Year-end Review/The Plan for 2014

Side view of St. Mark’s in Venice

Watercolour

©2013 Charlene Brown

I agree with what Chris Guillebeau said on his Art of Non-conformity blog:  ‘We tend to overestimate what we can do in an average day but underestimate what can be done over the course of a year. Looking at a whole year in review, you may be surprised at everything you’ve accomplished… And next year, if you take this goal-setting process seriously, you may be even more surprised with how much you’ve done over the year.’ This concept has been working for me for five years now!

As I start the sixth year of 1150 Words, I hope to continue shifting from representational landscapes toward more stylized paintings. I’m planning to continue travel journaling (and, of course, traveling) as much as I can.  So far I have just one (still tentative) plan for 2014. It involves six countries, two of which I’ve never visited before.

I’ve painted every Google Streetview location presented in the Virtual Paintout this year – today’s painting is my second entry in the December 2013 location, Venice.  I plan to continue doing that and possibly adding some more night-time versions of the views I select. (Understandably, Google Streetview does not include much in the way of night scenes.)

I published Plein air Painting: the drama through Kindle Direct Publishing in April (I do not recommend this format for books with a lot of illustrations) and in paperback on Createspace  in May. I’m really pleased with the ease of use and results on Createspace. Both the Kindle version and the paperback are up on Amazon.  I’ve started a new book project, including almost 20 blog posts so far, with a working title, “The Fine Art of Physics.”

Over to the darkside again

(click on image to enlarge)

Vancouver after dark

Watercolour and marker

©2013 Charlene Brown

This is a night time version of a picture of Vancouver (as seen from the tower of the Vancouver General Hospital) that I painted acouple of months ago.   It required less guesswork than my previous darkside paintings, because I’ve actually seen Vancouver at night… That is not to say, however, that this is particularly realistic rendering of it.

Virtual Paintout in Venice

(click on image to enlarge)

Corner of Calle dello Spezier and Calle Fondamenta Megio

Watercolour

©2013 Charlene brown

The Virtual Paintout is in Venice this month  and I was lucky enough to land on this nicely composed Streetview almost immediately after I began maneuvering the Google camera boat around town.

I also had a look at one of the most frequently painted places in Venice – Basilica Di San Marco, but found the front was boarded up for restoration… But then I made the happy discovery that the side of the building, though also partly covered in protective boards and tarps, presented a very paintable design!  I’m not quite finished it, but hope to have it ready to post next week.

Another 'Darkside' painting

(click on image to enlarge)

Seoul in a different light

Watercolour and marker

©2013 Charlene Brown

I’ve extended the idea of painting night time versions of some of my Google Streetview ‘Virtual Paintout’ paintings to one of thelandscapes I did of Koreaa few months ago. 

Computer abstracting

(click on image to enlarge)

Hanging gardens of the Rockies

Watercolour and Photoshop™

©2013 Charlene Brown

I liked the abstract effect I got with Photoshop in HangingGardens of Quadra a couple of months ago, so I decided to try the same Photoshop filters on a watercolour of the top two falls in Johnston Canyon near Banff. Unlike on Quadra Island, where the gardens had ‘driftwood, ceramics, and metal sculpture combined with flowers and arrayed around rock pools or hanging from trees,’ the canyon featured an impressive, but much less structured, display of moss and icicles.