Reminiscent of Stonehenge

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The Standing Babas of SaltSpring Island

Watercolour and crayon

Charlene Brown

This sculpture installation in Canada’s Gulf Islands is nowhere near as old as Stonehenge, which is said to have been completed 300 years before the Egyptians built the pyramids, but I found the effect of this spectacularly-situated stone circle just as stunning. At 4 to 5 meters, the ‘babas’ in the outer circle, comprised of 3 to 5 stones each, are comparable in height to the monoliths of Stonehenge, but the figures in the inner circle are built on a ‘human’ scale. And there is a fire-pit, surrounded by a circle of lawn chairs (not included in the painting) the better to enjoy the ambiance in true West Coast style. 

You can’t get there from here anymore

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A busy day in downtown Petra

Watercolour and crayon

©2015 Charlene Brown

A few weeks ago, I posted a ‘bleached,distressed, colourized photograph taken at Kerak, a Crusader castle in southern Jordan.  

At the time I was reminded that I have always hoped to return to Jordan, especially Petra - sometimes described as the ‘rose-red city, half as old as time...’ - to paint a really exuberant picture of the Nabatean and Roman structures carved into the cliff face there. 

But going to Jordan isn’t what it used to be. Apparently there are still a few tourists going to Petra, but I’m not going to be one of them until things settle down.  I based 'A busy day in downtown Petra' on this careful little sketch I made after a very brief visit to Petra in 1993.

Virtual Paintout still in Bangladesh

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Nazimuddin Road, Dhaka

Watercolour and marker

©2015 Charlene Brown

This is my second picture of Bangladesh, location of this month’s Virtual Paintout.  I ventured into the city of Dhaka this time, where I found a lot of crumbling, littered streets, but Nazimuddin Road was not one of them.  I’d have to admit that it is in fact much tidier than I’ve made it look here. Have a look at the Google Streetview of Nazimuddin Road

Virtual Paintout in Bangladesh

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Bridge on the Dhaka - Chittagong Hwy

watercolour and crayon

©2015 Charlene Brown

The Virtual Paintout is in Bangladesh this month. Apart from being about as flat as any country I've ever attempted to paint, Bangladesh turned out to be not bad at all as a place to look for painting locations. Here's the link to this one. 

Adventures in ARTography IV

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Heli-painting in the Bugaboos

Blended, app-processed photographs

Charlene Brown

We were required to create patterns (drawing, writing, maps, geometry, collage etc.) or find them. My post about ‘Blending Banff’ was a ‘found’ pattern, a very formal one, ‘Tree of Life,’ frequently seen in Persian rugs.

I found the pattern for ‘Heli-painting in the Bugaboos as I was using the CamScanner app on my iPad to record a calligraphic pattern I had just composed… when I noticed the tabletop itself.  Anyone who has been to art school will recognize this characteristic surface. I just selected a portion where the colours had an intensity that matched those in my app-processed photograph of a helicopter taken on a painting trip in the Bugaboos. 

Adventures in ARTography III

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Blending Banff

Digital image

Charlene Brown

After mentioning that there are so many permutations and combination of digital and analog methods available, I have once again used one app, Image Blender, to do one thing to produce ‘Blending Banff.’  I combined a photograph of Banff I took from a flight to Calgary, on which I based ‘Drive-by Painting’ with a pattern from a rug on my dining room table.

Should you be wondering... the reason I have a rug on my dining room table is because after living in Dubai for ten years, there’s no room for any more rugs on our floor.

The next adventure in ARTography will also involve a piece of (more contemporary) art ‘found’ on a table-top…

Adventures in ARTography II

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Tamarack Glen

Oil on canvas (not)

Here’s the list of iPad apps we were required to download for the ARTography class:

Snapseed: photo enhancement    

Photoshop Express: remove spots, straighten, control intensity, contrast

Glaze: Stylize whole or part of picture

CamScanner: I used one of this app’s capabilities (OCR Poetry) in my December 19 post 

Camera Awesome:  fast, sharp, better exposed pictures

Camera +: Good for clarity.

Image Blender and Union: Both can combine two images. Difference is Union allows you to use third image as mask.

Repix: 20 effect brushes, 16 filters, 11 frames

Decim8:  Digital abstracts.  Destroy to create. Good for glitching (electronic distortion and interference)

There is just about no end to the ways you can combine digital techniques (app-stacking) and analog techniques, but I actually only used one filter in one app (Glaze) to produce this lovely ‘oil’ painting (well, it’s the loveliest ‘oil’ painting I’ve ever produced.) I decided to quit while I was ahead.