The Cave & Basin

The springs above the cave

Watercolour and crayon

©2016 Charlene Brown

The Cave and Basin National Historic Site of Canada commemorates the birthplace of Canada’s National Park system, which began there in 1885.  Naturally occurring warm mineral springs can be found inside the cave and outside in an emerald-coloured basin.

I worked at the Cave & Basin for three summers when the Parks Department operated the place as a public swimming pool some fifty years ago while I was at university.  At the time, I didn’t give much thought to any water other than the milky sulphur pools people were swimming in – I’d been down to the warm marsh at the base of the mountain exactly once and I was completely unaware of the lovely springs and pools above the cave. 

Even now, although there are lots of warm and hot springs all along the mountain chains in Alberta and British Columbia, most of us don't give them much thought. We should be looking at geothermal power potential more seriously, though probably not at any spring that happens to have given birth to a National Park.

A high alpine cirque reached with minimal effort

Ptarmigan cirque

Watercolour and crayon

©2016 Charlene Brown

I found the ‘minimal effort’ comment I used for the title on a Kananaskis Country website, probably written by one of those sporty Boomers I’ve had problems with before.  He (or she, but probably he) was referring to the already high road access… The Ptarmigan Cirque trailhead is at an elevation of 7200 ft. on the Highwood Pass, the highest driveable mountain pass in Canada. I’ve only been up there once, and I don’t recall the effort being particularly minimal.

Virtual Paintout still in Sri Lanka

Bodhiraja Mawatha

Watercolour, CP and crayon

©2016 Charlene Brown

Here is another VirtualPaintout Streetview painting of Sri Lanka, this time near Kandy, in the picturesque mountain area in the centre of the country. Here is the link to it.

I was thinking of naming the painting ‘Looking for a hotel along the Bodhiraja Mawatha’ as many of the dozens of signs along this stretch advertise hotels (the Hill’s Edge Hotel is my favourite). Then I realized the day is long gone when I would arrive in a place this full of fantastic things to see and paint without knowing exactly where I was going… or, better yet, being driven in a nice air-conditioned bus by someone who knew exactly where I was going.  

Virtual Paintout in Sri Lanka

Just south of Trincomalee

Watercolour and crayon

©2016 Charlene Brown

The Virtual Paintout is in Sri Lanka this month.  This tranquil scene near Mutur shows a thatched cottage on the beach with racks of branches, probably for drying fish, judging from the rows of outrigger canoes lining the shore... or possibly to provide shade for a vegetable garden or for the chickens, should they care to wander outside the basket-weave fence.  Here’s a link to the Streetview the painting is based on. You figure it out…