Monday, November 19, 2012

AEDM2012: Days 13-16

I finally scanned this afternoon, so I'm sharing three map-inspired pieces from last week. It counts as four days' work, though, because I carved another stamp, which took two full episodes of Freaks and Geeks on Netflix.

But I'm getting ahead of myself! The first thing I did was slice some printed-out maps into 1-inch strips. Then I glued them down with gel medium. This first has strips of the topo map that inspired the line maps in this post, arranged with space between the strips. When it was dry, I rolled some gesso on top. It's really light and delicate and hard to scan. The only other thing I did was add a light wash of blue watercolor in between the map strips. It's hard to see in person--it's so delicate--so it's probably impossible to notice here.

"File Copy"
I have to angle my screen just right to see this at all. I really love it in person.

The next piece used strips from a much more colorful 1947 map of Rhode Island and some of the surrounding states. I glued those down without spaces, added the gesso, and decided it needed a big compass rose. So big I had to go buy a carving block because the ones I have are all 4x6". This is the stamp I drew and then carved.


And here it is on the map collage.

"Sound"
I don't know if you're getting how much fun this is. Granted, some days I am just, What on earth am I going to do on this map theme again??? But I'm really enjoying a lot of what I come out with.

Finally, this last piece (for this post) is inspired by a 1997 topo map of the area around Killington, VT, which is also where I was married, two years later.


This was drawn with Zig Millennium pens and colored in with colored pencils.

I will continue to try to catch up with the posting without slacking on the making! Reminder, more Art Every Day Month participants can be found here.

8 comments:

LifeOnLiverpool said...

I love your stamps and your map art!!!

Rennata said...

I love this. What a great idea to do with old maps.

simona said...

this is a beautiful stamp you carved, and i really like how the map collage came out!
my sister and i looked into buying the equipment to make our own stamps, but that project is on the back burner for now, too much going on...

Michelle said...

Amy, you amaze me. Honestly. The detail and variations with all of these pieces . . . Beautiful and awe inspiring.

Helen said...

it's all very inspired!

Donna Lee said...

The map idea is brilliant and so YOU. You always seem to be such a part of your environment. I can't imagine you living anywhere other than right where you are.

Carving the stamps looks like meticulous work.

Karen Isaacson said...

I'm loving your map theme. Did you mount your stamp on anything? I see people using their stamps just the way they are, but I always seem to press too hard or too unevenly and mucking up the print with the parts of the stamp that aren't supposed to print.

amy said...

I didn't mount this stamp on anything. I'm treating it like a printing plate and inking it up and then laying the paper on top of the stamp, rather than the stamp on the paper. For smaller stamps, depending on the image and size, I might cut right around the edge and then glue it to something like a wood block or wine cork. It depends on the stamp.