Enhancing Creativity VI

Preparing  the  mind for Creativity Enhancement
watercolour and Photoshop™
©2014 Charlene Brown

Evangelia Chrysikou, our Psychology of Creativity instructor, reminded us frequently of Louis Pasteur’s declaration that ‘chance favours the prepared mind,’ and encouraged us to keep this in mind while considering the myriad ways of enhancing creative thinking and creative ways of doing things.

Group brainstorming, for example, is only likely to be productive after participants have done some preparation in the form of individual study and solution-finding.  Similarly, the observation, presented earlier, of benefit being derived from an incubation period only after an initial period of concentration on a problem or project, illustrates the importance of preparedness.

Other ways to ‘prepare the mind’ are: 

·         Challenge yourself.

·         Seek activities outside your field of expertise.

·         Travel to a foreign country. 

·         Take a class. Like Psychology of Creativity.UAPs in Ancient Egypt                                                                

Remembering 2014

Screenshot of a 3-page Christmas letter

Adobe InDesign™ document

©2020 Charlene Brown

Here’s another Christmas letter, with the addition of a watercolour sketch of Samuil’s Fort on Lake Ohrid near the Macedonia/Albania border.

Expanding Archaeological Sketches

Palastruine at Carnuntum

Watercolour, oil pastel and marker

©2018 Charlene Brown

Recently, I have enlarged some of the sketches I made on UVic Travel Study Programs in Tunisia and Libya in 2006 and Egypt in 2008. 

This painting is the second enlargement of one of the sketches I made during a Travel Study Program in theBalkans in 2014.  As I mentioned when I posted the original sketch, this part of the Roman archaeological site at Carnuntum, about half way between Vienna and Bratislava, was so large and elaborate that it was mistakenly labelled the palastruine (Palace Ruin).  It is, in fact, a spa complex, possibly the largest Roman Baths north of the Alps.

Virtual Paintout in Montenegro

Islands in the Boka Kotorska

Watercolour

Charlene Brown

The Virtual Paintout is in Montenegro this month.  

I painted and wrote about several locations in the Balkans a couple of years ago, including three in Montenegro. Two of these, Stari Bar and Kotor, I’ve just discovered can be located in Google Streetview – click here for Stari Bar and click here for Kotor.      

I couldn’t locate a Streetview of the iconic view of the islands in the Boka Kotorska I painted in 2014, but I did find this more distant Streetview of the islands from the other side of the bay. 

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.

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.

The most touristy part of the Dalmatian Coast

The Makarska Riviera

Watercolour sketch

©2014 Charlene Brown

Makarska is presented apologetically as the most touristy part of the south Dalmatian Coast… Compared to some Rivieras, it’s not bad at all. Though over 60 kilometers in length, the whole region is only a few kilometres wide, jammed picturesquely between the Dinaric Alps and the Adriatic Sea.

An oddly placed wall

Ston

Watercolour and crayon sketch

©2014 Charlene Brown

On June 4 we journeyed from Dubrovnik to Split, with a stop in the fortified town of Ston. The walls of Ston are considered to be outstanding examples of medieval fortification. Originally over seven kilometres in length, they form the second longest wall in Europe. (Yes, Hadrian’s Wall is the longest.)

The outer wall, shown zig-zagging up to the right in this painting, goes beyond the ridge and extends across the entire width of the isthmus of the peninsula on which Ston is situated.  This strikes me as the only part of the wall that makes sense, as it was intended to protect the valuable salt pans at Ston, as well as acting as a second line of defence for Dubrovnik.

Studying the rest of the wall for the fifteen minutes it took to start this sketch, I was unable to figure out why it was draped as it is in the cliffs above the town, so I read up about it when I got home.  I learned it’s laid out in what is described as an ‘irregular pentangle.’ They didn’t say why. 

Maybe the most beautiful Islamic bridge in all of Europe

Mostar Bridge

Watercolour and Photoshop™

Charlene Brown

This is a reconstruction of a 16^th century Ottoman bridge at Mostar, in Bosnia & Herzegovina.  The original bridge stood for 427 years but was destroyed in 1993 during the Croatian-Bosnian War. The rebuilt bridge opened in 2004.

It is probably well guarded now, but armed guards are not so much in evidence as a solid protective coating of tourists! 

Croatia in time for Dinner

Dubrovnik

Watercolour

©2014 Charlene Brown

We arrived in Dubrovnik just after sunset, and the iconic view of the harbour from the approach along the cliffs looked about as serene and peaceful as any city could be.

(click on image to enlarge)

We got a quite different impression in the following days when we toured the fortifications and were reminded of the turbulent history of this part of the world – especially some very recent history.  Some of the now-restored buildings within the walls feature pictures of the night of December 6, 1991 when Dubrovnik was attacked and burned by the Serbian and Montenegrin Army. 

No longer on the 'Road Less Travelled'

The churches of St. George and Our Lady of Skrpjela

Watercolour sketch

©2014 Charlene Brown

Having filed through the narrow streets of the last couple of walled cities with a growing number of tourists, we knew we were no longer on the road less travelled… and when we headed for Croatia along the beautiful Boka Kotorska, we found ourselves on a route parallel to several huge cruise ships. We were all focused on a striking feature of this bay -- two churches uniquely situated on an artificial island created by sinking old and seized ships loaded with rocks.  According to legend, local seamen, keeping an ancient oath sworn after an icon of the Madonna and Child was found on July 22, 1452, would add a rock upon returning from each successful voyage, and the custom continues… Every year on July 22, local residents go out in boats and add some rocks to make Skrpjela just a little bigger.

Another day, another UNESCO World Heritage Site

Fortified city of Kotor

Watercolour sketch

©2014 Charlene Brown

Kotor is spectacularly situated on the fjord-like Boka Kotorska, beneath and surrounded by massive fortifications built during the Venetian Period (1420-1797 with intermittent Ottoman occupation). During the nineteenth century Kotor was ruled by the Hapsburgs and the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, then was captured by the British and eventually restored to the Hapsburgs. After World War I, during which Kotor had been one of the three main ports of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, all of Montenegro became part of Yugoslavia. 

On to Montenegro...

Stari Bar

Watercolour sketch

©2014 Charlene Brown

On June 1, we traveled through Montenegro to Croatia, stopping at two spectacular and historic cities. The first was Stari Bar (meaning old Bar) an ancient city with a violent history.

Originally Byzantine, the town came under Serbian rule in 1054, later was in a brief union with Venice until taken back by Serbia, and was absorbed into the Ottoman Empire in 1571. The Montenegrins eventually got rid of the Ottomans by blowing up their own aqueduct in 1878, but then had to abandon the city when the re-built aqueduct was destroyed in an earthquake in 1979.

The new town of Bar was built and is flourishing far below on the coast, and restoration of Stari Bar has begun.