Colored Maps

I've been experimenting with making entirely colored map drawings. I did a large one using blue and green acrylic paint and the effect worked really well. It also sold really quickly when I showed it at Somerville Open Studios.

I've tried it again, this time using colored pens as well. I like that it makes each element stand out a little more. It's less purely graphic than the other maps, but with the slightly more realistic approach that I'm using these days, I think it helps to make the maps more interesting.

During the last fair in Union Square I talked with a silkscreened clothing vendor who had a stall near me at SOS as well. He said that he had remembered my maps from that show, but he thought they were just drawings over antique maps, not completely new cartography. I thought that was kind of interesting. I'm not really looking to replicate any place too closely because I think it would be more interesting for people to be able to invent a place when looking at them, but it's good that they are recognizable.