I amend my description of Ubud as a
village. It is a bonefide town if not small city. (maybe that's the
same as a town). Anyhow, it is nevertheless quite accessible to us
foreigners – anyone looking for classes in yoga, hari krishna
stuff, cooking, language, culture, dance, gamelon (local music), and
art are in luck. Vegetarian food abounds, and there's even a super
healthy, california-style organic store/bakery. Seriously could rival
wheatsville co-op in the amazing stuff that's available there, and
very good prices! (sarah, they even have noni juice:). BUT, that's
not the topic of this entry. The big news is: they also have Life
Drawing sessions, praise God! twice a week at Pranoto's Gallery, pay
2 bucks and join at least a dozen other artist types for 3 hrs of
good old fashioned life drawing. (except they apparently have a
shortage of models, so one of the regulars modeled this time in her
sarong. still good.) Mr. Pranoto is the quintessential image of
seasoned artist – t-shirt, sandals, grey goatee,
mr.miagi of the bali art scene. very mild manner with a gleam of
down-to-earth wisdom in his eye. Many of the people there were
regulars, from the looks of it. there were probably more than 15 –
mix of locals who didn't speak english, foreigners who didn't speak
indonesian, but mostly a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic,
multi-nationality group. Very fascinating. One funky British woman, i
quickly surmised, is a local artist. Come to find out, she is
Pranoto's wife of 14 years and they have a lovely daughter. These
sessions are weds & sats. will definitely
be the highlight of my weeks here! hopefully i'll make a friend or 2.
(already had a number of very nice introductory chats; not cool
enough yet though to get invited to lunch with the hip crowd. there's
still time :)
