I mentioned a few times about "batik" but more so today, I'd like to mention it again. Batik gained more exposure after G20 attendees wore the garment from some provinces in Indonesia. The problem arises when some internet political grifters criticize what those people wear without understanding its cultural context and why they wore those. Some even added some spices of conspiracy thrown into it. Then, Indonesian netizens who are not known for their civility online, attacked those grifters. Just like what I tweeted though, it's fuck around and find out. And some of these grifters found out how dealing with Indonesian netizens isn't always fun. Anyway, back to batik.

What is Batik?

Batik isn't specifically referring to the garment but rather the technique that is used to create a piece of clothing however people simply call the clothing as batik too. Because I am in the Mecca of Batik, there were some required courses offered to learn about it 5 years ago. I took the course for 6 months and even learned to make one. The thing is anyone can learn to make one without having to go to university just for that. There is a museum in the city called "Batik Museum'' which displays history and the silk itself. Perhaps, I'd give them a visit again sometime this year. In that place, visitors can also learn the process of making batik and even make one. As the year progresses, there are many variants of batik across Indonesia. In Indonesia, there are also days when employees and students are required to wear batik. Even my hometown has its own Batik signature that are used for school uniforms and government employees.

Where I am from now, since it's a monarch, Batik has its own motifs and deep rooted history. There are also batik for royals that you can check out here Batik motifs for royals. But there are also batik for commoners. These days there is something called Modern Batik and usually each region in Indonesia has their own motifs which are influenced by various factors.

Drawing Batik

The motifs that I drew today is called Kerang Motifs. This shell shaped batik is originating from a region called Situbundo, a coastal town in East Java. I learned to draw it from this channel but I changed the color into something more classical which has shades of brown. In Indonesia, specifically Java, schools are also teaching its students to draw Batik. I wish in the past, tutorials like that existed.

Anyway, apart from those, these are some of my work this month. I am trying to improve my watercolor technique and learn about it. Perhaps, I can also start drawing more batik motifs too. Some of these work are also inspired from my travel pictures.

	𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢. 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦, 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥.