Signed Balinese Landscape Painting, "Rice Harvesting"

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.