artworks. I plan to showcase my works in etsy.com this year so that viewers who are interested in the artworks can order them from the website.

A Mother and Her Children in Arfak range

Arfak range is located in the south of Manokwari city. I often visit the mountains while guiding tourists. Most of them go there to watch birds of paradise, or do some trekking in the jungle. I still arrange trips for foreign visitors to the mountains every month.

The villagers who live in the mountains work as farmers. They work hard to make money. The agricultural produce that they harvest from their farmland is sold in the market of Manokwari. Mothers are the ones who work hard. They work in their vegetable patches, and also sell them  in the market. They also have to raise their children. Every family on the average has got 2 to 3 children.
Because the cost of transportation from Manokwari city to Arfak range is very expensive, the profit which the mothers get from selling their sweet potatoes, carrots, cabbage and passion fruits is just enough to buy some clothes, rice, instant noodles, salt and a few school supplies.
The above picture is a charcoal drawing of a mother and her two children from Arfak range. I made the drawing based on a photograph. I can do life drawing to with a model sitting or lying on a couch or mattress in front of me in certain reclined position.

Charcoal Sketch of Dolphins

I frequently see dolphins when I go to Abasi or Bakaro beach. Cape Bakaro is one of the best surfing spot in Manokwari city. I accompanied Matt Fox this morning to make some pictures and videos of him surfing in the area. He was surfing with a local Papuan surfer for around 4 hours. Matt works as a project manager for West Papua office of Conservation International Indonesia. At around 10.30 a.m. I saw a group of dolphins approaching the waters of Cape Bakaro.

Surfers often see dolphins surfing in the big waves. They attracted my attention. I stopped making pictures of the surfer and began aiming my friend's camera to the dolphins. Unfortunately, they were too far. The Cannon Powershot G1X that I used was not powerful enough to magnify the picture of the dolphins. Back at home, I decided to make a little study about dolphins. Here is the picture of two dolphins jumping out of the water. Dolphin is still considered as the best wave surfer. No human can match this animal at a big swell.

Charcoal drawing of a palm and a moth

One day I was guiding a Dutch girl named Aafke in Arfak mountains. She was a researcher who wanted to know whether an eco-tourism project in West Papua could improve the standards of living of the indigenous people and at the same time preserve the environment. She interviewed a lot of people from the villagers in Arfak range to the tourists who had visited the area. On the last day before leaving the mountains, she picked up an insect that had already been dead on the ground.It was a small moth. Its colors were orange brown with white dots on its wings. Aafke put it on her palm. I turned on my camera and aimed it at her palm and the moth. I took two beautiful photographs of this interesting subject.

Aafke's palm and a moth

The above image is the drawing that I based on one of the photographs. I made this sketch using woodless charcoal stick that I bought in Ubud town last year. I drew this sketch on the half part of the A4 size sketchbook. The other upper half area of the paper has been filled with the sketch of striped surgeon fish.