Asbury Park
2020
Commissioned for the “Art Lives Here” project in the historic Casino Building on the Asbury Park Boardwalk, New Jersey.
15.5″ x 20.5″
Prints available from Parlor Gallery.
Selection of contoured maps from 2017 - a year of (mostly) intense colour.
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The first image (an original NASA orthophotomap of the Moon) is painted in my usual @drphmartins black star ink. All other images are painted in various hues of liquid acrylic. It has the perfect consistency for following lines of elevation with a brush, and is also highly convenient - it's an intermixable, waterproof, lightfast paint which behaves more like an ink.
6 days ago
Details of Bordeaux, France, crosshatched in @staedtler pigment liner. Commissioned by Bordeaux-based architectural firm @why.archi
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I'll be offering a limited number of prints soon - keep an eye out for updates!
2 weeks ago
Throwback to Deutschland featured in German national newspaper Die Zeit, June 2016.
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Scroll for details of the original image, drawn in pigment liner over a pocket road map in October 2012.
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Deutschland was the first map I ever worked with, purchased by chance from a charity shop for just 20p. I often think of it as the best investment I ever made. All of the maps I work with now, every drawing, every commission, every exhibition and every day in the studio all stem from that impulsive buy.
2 weeks ago
Details of a private commission in ink over San Luis Obispo, California.
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For this sort of map I use a @staedtler pigment liner on the finer details, and a very particular (hard to find) Pilot pen for broader areas. It's a needlepoint rollerball pen with a pigment based ink. Because they're so hard to come by I usually purchase them by the boxload whenever I see stock anywhere.
2 weeks ago
This one follows you around the room.
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Blush Trench (2020), a favourite from my ongoing trench miniatures series. She was sold as part of a trio - Blush Trench, Blunt Trench, Bolt Trench. It's nice to know they're all still together somewhere.
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I'm excited to work on more of these later in the year. At the moment I'm particularly busy with commissions and other gallery commitments, but I've got some time pencilled in for some smaller work before the holiday season starts. I'll also be releasing the next installment of my Collier's US cities series soon, so keep an eye out for updates! Just out of interest, which US cities would you like to see added to the collection?
3 weeks ago
As someone who has experienced a #migraine attack, the complexities go so much further than the initial head pain. I felt nausea and it affected my entire body. In my partnership with Impel NeuroPharma, it was important to illustrate multiple routes people with migraine take to find relief for their migraine attacks. Watch to learn more about the creative process to bring the routes to life. #linkinbio #RerouteMigraine #ImpelPartner
4 weeks ago
Details of Seattle, Washington (2019)
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Private commission in ink over a USGS topo map of Seattle and surrounding area.
1 month ago
Looking back on a few favourite works for @nike - which do you like the most? Some of these drawings were huge. The Newport Beach map (images 2 and 3) was particularly large and very time consuming - I also had to move furniture around to accommodate it. My studio isn't huge, but it's not exactly small either! I've always liked the way Newport Beach combines my two main drawing techniques - crosshatching and contouring.
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Since 2013 I've worked on a number maps for the brand, each commissioned as part of a new interior design for stores in locations including London, Paris, Milan, Kalverstraat (Amsterdam's shopping high street) and Newport Beach, California. Each location features a different athlete.
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The Oregon commission in 2016 was a bit different - the drawing was based around Nike founder Bill Bowerman and was created for Nike global headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.
1 month ago
Map of Aberdeen Harbour, Scotland - an unfolding page inside one of the most unique atlases in my collection. The atlas itself is fairly common, but unusually it's full of extra pages, added by a previous (unknown) owner. The atlas is twice as thick as it should be.
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The extra pages contain detailed maps of various towns and cities, carefully glued into place. On the reverse of each additional page is writing - lots of writing, the tiniest writing - listing town populations, locations of tea rooms, dance halls, hotels. It's a bit of a time capsule.
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Perhaps this belonged to a business owner scouting locations for new branches, or a geography student. Maybe it was just a personalised travel guide in a pre-Google age. Any ideas? There are no wrong answers because we'll just never know.
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Drawing is crosshatched in ink using a @staedtler pigment liner and lightly treated with @liquitexofficial matte varnish. Map is a Bartholomew map inserted into a Bartholomew pocket atlas of the British Isles.
