map

Jensen Beach Map

| Gina Lento

I was playing around in my sketchbook trying to work on some illustration “to do” lists and one of the items on my list is to do more maps. I usually go very project detailed and would post them on They Draw and Travel but sometimes just freeing up my creativity to play in my sketchbook and allow myself to make mistakes takes the pressure off to explore, play and create art for the fun of it.

A playful hand drawn map of Jensen Beach, FL with blue, light orange and teal green color. Done in a square Plumchester Sketchbook. Image has not been digitally retouched to remove imperfections.
Map of Jensen Beach, Florida

I started the map the beginning of the week and made all these really cool icons. However, I decided to do the map while in the car when John and I were out and about. We were listening to the Yellowstone Podcast. I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing until I realized that the paint marker I used was awful for this project. I didn’t like how the first map looked and the acrylic was shiny, not matte and you couldn’t write or draw over the acrylic. Well that was big a fail.

When I came back to the house, I had to go back to the drawing board, pun intended, and redo how I thought my map should look, minus the shiny marker. (The shiny marker came from an Artsnacks box.) I have Posca paint pens and Molotows which are much better for what I wanted to do. I drew the whole map again in pencil, playing with my placement of few things and I like this one much better.

I have included the image along with a version that shows what supplies I used. My Lamy Safaris are filled with Carbon Ink so they were perfect for this project. One Lamy is an extra fine point and the other is a medium point and I am really happy with how the map came out. There’s a few things that I would correct digitally but overall I really enjoyed doing this map.

Sketchbook spread of the art supplies used to create the hand drawn map of Jensen Beach. Posca pens, Lamy safaris and Molotow pens were used,
The full page sketchbook spread with supplies

Mapping this moment

| Gina Lento

I haven’t done a map in a while. I decided to post one for the call for artists for the ‘They Draw and Travel’ Blog. They requested that artists submit a map that records this moment in time. Art in the time of COVID-19.

I decided to map our morning walk. We are fortunate to live in Florida in a less densely populated area. Lock down meant not being able to go the beach but we could take neighborhood walks.

Our morning started out in our circle which looped a little over a mile. We lapped it three times before we started to get bored so we started to leave the circle and we love our walks and all the creatures we see. We’re always exited when we see something new. Currently, plumerias are blooming and there are these umbrella shaped trees with the most gorgeous flowers.

We see many of the same people, some are recorded on the map.

And if you look carefully, there is an aquatic ‘map monster’ in the neighborhood who has grown since last year.

A word of caution for non Floridians; ALWAYS assume a body of water has a gator.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

| Gina Lento

In between making sketchbooks, making Valentine’s Day cards and a multitude of other projects, here is my map for Valentine’s Day, which is also up on They Draw and Travel’s website.

My favorite candy is Lore’s Chocolates in Philadelphia. But I love See’s and I like Kilwin’s ice cream (their candy isn’t bad either.) See’s candy has a special fondness in my heart because my grandmother used to buy us a box every year for Christmas. John and I found a See’s when we were in Seattle last year. We bought a pound and it never made it home. Castronovo is a new favorite, they make the chocolate right from the bean. OMG it is amazing.

However you like to celebrate Valentine’s Day, I hope yours is sweet!

Enjoy and Happy Valentine’s Day.

Here is the link to my map on their website.

http://www.theydrawandtravel.com/illustrations/10985-candy-sweet-shops-throughout-the-us

Last holiday surprise

| Gina Lento

Today’s post is my last surprise of the holidays.  I finished this map on 12/29 and I sent it along to They Draw and Travel.

I did a lot of research for this map.  There were three Miracle on 34th Street movies and in my opinion, the only one worth watching is the 1947 version.  It was exciting for me to find the actual house that Susan wanted Kris Kringle to get her for Christmas.  It is here on Long Island, sitting on it’s little hill,  humble to have been part of a Christmas classic.

 

Miracle on 34th Street

Here is the link to view the map on They Draw and Travel:

http://www.theydrawandtravel.com/illustrations/10888-miracle-on-34th-street-new-york

 

 

Santa Clown and something totally awesome

| Gina Lento

I found out last week that my Horses of Asia map was selected for They Draw and Travel’s Maps of Asia book! I am so excited! You can get a copy of the book from Amazon!

This morning’s sketch inspiration:

There are multiple submissions on Sktchy of clowns, especially since clowns are thought of as being sinister, thanks to Stephen King. I sketched this clown and turned him into something benign, a clown Santa.

Over the River

| Gina Lento

This post is a week early since the map has already been posted on Instagram by They Draw and Travel. I am really excited they liked this map!

Thanksgiving Day is a day of long tradition.  It is a day for spending time with family and friends over a traditional meal that usually involves turkey.

This year, I chose to do a map for Thanksgiving.  The most logical choice for subject matter was the poem that most people know as “Over the River and through the woods to Grandmother’s House….”

What many people do not know is it wasn’t grandmother’s house in the poem, it was Grandfather’s house.  And it wasn’t a song, it was a poem.  The title of the poem is actually “The New-England Boy’s Song About Thanksgiving Day’ and it was written by Lydia Maria Child.  It was published 1844 in a collection called “Flowers for Children Volume 2.”

Lydia Maria Child lived in Medford, Massachusetts and after much digging, I found where she lived and how long it took her to actually get to Grandfather’s house. (Not long, actually, they could easily walk it on a warm day.)  She wrote the poem from her childhood memory of going to her grandparents house for the holiday. I never knew it was based on the writer’s memories.

New England did indeed get snow for Thanksgiving in the early 1800’s.  Which is not unusual, even in these times of climate change, some places still will have snow for Thanksgiving.

I started out this map drawing farmhouses and sketching covered bridges. John and I even took a trip upstate to see covered bridges for me to use as references for this map. I even used my Breyer stablemate horses as models for the two on the map….I have included that sketch below, as well as taking a photo of them “posing.” I had the poem all printed out and the last part of all of this research was where the author was from. Finding information about the author of the poem completely changed my map and the result is what you see here.

I hope this map brings you some fond memories of a holiday that is truly belongs to every American, whether you have been here generations or you are a new citizen.

Enjoy

IMG_5953

Below is today’s sketch….

Horses and yesterday’s Inktober Sketch

| Gina Lento

I spent over a week researching and working on this map that I did as a very belated Sketchbook Skool Assignment.  I was away when the class was “in session” and I mulled over ideas and nothing really inspired me until I saw they were requesting maps for Asia.  Then I had to mull that one over and almost passed that assignment over when I thought of horses.   So I did some research on horse breeds that originated in Asia and came up with this map.


I do have a scanned version so if you are interested in a print, please contact me.

Also, I did this yesterday as my husband was driving us to South Jersey to help my son.  This was my Inktober Day 1 sketch.  I posted it in Sktchy and on my sketch club’s Facebook page yesterday but never got a chance to post it on Social Media…