rice field painting

Rich and nurturing, the Balinese lands grow with prosperous vitality each year, providing food for each habitant of this blessed region. Artist Odong Junaidi works with acrylic to create this impressionist depiction of Bali's natural wealth, portraying a farmer plowing the rice fields alongside his always loyal oxen and the sweet presence of his child.

The painting arrives signed and unstretched.

Planted in neat terraces, rice fields stretch across a fertile valley near Ubud. Nyoman Tomblos depicts the Singakerta rice paddies in late afternoon. He works in a pointillist style, creating depth and texture with rich, vibrant color, achieving the effect of light near sunset. Golden sunshine dapples the verdant plain, leading the eye upward toward azure mountains.

The Balinese landscape develops a golden tone as rice fields announce the arrival of the harvest season, at the same time inspiring Made Surita. He paints of women and men at the fields guarded by scarecrows and surrounded by mountains that are sacred to the Balinese Hindu. "In Bali the harvest is usually done by women who carry the crops over their heads, while other women bring boxes containing offerings," says Surita as he relates his composition to nuances of this millenary custom. "Their offerings are intended to thank Lord Sanghyang Widi for the crops given. The ritual is actually begun before the harvest, in a ceremony to ask his permission to harvest the rice."

Next to his signature, Made Surita writes the date he finished this painting, December 22nd, Mother's Day in Bali.

Gazing back at the viewer, two farmers are depicted in this painting by Balinese artist Purwadi. Known as dua petani in the Bahasa language, the two women pose against a green field in the background. Purwadi paints this scene in an expressionist style. Says the artist, "These two farmers took a picture during working in a rice field, in the middle of harvest time."

About this painting, Balinese artist Made Surita says "A lady is carrying rice on her head and another lady is sitting in a hut trying to defend the rice field from birds that want to eat the rice, while a man in a hat lies down under a big tree, resting himself." The artist paints this scene in a charming naif style, capturing the lush rice paddies under the watchful protection of two mountains.

Titled Panen Padi in Balinese.

In this painting by Javanese artist Kuldinata Suita, the iconic Borobudur temple looks over flooded rice fields that drain into a luminous lake. The artist works in a stunning impressionist style, capturing the glowing colors of the water and the leaves of the surrounding trees, transformed by the setting sun.