I've been particularly busy behind the scenes lately - nothing new to share just yet so for now here's a throwback to Keswick, UK (2013) - some of my earliest work with topography. These are some close up shots of a larger figurative drawing, which sold at an exhibition in Denver (also 2013). Feels like such a long time ago.
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I drew this using a set of @fabercastellglobal isographic pens, which I still pick up occasionally but nowhere near as much as I used to. They're fantastic for "off road" drawing, by which I mean any drawing over rough or grubby surfaces (often the case with old maps) - they can also take my usual @drphmartins black star ink without clogging, which is a bonus.
4 days ago
'Shropshire Hills' (1/6) - a portrait of my partner, Viola. One of three OS miniatures created between 2019 and 2020.
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'East Woodburn' (4/6) is also part of the series, and was featured in a recent interview with @white_paper_by - link to the full interview is in my bio. Note that the interview has been translated from English into Spanish (and back to English again for these screenshots)
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All works here were drawn using @staedtler pigment liners over various contoured maps.
2 weeks ago
San Francisco has such incredible geography. This is a map of the city commissioned a few years ago by @rmhc (Ronald McDonald House Charities) - the work was later featured in xyHt magazine, a publication for geospatial professionals.
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The original drawing was crosshatched over an enlarged atlas map, with additional paper cutting by Bobbie Jo.
3 weeks ago
Edgware (2018) - portrait crosshatched in ink over an original vintage map of Edgware, London. This is very different to what I posted yesterday, and highlights just how varied maps can be.
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"Edgware utilises the road layout of the map, with the aim of preserving the shape of the network of roads and streets, by working in the spaces between. The idea is to compliment the general composition created by the network"
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Excerpt from a short interview with mappery.org, a collection of maps in the wild. Special thanks to Steven Feldman for the feature.
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Edgware was drawn using my usual @drphmartins black star ink, paired with an antique telephone nib. I have hundreds of antique pens and nibs in my tool collection, dating from as far back as the mid-1800's. Telephone nibs were called telephone nibs because of their flexibility, smooth touch and ink retention, making them ideal for jotting notes during a phone call - this was long before the days of readily available ballpoint pens. If you enjoy hunting for antiques and learning about old implements, it's possible to find these sorts of nibs either individually, or sold in their original gross boxes (1 gross is 144, or 1 square dozen)
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Edgware sold a while back but a limited number of prints are still available - see the shop link in my bio for print listings.
3 weeks ago
Fountains Earth (2019) - map contours hijacked using @drphmartins black star ink paired with a fine brush. The base map is an original 1:25,000 scale OS map - one of many from my collection.
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"Fountains Earth is a prime example of the technique I've coined 'topopointillism' - a direct combination of topography and pointillism. Like any kind of pointillism, perception of the subject will change depending on how closely the work is viewed. At close range, the viewer is unlikely to see a portrait, but will see the map details - when viewed from a distance, it's the other way around. Lines of elevation are used as the pattern base, or vehicle for the subject. Line widths and proximity to one another are altered to create a tonal range."
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Excerpt from a short interview with mappery.org, a collection of maps in the wild. Special thanks to Steven Feldman for the feature.
3 weeks ago
Selection of crosshatched works.
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Crosshatching is my favourite and most commonly used technique - I just love creating a tonal range with a positive/negative media. Lines either exist, or they don't - there is no in between. There's a huge satisfaction that comes with forming the illusion of breaking that basic restriction.
3 weeks ago
Throwback to a selection of stamp related works. I should probably explain a few of these images!
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Back in 2011 I created a series of puzzles for the postal service here in the UK - at the time I was an art student using the mail system as a creative medium. My favourite mailed item was a Rubik's Cube, which had to be solved in order to reveal a delivery address. Each face of the cube contained a different part of the address. I jumbled the cube, placed it in a clear plastic bag labelled "solve me" and dropped it into a postbox. To my surprise the recipient received it a couple of days later, with a knock at the door. The postal service didn't solve the cube completely, but they did narrow down the address to two possibilities, the recipient's address being one of them. When it was delivered, the bag was covered in trial and error - possible postcodes noted and crossed out, new postcodes written underneath, and eventually a road name and possible house numbers.
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Looking through this old project brings back a lot of memories. As a student I also mailed other puzzles including a drawing of a recipient's address instead of a written address, and a dot-to-dot puzzle, with the recipient's address hidden within the dots.
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I also mailed illustrated envelopes (just drawings, paintings and collage, nothing to solve), and to satisfy my curiosity, a plethora of unusual 'naked' objects including a potato, a single cigarette, a slice of toast, a CD (remember those?) - it was always fun to see what made it through to the other end.
4 weeks ago
Shades of blue. High scale miniature maps of Denver, Colorado (both 2020, both sold)
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These are small 5" x 5" drawings over original USGS topo maps, matte varnished and mounted on plywood. The frames are wrapped by my partner Viola. She designs and adjusts each net, using the same map as the central artwork - so the frames essentially extend the landscape within.
4 weeks ago
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.
1 month 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!
1 month 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.
1 month 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.
1 month 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?
2 months 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
2 months ago
Details of Seattle, Washington (2019)
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Private commission in ink over a USGS topo map of Seattle and surrounding area.
2 months 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.
2 months 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
3 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.
3 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
3 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.
3 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
3 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
3 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!
3 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
3 months ago