The 'straight-up Lake Louise' view of Mount Lefroy

Sunrise, 13 July 2014

Watercolour and oil pastel

©2014 Charlene Brown

This view of Lake Louise and the glaciers above it doesn’t reveal the near-perpendicular faces of Mount Lefroy visible in the view I painted last week. Nor does this, one of the most inviting scenes in the Canadian Rockies, reveal the totally uninviting Abbott’s Pass (named for the first climber to fall to his death on it) also shown in last week’s painting, between Mount Lefroy and Mount Victoria.

‘Sunrise, 13 July 2014, is based on a photo I took from a third-floor room in the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. I took about forty photos over a one hour period that morning, and I think this one and the photo below, taken about a half hour earlier, were the best of the bunch.

Full moon setting on Victoria Glacier

Photograph

©2014 Charlene Brown

An unusual view of Mount Lefroy

Not the $1,667,500 Lawren Harris sketch

Watercolour and oil pastel

©2014 Charlene Brown

This painting is based on photos of Mt. Lefroy taken from the same direction, but at a slightly higher elevation than an iconic 1930 Harris painting.  A sketch for this painting recently sold for 1,667,500 CAD – yes, a sketch!

Mt. Lefroy looks quite different from this angle than in the much more famous view of the northeast face of Lefroy and Victoria Glacier framing Lake Louise.  I’m going to paint this ‘straight-up Lake Louise’ view next. 

Virtual Paintout in Gothenburg

(click on image to enlarge)

Trädgårdsföreningen

Watercolour, oil pastel and crayon

©2014 Charlene Brown

The Virtual Paintout is in Gothenburg, Sweden this month and I think this botanical garden is the nicest place in town. 

I first landed here, as I motored about on Google Streetview, right beside the free-standing espaliered fruit trees (seen here just to the right of the greenhouse), and was going to have only the lily pond and these trees in my painting.  But then I decided it would be a real shame not to include a little bit of the rose garden as well...

Here’s a link to the real thing, so you can have a look at the whole spectacular expanse of Trädgårdsföreningen.

Carnuntum III

Amphitheatre Bad Deutsch-Altenburg

Watercolour sketch

©2014 Charlene Brown

There are two sizable amphitheatres, about 5 km apart, at Carnuntum.  Part of the seating area of the one at Bad Deutsch-Altenburg is currently being restored, and the translucent protective covering has an image of the expected result, including a couple of rows of people in the ‘standing room only’ section (included in the sketch) above the rows of seats.

There was a very significant find in September 2011 adjacent to the other Carnuntum amphitheatre, Petronell, near the Heidentor. Aerial photography followed by hi-res, non-invasive ground-penetrating radar led to the discovery of the totally buried contours of an ancient Roman Ludus (gladiator school) almost 3000 m² in area. Details of this exceptional complex, including accommodation for 80 gladiators, reveal that it is unique in the Roman Empire for its size and completeness. Excavation is expected to begin this year.

Carnuntum II

Heidentor

Watercolour sketch

©2014 Charlene Brown

This triumphal arch was built in the 4^th century CE and was heavily damaged later that same century. An up-ended part of the top of the arch remains by the ruin – the only significant structure left standing when Carnuntum was abandoned. 

As the years went by it remained as an isolated monument in a natural landscape which led medieval people to believe it was the tomb of a pagan giant. Hence, they called it Heidentor (pagan gate).

Now, it is surrounded by crops and the ubiquitous wind turbines that dot the plains of Lower Austria. The crop on the right was only a few inches high when we were there, but the plants looked pretty much like they were going to be sunflowers so I added them to the sketch.

The wildflowers that were actually blooming in the area looked like this. 

Our last Roman Ruin – Carnuntum

Palastruine

Watercolour sketch

©2014 Charlene Brown

Carnuntum, which we explored on June 12, is about half way between Vienna and Bratislava.  It originated as a Roman army camp during the reign of Augustus in the early first century CE.  During the second century, especially under Tiberius, Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, it grew in importance, becoming the centre of Roman fortifications along the Danube and a major trading centre on the Amber Road from the Baltic Sea. However, it was destroyed in the 4^th century and eventually abandoned during the subsequent Barbarian invasions.

The public baths at Carnuntum, part of the ruin of which is pictured here, were among the largest Roman Baths north of the Alps. When first unearthed, these remains were named Palastruine because the complex was so generously proportioned and lavishly equipped, it was erroneously thought to be the governor’s palace (palace ruins). In Carnuntum’s heyday colourful marble imported from every part of the Roman Empire decorated the walls, and the floors were covered with impressive mosaics.

Aid in all distress in Zagreb

Mother of God of the Stone Gate

Watercolour, crayon and marker

©2014 Charlene Brown

Fearing yet another Mongol invasion in the middle of the 13^th century, citizens built defensive walls and towers around the highest part of present-day Zagreb. Of the four original gates, only the Stone Gate, consisting of a vaulted corridor that makes a right-angle turn through a gatehouse, has been preserved. 

