I took a life drawing workshop from a dutch artist, Noella Roos, who lives here in Bali. We worked large—3' x 4', on the floor, with charcoal. It was challenging for me because I never use charcoal and never work this large. The model continued to dance as we attempted to captured the initial "S" shape of her body—shoulders, spine and hips and then work from there. An afternoon of crawling around on the floor with charcoal—what a mess!
Some of us took a thee day tour with our friend Astika, a Balinese manku (priest) who knows all the ins and outs of Bali. 
Sketching the local villagers when we stopped along the way.
We spent a night at a sweet hotel in the tiny seaside town Amed on the east coast of the island. These two Running Ducks, Ollie and Punky are clearly in charge. They run around the open-air dining room quacking for food, then run over to the infinity pool for a drink or a swim. Quack.
View overlooking Lake Buyan at the top of the mountains. As we climbed the steep winding roads newly harvested cloves and coffee were drying on large mats in front of all the houses. The cool dry air was thick with the wonderful smell of cloves.
Astika is a manku (priest) for the beautiful scared temple Tanah Lot on the west coast of Bali. The little temple sits a top an outcrop of rock in the surf that can only be accessed at low tide. It is supposedly guarded by sea snakes and thankfully I did not see any when we crossed through the water in our sarongs and flip-flops. Because we were Astika and his family we were allowed to have our ceremony at the top which is not open to the public.
Sketching the temple from the land while waiting for low tide. I had a pretty good audience while I did this little drawing.
Our friends Ben and Sarah after the ceremony which involves meditative prayer, holy water, incense, rice and offerings of flowers. After each prayer a flower is tossed to the alter and one goes in your hair. 
Astika, his wife Made, an elder manku, Ben, Sarah and I after the ceremony. That's me second from the left.
On Saturday afternoon, May 29th, before I was able to finish drawing and posting my Every Day in May challenge, I came down with a bug—chills and fever put me to bed and I slept for 14 hours. On Sunday, thinking I was better, I ventured out and then collapsed again that night with a high fever. On Monday, though I felt better, I went to the doctor (in a foreign country!!!) and was told I had a temperature of 38c. Being from the USA, I had no idea what the Fahrenheit equivalent was to that number, but I went home with something to reduce the fever and antibiotics for all the other bad stuff.
EDM #30 Draw a chair. In the dining room at the villa.
EDM # 31 Draw something you collect. I don't really collect anything. As a matter of fact, I am trying to downsize by getting rid of things. I do, however, have LOTS and LOTS of pens—crazy!
EDM #28 Draw anything you like. I couldn't get inspired by any of the appliances around the villa so I did this "buah naga" "dragon fruit" that I had picked up at the market the other day.
EDM #26 Draw a vegetable. In Bali there is this vegetable called kangkung or water spinach or "KingKong". It is anything that is green and leafy and seems to be served with everything. There are slight differences depending on the region it is grown. I'm not wild about the kungkung from Lombok—too chewy. Anyway, I love this stuff. It is cheap delicious and when sautéed wIth bumbu Bali, tomatoes and coconut milk served over nasi puti (rice), it is to die for!
EDM #25 Draw a glass. As good as the fruit is Bali the wine is that horrible...and expensive! They have started making their own, but where I grew up in Northern California, they would pour this swill down the drain. Wine is so expensive that it is $30+ for a bottle of imported not so great wine. So, I have developed a taste for a local rose mixed with sparkling water. We have named this drink a "Sparkling Jeni".
EDM #23 Draw your foot. While dangling my feet over the pool to do this sketch, I realized that my feet have spent way too much time logging miles in my running shoes. One of the wonderful things about Bali is the $6 pedicure that comes with a reflexology foot massage. I'm going today! 
EDM #24 Draw a piece of fruit. A fruit vendor at the local market here in Bali. All the fruit here is amazing, but mangos are the best. We cut them into bite size pieces and put them in the freezer. It is the best mango sorbet on the planet.
