Favourite Virtual Paintout locations from 2017

Plaza Naciones Unidas - Floralis generica, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Temple of the Jaguar, Tikal, Guatemala

St. Peter’s Cathedral Basilica, Kumasi, Ghana

 'Serpentinata caribeña,' sculpture by Guy Rougemont, Univesidad de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico 

   

  

Virtual Inspiration

The most recognizable harbour in the world

watercolour

©2016 Charlene Brown

I'm participating in a 21 day challenge on Instagram which began January 2. The instruction for Day 8 was to illustrate 'Inspiration' and I used Google Streetview.

I first heard about painting locations found on Google Steetview on a blog called Virtual Paintout, which ran from 2009 to 2018. This is one of the paintings I painted on the Virtual Paintout when the area in which to find a view to paint was the Australian state of New South Wales. Participants were required to provide the link to the location chosen. In this case Streetviewfrom Milson Road on Cremorne Point. 

Google Streetview came in handy during the pandemic, when we weren't able to travel much, and I again referred to it for inspiration. And I used it last summer, describing it as the Ultimate Multi-viewpoint Presentation

Next week I'll post a few of my favourite Virtual Paintout locations from 2017. Maybe in the future (not the near future but when I'm about ninety-five) I'll be using it instead of air travel for all my location painting...

Decluttering art and art supplies

Cannibalized picture file

(very) mixed media

©2009 – 2015 Charlene Brown

Last week, I listed my Plans for 2025.  One was "Decluttering computer and hardcopy files"

I’ve just come across the following in Plans for 2015:

“What to let go of to start the year anew?  

Old projects that never got past the background info-gathering stage, or what’s left of those that have been excerpted for better projects." 

At the time I mentioned that would be a lot of paper to be recycled out of binders and files, and a lot of MBs of computer memory to be cleared.  

In my Review of 2015 a year later, decluttering wasn’t even mentioned. And it’s quite possible I could have a GB of jpegs I can get rid of by now.  Plus dozens more works on paper...  

However, I have now begun the project. The cannibalized picture file above contains some of the remnants (now deleted) of the files I used in my book, The Fine Art of Physics.  And I’ve made a small start on cutting or tearing up watercolour paintings and sketches for cards or collage…

The Plan for 1150 Words in 2025

Front cover: Visualization of the Anthropocene

                        Crowfoot Glacier, Canadian Rockies (1910, 1960, 2010)
watercolour, Photoshop™ and InDesign™
©2023 Charlene Brown

1. Visualization of the Anthropocene: I will complete this series of essays and illustrations of the increasingly drastic climate effects of the Anthropocene, with emphasis on Arctic warming. 
2. Travel painting: I have two painting trips planned, one to an artist colony, and the other to see my great-grandchildren.  Neither will include the Seattle airport.
3. Publish Time Travel with a bag of Crayons

4. Decluttering computer and hardcopy files.  And art supplies.

5. AI Training – learning more about the AI capabilities on my computer, as well as training that AI to understand my way of thinking in order to refine my ideas and, possibly, my paintings.  (Apparently this can be done!)

Year-end Report

Machu Picchu

watercolour sketch

©2009 Charlene Brown

Paint Every Mountain: I completed and published a small book about hiking and painting in mountains all over the world, working with what I have found to be the only truly portable plein air ‘painting’ kit ─ a bag of crayons.

Travel Painting:  eight posts about an Alaska Cruise, one post about a harbour-to-harbour flight to Vancouver, one post (how to set a broken arm) about what started out as an art tour of Spain, but only got as far as the Seattle airport.

Creative Archaeology:  I completed the series ‘Time Travel with a Bag of Crayons.’  Now in chronological order, it includes some of the photos and sketches, such as Machu Picchu, above, accumulated in past archaeology-related travel with the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, or the University of Victoria travel study program, or trips with my grandchildren.

Visualizing the Anthropocene: I have added several illustrations relating to the climate effects of the Anthropocene.  Some are straight-up landscapes and others are interpretations/extrapolations of data relating to potential de-carbonization processes.

Greeting cards:  How many – at least 30!  I’ve lost count, as some have been mailed to family and friends. This surprising productivity was partly because of having to use up a pack of 50 blank watercolour cards that I bought because nothing smaller was available when I just needed a few.

Christmas cards of the New Blue Bridge from three angles

Looking east

Looking south-west

Looking south-east

At this point, the ‘New Blue Bridge’ is not particularly new (I first wrote about it in 2018) and, unlike the old blue bridge, it isn’t actually blue.  It's white but has blue floodlights at night.

The first two painted cards above are ‘Christmas’ versions of large paintings I have done in the last few years, and the third one is an updated watercolour version of a 2005 computer painting, below, which included the old blue bridge (just below the Legislature).

  

 

Urban Agriculture

Downtown on the Farm
watercolour and crayon
©2024 Charlene Brown

 

Urban farming can minimize the carbon footprint associated with mass production and distribution of food, by localizing produce supply. The concept may help to make healthy food both affordable and accessible to those who need it, addressing issues of urban food insecurity.

Rooftop or vertical gardens represent a very efficient use of space producing tons of fresh, healthy food as well as removing CO2 from the air. 

Urban agriculture can include horticulture (often hydroponic, rather than soil-based), beekeeping and, at ground level, small livestock production (generally limited to poultry and eggs, but sometimes extending to pigs, goats and sheep), and aquaculture.

 

More painted Christmas cards

Banff Avenue
watercolour Christmas card
©2024 Charlene Brown

Banff Avenue
watercolour Christmas card
©2024 Charlene Brown

I painted another realistic(ish)/abstract(ish) pair of cards, this time the view of Banff Ave. from the bridge over the Bow River, and mailed the second one to the only person I knew would prefer it to the first.