According to legend, a great fire in 1731 destroyed most of the gatehouse and all of its contents, except for a painting of the Virgin and Child. When it was reconstructed in 1760, the painting, believed by then to possess supernatural powers, was given a place of honour, with an inscription, ‘Aid in all distress and against fires.’ The altar was opened to the public, and the painting could even be touched – until 1778 when an artistically-forged Baroque iron enclosure was built to protect it from the steady stream of grateful citizens.

At various times, the demolition of the gate was considered, given that it ‘no longer served any purpose’ but those who believed the painting inside the gate was in fact serving a vital purpose always prevented it. In 1991 the Archbishop of Zagreb proclaimed the ‘Mother of God of the Stone Gate’ to be a special protector of Zagreb and the whole of Croatia (and foreign travellers too, according to some tourist guides). She is there today, surrounded by tiles with inscriptions of gratitude. 

You can't get there from here...

(click on image to enlarge)

Rastoke

Watercolour, crayon, gouache and Photoshop™

©2014 Charlene Brown

I can’t begin to describe, let alone paint, the entirety of Rastoke, a complex stack of waterfalls, mills, alpine houses, beer terraces, vegetable gardens, and restaurants at the confluence of two river canyons in northern Croatia. The guide who had been arranged for us didn’t show up, and it quickly became apparent our bus couldn’t possibly get through. 

I walked down through the most interesting part of the town as far as I dared (knowing I was going to have to climb back out – remember this was the same day we did the Plitvice Lakes waterfalls) and took lots of pictures…

Plitvice Lakes National Park

(click on image to enlarge)

Waterfalls all over the place

Watercolour

©2014 Charlene Brown

On June 8, we drove from Biograd to Zagreb, via Zadar, Plitvice Lakes National Park, and Rastoke.

At Plitvice Lakes we embarked on a three-hour tour, on foot up and among an incredible sequence of waterfalls – you can walk right across the top of the twenty metre waterfall shown in about the centre of this painting… in fact you sort of have to as that’s where the boardwalk takes you – then by boat along one of the upper lakes in the chain.

Bridging the gulf of mutual ignorance

(click on image to enlarge)

Intersections of diametrically opposed disciplines

Watercolour, marker and Photoshop™

©2014 Charlene Brown

Half a century ago, C.P. Snow said the ‘two cultures’ of scientists and artists were separated by a gulf of mutual ignorance.

Traditional separation of art and science disciplines at universities has resulted in degrees that are ‘knowledge silos’ producing graduates with a deep, but narrow, expertise, prepared only for highly structured specializations.

Given that breakthrough scientific developments and innovation are often seen to occur at the intersection of disciplines, most universities have developed interdisciplinary programs. 

Unfortunately, the disciplines selected are often closely related, and the bodies of intersecting knowledge are not so much complementary as overlapping and redundant. I think that the intersections of diametrically opposed disciplines would be most likely to be productive. Graduates need to be able to see problems from other, often divergent, perspectives and they have to be able to communicate with previously-mentioned experts in narrow, highly specialized disciplines. 

A tour of the Archipelago

Sea bass pens in Kornati National Park

Watercolour and crayon

©2014 Charlene Brown

We were fascinated by the amount of commercial development, including wide expanses of pens for raising sea bass, in this protected area. The dolphins seemed to find them pretty interesting too.  

BTW, The tiny little Roman ruin I’ve shown here, thought to have been connected to an ancient salt factory and/or fish cultivating pond, was added to my painting for historical context, and is actually on the Bay of Spinuta, not on the islands near Biograd where our June 7 boat tour took us.

Working waterfalls

The mills at Krka

Watercolour and Photoshop™

©2014 Charlene Brown

Krka National Park was established in 1985 to protect the Krka River in Central Dalmatia. The park is ‘intended primarily for scientific, cultural, educational, recreational and tourism activities’… and a little light industry, as we discovered when we toured this remarkable – and very paintable – location on June 6.

Unlike the waterfalls in Canadian National Parks, which may occasionally be used for a little discrete power generation, Krka’s waterfalls drive several tiny milling operations whose intricately partitioned millraces provide an additional feature to enjoy in this multi-facetted complex.

An ironic placement at a Roman palace in Split

The bell tower of St. Domnius at Diocletian’s Palace

Watercolour sketch

Charlene Brown

Diocletian had a palace built in Split, Croatia, in preparation for his retirement in 305 CE. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 and has the distinction of being the world’s most complete Roman Palace.

 Considering that Diocletian probably put more effort into obliterating Christianity than any other Roman Ruler, it is ironic that his adjacent mausoleum was eventually enlarged to become the Cathedral of St Domnius. It was consecrated at the turn of the 7^th century CE, and the Temple of Jupiter he had built became the Baptistery. The cathedral bell tower shown in this sketch, considered the main symbol of the city of Split, was added in 1100 CE.