Artist Trading Cards

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Wednesday Morning ATCs

Watercolour gouache and mystery media

According to Wikipedia, Artist trading cards are miniature works of art (2 ½ X 3 ½ inches) produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc.), wet media (watercolour, acrylic paints, etc.), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc.) or even metals or cloth. The cards are usually traded or exchanged. When sold, they are usually referred to as art card editions and originals (ACEOs).

I’ve painted about a dozen ATCs in the last couple of months (all winter scenes in the Banff-Lake Louise area, which may not surprise you) so you can guess which of these are mine, and which are painted by the people I paint with on Wednesday mornings… Other artists whose works are shown here are Anne Millar (first row left), Evelyn Beaton (first, middle), Pat Routh (second row middle), Mickey Girard (second row right) and Harald Wetklo (third row left). Don't you agree, trading cards is a great way to collect original art work painted by your friends.

On location in my imagination

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Winter gardens at Banff

Watercolour

©2012 Charlene Brown

This scene, the water garden at the Banff National Park Administration Building, is only slightly imaginary.  It exists in at least partial reality, as I have painted these little stone bridges and ponds in summer, with Mt. Cascade, my favourite mountain, shifted only slightly -- and this painting is derived from that composition. 
When I was there a couple of months ago, you couldn’t even get up to this location and all the water had been drained from the system, leaving only gaping pits and an occasional icicle where the falls are supposed to be. Also, unlike the Bow River into which it flows, the water on this mountain is not glacial – so its colour is imaginary as well.

On Location on WestJet 570

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Landing in Calgary

Watercolour, crayon and marker

©2012 Charlene Brown         

Needless to say, I’m not claiming this was painted on location on my WestJet flight to Calgary, but it is based on two of the photos I took from there.  The painting was supposed to be an abstract but, as usual, I got caught up including virtually everything I’d recognized as we glided toward the airport – bank towers, Calgary Tower (topped by a red revolving restaurant) Suncor (the fact the building is red is only part of the reason it was initially referred to as Red Square) followed by the recently-completed Bow Building (designed by Foster + Partners – they also designed the Gherkin at 30 St. Mary Axe in London).  In the distance are the Rockies, closer in is the Canada Olympic Park (all you can see is the ski jump) and to the right of that, the Alberta Children’s Hospital (sometimes called the Lego hospital, if that helps you find it).                                 

Virtual Paintout in Elba

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Strada di Calamita in Capoliveri

Watercolour

©2012 Charlene Brown

The Virtual Paintout is on the islandof Elba in Italy this month.  It didn’t take long, motoring around on Google Streeview, to find several beautiful ‘paintings’ overlooking Capoliveri, and I chose the one I thought had the best view of Tuscan Archipelago NationalPark in the distance.   According to legend, the Tuscan Archipelago, of which Elba is the largest island, originated from jewels that slipped off the neck of Venus, the goddess of beauty and love, and fell into the Tyrrhenian Sea.  It’s easy to see how that story got started – isn’t this place spectacular!

Another Drive-by Painting

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Wildlife Overpass

Watercolour, crayon and gouache

©2012 Charlene Brown

A series of overpasses have been built to get wildlife safely across the TransCanada Highway in Banff National Park. These sculpted structures, with thickly-treed rock gardens, are said to be the best looking (well, most recognizable, anyway) wildlife crossings in the world! They looked pretty spectacular in the late afternoon alpenglow during our drive from Lake Louise to Banff just after Christmas.

They have reduced the road-kill incidence by almost 80%.  Movement-triggered video cameras have recorded over 200,000 wildlife crossings – mainly elk, deer and bears, with smaller numbers of cougars, grizzlies and wolves.  And two wolverines, which caused considerable excitement, as they’re said to be Canada’s most elusive wildlife.  I thought the Sasquatch was our most elusive wildlife.