2 months ago
Working on layers of acetate to isolate different stages of tone - a recent commission illustrating visuals for Reroute Migraine Relief, a program about the complexities of #migraine and the brain/gut connection. In this footage, I'm using a mapping nib, paired with a high-carb ink designed for use on glossy or non-porous surfaces. You can see how forgiving the acetate is, and how straightforward it is to make corrections with a well-angled knife. #ImpelPartner #RerouteMigraine
2 months ago
Details of Peak District (image 1, 2013), one of my earliest explorations of working with topography, specifically lines of elevation. Tonal range is mostly down to the grade and pressure of pencil, which would have been a selection from roughly 6B softest to 2H hardest.
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These days It's unusual for me to work in pencil - I prefer the certainty of ink. Ink presents a particular challenge, one that is so satisfying to solve - how do you create a nuanced tonal range with a binary medium? Crosshatching is my favourite approach, although with contoured maps I now also change the weight and proximity of elevation lines to suggest tone. Fountains Earth (image 2, 2019) is a favourite example of this technique - in short, I draw thick lines close together to form shadows, and thin lines far apart to create highlights. Everything in between is a midtone.
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I'm slowly dipping back to less binary media - specifically watercolour, and the layering of acrylic and oil based inks. I feel like I say this a lot, but one of the best things about working with a range of maps is adapting to, and experimenting with so many different paper types - and I use the word 'paper' loosely - papers, cards, woven fabrics and plastics are all commonplace in my map collection.
2 months ago
When I was a teen, my migraine attacks were debilitating. Not only did I have severe head pain, but I was also nauseated. Now I know that I was not alone. Nearly 73 percent of people with #migraine also experience nausea, but it is seldom discussed. #RerouteMigraine #ImpelPartner
2 months ago
LA Art Show @laartshow opens today! @abendgallery are exhibiting three of my US city maps at booth no. 1107.
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One of the maps is Brooklyn, shown here in this short process video.
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Tonal range is created using a sort of manual halftone technique - the pattern is quite literally blocks instead of dots. I have a system of following one edge in a single direction, scribbling through the space to create texture, before stopping along the opposite edge - I then spin the map 90 degrees to repeat the process with the remaining edges, neatly filling the center along the way. It's a very satisfying process.
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Brooklyn prints are available - DM or follow the link in my bio for more info.
2 months ago
Migraine affects approximately 36 million people in the U.S and is the second most common cause of disability. As one of the millions of people who has lived with migraine, I know first-hand just how complex and debilitating it can be. I’m proud to work on Reroute Migraine Relief to bring attention to this important topic. #RerouteMigraine #ImpelPartner
2 months ago
Join me for a virtual community event hosted by @milesformigraine , where we will share information about advancements in the management of migraine. I will answer questions about my artistic process and together we can co-create new portraits demonstrating the complexities and burden of migraine and the brain/gut connection. Register today! #linkinbio #RerouteMigraine #ImpelPartner
2 months ago
Details of a selection of private commissions from last year - locations are Richmond, New York, Paris and Singapore, all worked into in ink - mostly pigment liner.
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At the moment I'm busy working on other commissions, so thought it would be apt to repost some older favourites until I'm able to share new work. It feels like my studio is melting in this heatwave but I'm powering through!
2 months ago
Like so many others, I have experienced a migraine attack, and that is what inspired the artwork I developed for Reroute Migraine Relief. I partnered with Impel NeuroPharma to raise awareness of the complexities of migraine, including the underrecognized connection between the brain and gut. #RerouteMigraine #ImpelPartner
2 months ago
This time 3 years ago I was prepping work for @castlegalleries 2018 summer exhibition, held at @castlefineartmanchester - to compliment the lineup, I worked on this huge map of Greater Manchester, which was so unusually large I had to hang the map 'washing line style' to assess it.
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The walls in my studio are dotted with tiny hooks, ready to take lines of string, for this sort of process - it's often better to hang work instead of allowing piles to build up. It's also essential at times, in order to see larger work from a distance, and to decide if something is finished or not - that decision usually takes anything from a few hours to a few days.
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'Manchester' is painted in @drphmartins Hydrus watercolour over an original folding map of Greater Manchester.
2 months ago
Just for fun - although not the easiest surface to work with!
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This hazy IPA had been sat in my studio since Oktoberfest last year. At times it's teased me. I'd been meaning to experiment with the patterns of the design, to manipulate the line widths in the same way I do with topo maps, in order to build a tonal range. I used a @staedtler Lumocolor marker on the lines and a smidgen of @liquitexofficial heavy body acrylic for the two highlights.
