Opus Plein Air Challenge

On location at the Gate of Harmonious Interest
pencil, ink, and watercolour sketch
©2025 Charlene Brown

A couple of weeks ago I participated in the Plein Air Challenge organized by Opus Art Supplies. I only had time to complete the first two steps of the sketching procedure demonstrated by our instructor, Peter Loebel. It was a hot day and there were a couple of cruise ships in town and the shady side of Fisgard street was so crowded it wasn’t possible to find a place to sit down  ̶  and that’s my excuse for the shaky drawing.  

The next steps, erasing the pencil lines and adding crayon and watercolour when I got home, didn’t tidy it up much so I decided to try a larger painting beginning with more carefully drawn pencil and ink.  I eventually decided I lack the steadiness or patience to do anything carefully, but here’s the result.

Heading over to Fan Tan Alley
ink, crayon and watercolour
©2025 Charlene Brown

The title of this painting refers to the pedestrians crossing Fisgard Street, heading toward Fan Tan Alley, the narrowest commercial street in North America.  (It’s .9 meters wide.)

Where I lived after the Big Move

Phillip Island

watercolour, crayon and marker

©2025 Charlene Brown

I arrived in Australia in November, just in time for my second consecutive summer, and soon found a job at the University of Melbourne. (This was a long time ago, when a university degree, especially a science degree, would get you your choice of job offers in almost no time at all.)

Right after my first hot Christmas, we had a very welcome break – a breezy day at the seashore on nearby Phillip Island.

The flowers carpeting the cliffs may be Carpobrotus glaucescens, commonly known as iceplant or (unfortunately) pigface.  I don’t know for sure because I didn’t take a lot of close-up photos in those days (years before digital cameras enabled us to take multiple pictures of everything in sight).  

Sunset parade of the fairy penguins
watercolour and crayon
©2025 Charlene Brown

Tiny penguins, only about 30 cm in height, come ashore after a day at sea fishing, and head for their burrows near the top of a long smooth beach.   

I was going to include this famous parade in the first painting but then remembered that these two most paintable memories from that day were miles (and hours) apart.  Hence the two paintings. 

We returned to Canada the following year.  I'll write about where we lived next in a couple of weeks. 

Small town living after my year in the big city

Pine Point Beach, Deep River ON
watercolour and crayon
©2025 Charlene Brown

A job offer at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories brought about my next move  ̶  to Deep River  ̶  in the fall of 1964.  For the first few months I didn’t even know there was a beach at Pine Point, even though we all skied at a small hill near there. 

This painting is based on pictures I took at the beach during the following summer. (The mountain in the background is Mt. Martin which is on the Quebec side of the river and is barely high enough to be classified as a mountain, so I’ve given it a little added elevation and a more rugged skyline.)

After that summer, during which we spent most of our free time here on a surprisingly warm stretch of the Ottawa River, I made a really Big Move to the next place I lived – which I’ll write about next week.

I still think of this as the ‘new’ city hall

Toronto City Hall 1965

crayon and watercolour

©2025 Charlene Brown

The first place I lived after I returned from a year in Europe, was Toronto, where I was employed as a Probation Officer (don’t ask!) from 1964 to 1965.

During my time there, the ‘revolutionary’ new City Hall was opened and the design for the new Canadian flag was finally agreed upon.

The city hall’s Finnish architect, Viljo Revell, asked Henry Moore to create a sculpture in keeping with the flowing lines of his design, and Moore produced ‘The Archer.’  It’s my favourite Henry Moore, so I’ve included it in this painting despite the fact it wasn’t installed until 1966, months after I had moved on to my next adventure.

 I’ll post a painting of that location next.