Paradise bird

Birds of paradise in the rainforest of West Papua are being threatened from their habitat due to hunting, logging and conversion of the forest into monoculture plantation. From 41 known species of Birds of Paradise known to science, there are 37 of them that inhabit New Guinea island. The most famous species among the indigenous Papuan people in the bird's head or vogelkop region is the Lesser Birds of Paradise (Paradisaea minor). The indigenous people use its feather during traditional ceremonies and dances.

The lesser birds of paradise usually come out of their nests to perform courtship dance early in the mornings and in the afternoons before the sunsets. Several male birds gather in a tree whose branches have been cleared from small twigs to enable them compete from one to another in performing the best courtship dance. The surrounding dusk area of the forest that is not too bright meets the bright colors from the birds of paradise. This creates a contrast impression to those who were watching the birds. 
The above photograph shows how a male Lesser Birds of Paradise attracts the female birds (that were sitting above him) for mating. Klasow valley of Sorong regency is one of the most favorite site among birdwatchers who want to go hiking in the jungle and watching wild animals.

Paradise birds, besides being the best natural dancers in the avian world, are also effective seed dispersers. A lot of plants in the tropical rainforest of New Guinea rely on these birds to spread their seeds to far away places. Without the role of the paradise bird, the forest of Papua would not be able to expand effectively. So, the hunting of these birds should be stopped to ensure that paradise birds will survive and continue to carry out their duties in the next century.

Also read: 

• Paradise bird from vogelkop region of New Guinea island
• Facing extinction, paradise birds and Crown Pigeon

Drawing Human Figure

In my previous article about Drawing human face, I explain ways to sketch and correct the proportions of heads. Now, I am going to tell a little explanation of how to draw human.  Figure drawing is one of the most difficult subjects in art. Human being has standard proportion and we all know that. Slight mistakes in sketching face, hands or legs will easily tell that the drawing has drawbacks. I have been practicing drawing human figure for years yet I still feel that I need more practice to improve my drawing skills. I like drawing women. Women are natural beauty that we can explore from every angle of drawings using dry media such as pencil, charcoal or wet media such as oil and watercolor.

 For example, when drawing face, I prefer to start from thin line sketches that depict the face of a girl before I color the face with Derwent watercolor pencil. The quality of a drawing does not always have to be the same as the quality of a photograph. Artist has other ways to deliver the natural beauty of a girl in the form of lines of pencils on paper.

When drawing human figures in groups, first, I need to identify the vocal points of the subjects that I want to draw or paint. Then I will only make sketches of them based on basic shapes (rectangle, circle, oval). When the distance and proportion of the basic shapes have been obtained and corrected the next step will be drawing the shapes of human figures within the basic shapes that I have outlined.

You might not understand my explanation. Well, if you really are serious in studying figure drawing, I suggest that you read a book entitled: Advanced Drawing Skills - A Course in Artistic Excellence.
Inside the book, it says that when we see a subject that we want to draw, a beautiful girl lying on her bed, we must ask to ourselves, "what we see?" As drawing artist, we must see a rectangle, a cirle, a triangle or oval. That should be the answer, not a sleeping beauty. So, what we draw is the basic shapes. When the basic shapes have been traced, we can easily draw the beautiful girl sleeping on her bed with perfect proportion. Before you read the book that I mentioned above, I recommend that you read The Fundamentals of Drawing by the same author Barrington Barber.

I hope that this simple explanation will be able to encourage you to explore the fascinating world of figure drawing and explore the beauty of human figure.by Charles Roring

 Also read: Drawing Dolphins

Developing Komplex Missi in Manokwari as Art Palace

The title of this post sounds ambitious but it is reasonable given the cultural assets and the natural and human resources that Manokwari city has. For instance, every year between 4 and 6 February, tens of thousands of people gather along the main streets of this city to participate and to see art and cultural performance at Cultural Carnival. During this occasion, everybody becomes artist. Art creativity of Papuan artists is expressed in various ways along the streets of Manokwari for free during this Gospel Landing Day. I was talking with Lucky Kaikatui, a prominent painter in Manokwari. He has been painting since he was a little boy. We discussed the possibilites of developing the komplex Missi of Manokwari as a hub for art lovers and artists. Here in komplex Missi, Papuan artists live and produce their artworks. Some are painters, carvers, cloth weaver, and singers. Behind our komplex Missi is the protected rainforest of Gunung Meja (Table Mountain) which is now a favorite tourist destination among nature lovers.