EDM #22 Draw a piece of clothing—A sarong. I'm a bit behind on my challenges because of traveling. So as you can see by EDM #22 I am back in Bali. The sarong is a traditional clothing style in Indonesia for both men and women and many Balinese still wear the beautiful traditional cotton batik. With this heat it is a comfortable choice. I have several but don't wear them outside the villa for fear of it falling off. The drawing above is on the beach path which is lined with small shops selling sarongs in every color and print.
EDM #21 Draw something antique or vintage. I sketched this quickly before leaving the USA on the afternoon of the 19th. It is a wonderful carving from somewhere in Central America that my grandmother brought home from one of her travels. I love it and have been dragging it around for years. Watercolors were packed so I used colored pencils.
This is my father, Jim Lawson. He turned 84 three days ago. On his birthday, all the people at the gym stopped exercising and sang happy birthday to him. One woman asked him what he used for wrinkle cream and he said the same thing he uses to brush his teeth—hmmmm.
This was a painting I did in a Charles Reid workshop I took last year. Charles likes using black and white photos as an exercise in his classes. I just happened to have this photo of my father in my art bag. It was taken when he was a senior in high school and on the football team at "Paly High" in Palo Alto, California. Following in the footsteps of his famous father, Stanford University's first All-American football player—Jim Lawson. 
EDM#19—Draw something you made. I have a friend who always pulls out her latest sock knitting project when we are either sailing or just hanging around before going out for dinner. Such a great idea being so portable. Also smallish and doesn't take up too much room when traveling. So I gave it a try and here it is—one sock! I have never finished the other one. Someday...maybe...
EDM #18—Draw the view from a window in your house. My cats, Jazzy and Bobo have come home after two years in Arizona with my sister and her family. They will stay here with a cat sitter while I am in Indonesia for the next six weeks. This is the view from my living room window which I now share with two fat cats.
I have been so busy with this crazy "Every Day in May" challenge and packing to travel to Bali that I have put my portrait obsession on the back burner. Here is the first one I have done in a while for Julia Kay's Portrait Party. 
EDM #17 Draw a musical instrument. Eric Clapton is one of my all time favorites. He is brilliant!
EDM #16 Draw your favorite tool. I had a hard time figuring out what might be my favorite tool. Clearly nothing in the kitchen or the yard. So here it is, my "cheapo" plastic watercolor palette. Can't live without it.
EDM #15 Draw a tree. This beautiful tree is in the park near my home and is once again in full bloom. I actually did an oil painting of the same tree couple of years ago—and sold it! Here it is in watercolor for the 2010 Every Day in May challenge.
EDM #14 Draw what you see when you get up in the morning. We have a large skylight above the bed. It can be quite busy and noisy here in the morning with the seagulls flying about following fishing boats or looking for a good dumpster to raid.
EDM #13—Draw your phone. Seemed pretty boring to me so I added my hand. That's it. I'm moving onto #14
Here's last night's dinner for day # 12 of the Every Day in May/EDM challenges. Since Jerry is in Bali and I am still in the states, my dinners at home alone run more to the vegetarian, quick and easy and for the most part not cooked, like carrots and hummus. Yesterday, I couldn't resist some takeout from the Whole Foods macrobiotic side of the salad bar. Is was soooooooooooo good. Lots picking while drawing. Tonight I'm back to carrots and hummus.
EDM #11—Draw your sunglasses. This is a quick sketch I did to make up for the crazy oil painting I did below for the day #11 challenge.
There was leftover oil paint on the palette and I never want to waste any paint. Painted from a photo of a cow that munches grass in a filed near our villa in Bali. 
EDM #10—Draw your hand. I loved Nina Johansson's wonderful post "Think outside the box". Colored cubes she made to find new color combinations for her palette. She added a PDF of her cube template for us to download. I knew someday I would make one. So here it is for this EDM challenge—a 3" square cube of drawings of my left hand. 
Kind of looks like a damn box of kleenex...
Still obsessed with doing portraits for Julia Kay's Portrait Party. Ink and watercolor portrait of Wally Torta (aka CrackskullBob).
Oil painting (my first oil painting in a long, long time) for Julia Kay's Portrait Party of Omar Jaramillo. An Urban Sketcher from Catania Italy. 