A ‘randomly chosen’ haiga

Egypt Lake

The word 'divide' in the last line of this haiku, suggested overlaying the poem on this computer-stylized version of a painting of Egypt Lake on the Continental Divide.

The connection of Lines 2 and 3 to Clean Energy Haiku may be mystifying:

·       titanium dioxide is used in dye-sensitized solar cells to improve efficiency

·       divide and conquer by looking for possible ways to separate aspects of a problem that have always been together, and assumed to be inseparable

Illustrating Creative Nonfiction

Carleton University from Vincent Massey Park

Watercolour and oil pastel

©2018 Charlene Brown

This computer-stylized version of a painting (which was based on a Google Streetview of Carleton University) will be used to illustrate Chapter 3 of the multi-generational creative nonfiction journal I’m writing. It occurred to me just after I’d completed the painting that, as Chapter 3 begins in 1958, before most of these buildings on the Carleton University campus were built, I’d been a bit too creative. So, I will have to render them into an ethereal future projection and work that into the story. Somehow.

The joy of figuring out haiku non-sequiturs

Consolation Lake

Richard Feynman was famously motivated by the joy of figuring things out. His scientific journey earned him a Nobel Prize. Let’s see how joyfully this poem can be figured out.

Line 1 is a little less enigmatic if you Google eponymous laws: Many scientific phenomena are defined by eponymous laws or principles or rules, named after the person who first discovered or defined them – Avogadro, Newton, Mendel, Planck – and most of us can’t remember them (with the notable exception of Murphy, whose law everyone remembers). The line still doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it is less enigmatic.

Most Canadians will know the meaning of line 2 – Wayne Gretsky was known for his uncanny ability to take control of the puck by getting to where it would be. Everyone wants to be like Gretzky and skate to where the puck is going, not where it’s been.

It’s been a while since I explained what this haiku project is about.  If you`d like to read that post again, click on Computer-Generated Clean Energy Haiku.

Virtual Return to Palm Springs

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

Watercolour and oil pastel

©2018 Charlene Brown

When we were in Palm Springs for Christmas in 2016 and we went up the tramway – a truly spectacular trip along the Chino Canyon – I made a couple of very small watercolour sketches. After returning home, I produced a larger painting of one of them, the view from the top.  Now that we’re not going to the States so much, I found myself getting a little nostalgic and decided to do something with that other sketch. This view back up the mountain, when it was starting to get dark includes palm trees at the base, silvery-white ghost trees in the ravines, and finally the huge Christmas tree at the top.

A surprising place to find great pictures

Bow Lake

Watercolour and oil pastel

Charlene Brown

I have a few Pinterest pages so I get a lot of suggestion from those people with pictures of mountains, especially the Canadian Rockies.  Sometimes it seems like 40% of them are Moraine Lake, which is fine (it’s quite spectacular) but usually what I’m looking for is a place I haven’t already painted. When I started looking for pictures of Bow Lake, I was surprised they were few and far between – until I thought of looking on Google Streetview. The ‘street’ that the Google camera was viewing in this case is the Icefields Parkway (one of my favourite streets) and here is a link to my favourite Streetview on the Parkway.

Blue ocean haiku

Lake Minnewanka

Watercolour and oil pastel

©2018 Charlene Brown

This of course isn’t the ocean at all – it’s a very deep blue lake in Alberta. It’s in the front range of the Rockies and it’s not glacier-fed so, unlike most of the lakes and rivers in the area it doesn’t have the famous turquoise colouring.

The phrase in the third line, blue ocean thinking, results in ‘blue ocean’ innovation – non-disruptive innovation that doesn’t take anyone else’s market share or make them obsolete. 

• It’s been a while since I explained what this haiku project is about.  If you`d like to read that post again, click on Computer-Generated Clean Energy Haiku 

They replaced the bridge despite my orders

The New Johnson St. Bridge

Watercolour and oil pastel

©2018 Charlene Brown

In a 2009 blog post entitled, ‘Don’t replace our bridge!’  I mentioned how fond we were of the 85-year-old bottleneck between us and downtown Victoria. In fact, I was simply following some blogging advice about ways to get people’s attention when I decided on that title for the post. Unlike many Victorians, I wasn’t that upset that the old bridge was going to be replaced. 

And I think the new one – the largest single-leaf bascule bridge in Canada and one of the largest in the world – is beautiful.