To realize this ambitious plan, we are going to hold a meeting for Papuan artists in Manokwari and discuss about what it takes to be an art center. Komplex Missi will be a place where people come to learn art, to express their art inspirations and to appreciate the art that is displayed in the form of painting, carvings, dancing, singing, and various other forms of art

I don't know how much time do we need to realize our dream. For me, Lucky, Paul and other Papuan artists in Komplex Missi, as well as other artists in this town, the making of Manokwari is the hub for art activities is an interesting challenge. We will do our best. Our works will include creating more artworks, conducting art education to young artists and promoting our art through newspaper, magazines, and the internet. I can only say that this dream will take its long journey starting from today. by Charles Roring

Russian Travelers Visited the Artists in Manokwari

Manokwari has a number of artists that make good quality artworks or handicrafts which tourists should visit. Today, I accompanied Mike, Inga and Dima (three Russian eco-travelers) who like to explore the tropical rainforest of Papua) to meet some of these artists. The first one that we met in the morning was the house of Mr. Lucky Kaikatui. He is a painter specializing in oil painting. He has just moved to his new home in Kompleks Missi. When we arrived at his house, we could only see some of his paintings hanging on the walls, one of them was the Paradise bird while others were the about the natural scenery and the traditional Papuan villages. The Russian tourists could not buy them due to the sizes which are too big to be loaded into the passenger cabin of an airplane .

Then we continued our trip to see Kuskus, an endemic animal of Papua island. We took some photos of it. After that we ate lunch in the canteen of Orchid. Having finished eating the fried rice and the bakso noodle, these Russian tourists continued their trip to Raimuti island . They swam there until the sunset accompanied by Paul Warere - a drawing artist whom I have trained to be the local guide.

At night, I accompanied them again to visit Mrs. Fonataba's house. She is a master of traditional hand-made woven cloth. This cloth has beautiful ornaments which Papuan like to use as dowry. Mrs. Fonataba was very happy by our coming. She asked her grand-daughter to wear the traditional cloth to be shown to us.
Inga said that she was interested in buying the woven cloth which the little girl was wearing around her chest. Hearing the Inga's request, the mother of this little girl took off the cloth and gave it to Inga. After asking the prices of the woven clothes which Mrs. Fonatabe put on the table, Mike, Dima and Inga bought the necklace, bracelet, and the clothes worth Rp. 500,000 (or around 50 US dollars).

It was quite late when we continued walking to Mr.Asaribab's house. Here, I took some photos of them examining the wood carvings. Inga, Mike and Dima bought two wooden plates with reliefs in them and one small wooden statue. Mr. Asaribab's looked very happy to see that. They spent another 50 US dollars for these wooden carving souvenirs. When we have returned to Penginapan Kagum that belongs to my family, I suggest to Mike not to buy the skin of animals or live animals. Tourists have to be smart buyers. They should not buy such souvenirs as birds or animals, reptile skins or dead corals. They can buy souvenirs such as woven cloth, carvings and paintings that are made out of the artists creativity.

I strongly support the development of tourism in Manokwari but this kind of tourism has to be friendly with the surrounding environment. The industry that encourages the development of Papuan artist's creativity in Manokwari. If you are interested in visiting Manokwari of West Papua to enjoy the natural beauty of this region and you need a guide to accompany you, then I can be your guide. You can contact me - Charles Roring through my email: peace4wp@gmail.com or my cell phone number: +62 81 332245180.

My Watercolor Painting of To Girls Fishing At A Wooden Jetty

I made this painting to create awareness among us all about the importance of keeping our beach clean. In the painting you can see how dissappointed the girls were when they found out that it was not a fish that they caught but a worn shoe. They were sitting on a wooden jetty accompanied by a small teddy bear doll in a bright day. The background of the scenery shows a container ship sailing out of the bay to the open sea. There were three other boats in the bay. At a far distance, we could see the green hills and a light house standing at the end of the cape.

When we go to a beach we may not find such beautiful and clean water. The sea areas around coastal big cities and towns are now covered with industrial and domestic wastes. Many of them contain chemicals that are harmful to the marine environment. While we may now work hard to fight global warming, it seems that we are not aware of the continuous destruction of coral reefs caused by the dumping of wastes to the sea. I hope that this watercolor painting can be seen as my way of presenting how beautiful the sea is and how important for us to not throwing plastics and other domestic garbages to the sea.
Title: Painting of Sisters Fishing at a Wooden Jetty; Artist: Charles Roring; Year: 2004; Media: Watercolor on cold press acid free Canson paper