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The original base design of the can is by @mosk.co for Berlin brewery @brlobeer - this is a can of their "blurry vision" NEIPA - it was delicious, and as a craft beer drinker I'd certainly recommend it if IPA is your thing. The reference for the drawing is part of a photo taken by the wonderful @thomhavlik - be sure to check out his work, it's stunning.
2 months ago
I wasn't sure about this 5x5 but it recently caught the attention of one or two visitors here in my studio - so, I may finish it. I may not. Sometimes my least favourite (or even abandoned) works are the works that others dig the most.
3 months ago
Who's going to the LA Art Show this year? I won't be there in person although @abendgallery will be exhibiting these three originals from my US cities series - maps of Brooklyn, Buffalo and Memphis. The show runs from July 29th to August 1st at the LA Convention Center.
3 months ago
A new contender for the title of "smallest map I've ever worked with" - another map themed postage stamp from my collection. Definitely needed my glasses on for this one.
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This is a delicate stippling process in ink, with highlights and additional details etched using a surgical scalpel.
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The map on the stamp shows Mozambique as "Moçambique" - an overseas territory of Portugal. Mozambique became an independent nation in 1975. One of the more interesting aspects of working with maps (and of course, maps on stamps) is investigating these windows through time, researching any changes from one publication to the next. Changes to place names, new roads, old borders - these are all useful clues for dating maps - by which I mean, working out the date of a map, not taking a map out for dinner.
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When I was young I would sort through the family stamp albums at my grandparents' bungalow - mounting stamps, looking for duplicates, and generally just admiring the colours, patterns and smells of the paper. My grandad (known to us all as 'Pop') was an endless source of knowledge when it came to world geography, old and new - places that once existed under different names, places he'd been to during the war. He was a sailor in the Merchant Navy. I don't think I ever named a place in the world which he couldn't tell me stories about.
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I've received a number of enquiries regarding the purchase of the first postage stamp (OS map stamp, first shared around 6 months ago) - I've decided to list the stamps as originals on my Big Cartel page, once I've created enough for a small collection (although they'll be listed separately). I'll also be listing my blocky 'warm up exercises' as small originals. All details will be shared here on IG in due course.
3 months ago
Sunset in the studio. I took this photo last year, when it actually felt like summer - the weather here in the UK has been pretty grey lately (or gray for my American friends)
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This was taken during the golden hour. My studio is south facing, which is mostly an irritation, both in terms of light and heat - but every so often, right before the sun sets, the whole room is washed in an orange to red glow which makes the position worthwhile.
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I have a huge steel sheet hanging on the back wall, which I use as a 'soft' notice board for displaying rough prints, postcards, half finished work, finished work and anything else that may require further assessment. I call it a 'soft' notice board because everything is held in place with magnets (yeah Mr White, science!) instead of pins, which of course would punch tiny holes in everything.
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Images, clockwise from top right: Chillingham, East Woodburn, Fountains Earth, Swindon.
3 months ago
Details of a private commission in ink (2021)
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I love working with a rugged coastline, and the US has lots of them. This map covers the Trappe and Easton areas of Maryland, on the Delmarva Peninsula where Maryland meets Delaware.
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On the subject of coastlines - did you know that Alaska has more coastline than all of the other US states combined?
3 months ago
Throwback to Amsterdam (2013), commissioned by Daughter (@ohdaughter ) as a tee design to accompany their track Amsterdam.
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The aim of the design was to create an ethereal and somewhat androgynous figure covering the roads and waterways of Amsterdam.
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I crosshatched the portrait in ink over a Wagner & Debes plan of the city - my friend and collaborator Bobbie Jo then used a surgical scalpel to cut into the 'empty' areas surrounding the drawing, lifting out the spaces between streets.
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Cutting out those sections of the map allowed the use of a contrasting background, easing the figure into view. I created a physical underlay with acrylic paint, as opposed to digital editing (which, I have nothing against - it's just that most of the time, I prefer a more tactile 'pens and pencils' approach). After various experiments covering a range of hues, a pale cerulean blue was decidedly the best choice of colour. Scroll right to see the original portrait prior to any paper cutting - this is the first time I've shared the base drawing alone, without the underlay.
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Amsterdam is one of my most popular print requests. It's unavailable in print, although I did produce a very short print run last year, limited to a handful of AP's which sold out fast.
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I'm not sure when exactly but I'll likely revisit Amsterdam with a totally new map and design. Details of all new releases are posted here on Instagram.
3 months ago