Nine years after the Kootenay Burn II

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More Purple Trees

Watercolour

©2012 Charlene Brown

This picture was painted from a photograph taken in the Kootenay River Valley a couple of kilometers north of the picture I painted last week. It shows the view over the Vermillion Pass to Castle Mountain in the Bow Valley.  The patches of ‘purple’ tree trunks in the foreground identify the edges of the Kootenay Burn of 2003, and the similar patches further up the pass are the remaining signs of the Vermillion Pass Fire of 1967.

Nine years after the Kootenay Burn I

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Purple trees

Watercolour

©2012 Charlene Brown

2003 was a terrible year for fires in British Columbia, but the endless miles of burned trees now have a beautiful silvered mauve patina – at least that’s the way they look to those of us who see purple trees wherever we go… Almost all the trees in the Kootenay Valley are part of this ethereal forest, with occasional survivors and some brand new growth along the ridges and in the gullies.

Virtual Paintout in Croatia

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Maslinica, Croatia

Watercolour

©2012 Charlene Brown

The Virtual Paintout is in Croatia this month.  We had the whole country to choose from, and I first went looking for mountains – and found a very acceptable view from Selca in Split-Dalmatia.  But then I thought I’d have a look along the famously-beautiful coastline, and found this charming little harbour in Maslinica.  I selected this view of it, as it seemed to have the best shot of the Croatian flag.