Maritime Italy

It always begins for me with an idea. I have literally thousands of ideas. So many ideas, in fact, that my family says that the four scariest words in the universe are when I say “I have an idea”. But I digress.

I have always loved maps. I think I may have been a sailor in a former life. But, again, I digress. The body of work in which this piece is included began with the idea of incorporating reproduction vintage maps into my mixed media pieces. So, I bought a bunch of vintage map reproductions and began. This piece was based on a map of ancient Italian maritime routes. The map was secured to a wooden cradle panel—sort of like a stretched canvas but made of wood. Then I decided on the color palette I wanted to use for the piece and printed and painted papers to coordinate with that palette. Finally, I looked through the bits and pieces of things I have accumulated through the years—looking for postcards, stamps, Italian images, Italian text from books, magazines—literally anything that could be collated onto the map to evoke a sense of Italy.

Once the materials were assembled, the fun began. This is an extremely zen process for me. I just adhered the bits and pieces and printed and painted papers in random, unplanned shapes onto the map. I edited the entire piece with acrylic paint and ink to eliminate some of the “busyness” of the original version.

And, viola, “Maritime Italy” resulted.