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I could never said it enough that I dislike wet winter. I prefer to have a sun kissed skin and a beautiful sunny day on the beach. Although water soothe me, but the whole situation of winter is dragging me even more down.Thus, I set myself on a journey which I don't know how long will it be, perhaps a week, two and even months.
Well, enough with this constant ramble.

_{6 February 2018}

I wasn't sure of what I was going to do with my life after I missed out my study period. What if I missed my second chance?. The fear was still there and I hate to admit, I still want to sit in college and do nothing.They reward the students for just showing up, which is great and totally effortless.

The clock struck at 12 when I decided to pack my laptop and went outside.Previously, I already had places to visit in mind and the weather was beautiful enough for a day at the water park. I thought to visit there but I know, going alone wouldn't be fun at all.Instead, I just walked to the corner shop and got myself a snack bar. I stood and stare at the ceiling blankly for about two minute before I reached out for my phone.

_{Here is an important thing to note while traveling to the South East Asia on a loose budget}

UBER, Grab and Go-Jek are available to move around the city area.They have fixed price and flexible transporation that can get you around the city without too much hassles. There are other options as well. but my eyes and hands are glued to the phone and that is my best option.

🛵 I proceed to order a Go-jek to visit a museum and sanctuary of Indonesian's greatest painter, Affandi. The one way trip cost me only 0.30$ and it was about 2 km from the corner shop where I was buying the snack bar.

🏚 The museum was rated 4 stars on tripadvisor and I still believe it was undervalued. It was also fairly cheap for an art gallery that gives you free ice cream/softdrink once you finished the tour. The entrance ticket was only 1.75$ and a camera permit for 0.70$ at the current rate.

As I got down from the scooter, I walked to purchase the ticket.Shortly, they gave me a brochure that contains information about the whole complex that was unique and standout among the rest in that neighborhood.It looks like a mini castle but located next to a river and a very busy road. Not only a museum, the place has a restaurant that served delicious tenderloin steak at a very cheap rate.

My Journey began as I walked to the first building.

The whole complex is situated on a 3500 square meter land consisting of the museum and other building in which the painter, affandi used to live. The complex was designed by himself and one of the unique building is his house roof which took the shape of banana leaves with concrete main pillars and several carved wooden pillars. Not only that, there's a medium sized studio which is used for artist to showcase their artwork and discuss art matters and place for public to learn about painting and drawing.

I stepped into the first gallery and was welcomed by a staff member. It wasn't crowded that day and I came across a first painting that was painted by affandi as a way to visualize his father. The story revolves it was intriguing, as a realist painter in his early career, it was a challenge to paint his father as he never knew how his father looks like.

I kept on walking to couple of realism painting and read carefully the description written next to it. When I got into the third painting, I remembered a steemian @yusaymon, an aspiring artist who I believe his life story resonates with the story of Affandi's struggle as an artist.

Affandi was born in 1907 in cirebon indonesia and dropped out highschool to pursue a career as a painter. He married to his first wife in 1933 when Maryati, was only 16 years old. His wife was also his first model as he had no money to pay a professional mode.His wife agreed to be a model but with a condition, he should not paint her face. This artwork was dated at (1936) a portrait of bare back nude woman.

Later on, during the Japanese occupation, art supplies were very difficult to get but it wasn't limiting himself to paint with a water color. He keep on painting object that he sees in his daily life, Including the one I saw, which was a child spy that took rest nearby his house that time. Not only that, he was also keen on learning the anatomy of human in which the visitor can see through " learning anatomy" (1948).

That was the view that can be seen through the second floor of the first gallery. Inside the first gallery, the visitor can witness a transition from realism to expressionism in which later on made him famous and standout among other painters.

_{This was the first painting in which he found his painting signature, a sun, legs and hands. This symbol only appears in paintings that has significant story and meaning to Affandi.}

After the painting above,His styled shift to expressionism in which we can see through two of artworks below.

His painting technique is very unique. He directly squeezed the paint from its tube and made curve with his hands which made him standout among the rest.The whole process of him painting is available inside the video room which located in the last gallery that features family artworks. The video was exclusively subtitled in Dutch and one of captivating quote from him was

' Painting is like eating for me and if I can't paint then I'd become more hungry. It's okay because I know there's huge satisfaction after I managed to paint after days. If I can't find an object to paint, I will look into the mirror and paint myself.'

Also, according to him there are three kinds of color to express the sun. Uniquely, the sun in noon is represented in blue color. if we look at the fire from liquid petroleum gas, there's shade of blue and that was how he was seeing the sun. Many people say his style was familiar to Van Gogh but for me he has his own unique style and he is just himself. A man expressing the life and thoughts through his painting. For a complete biography of his, read on BIOGRAPHY OF AFFANDI to know more detailed about his life,achievements and artworks.

As I finished exploring the whole complex, I went to the restaurant called pronto that serves various type of steak. Since, I am on a journey called the Intermittent Fasting Journey I tried to eat moderately and made sure I've got proper nutrition. In the end, after flipping the menu book back and forth,I picked a sirloin brunch and infused water.

🍴🍸A sirloin brunch and the infused water cost me 6.65$ tax inclusive, which was very reasonable given it was palatable. The meat was juicy and very tender. There was a big onion just behind those meat and it was fresh too.

My day didn't finish there. I went to my favorite co-working space and as usual I started working in the afternoon with the thought to go home the following day. Enough for today! see you on my next adventure and misadventure on the road.

_{Pictures are my personal collection and shall not be re-used without a permission. I know those are shaky picture but hey, plagiarism is a real thing. Almost anything can be plagiarized these days.}

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