The Magic of Maps - topographic offerings
Where have maps taken you? Treasure hunts? The sites of old forts you built in the forest when you were a child? Down memory lane from your walk along the Camino de Santiago?
Let me ask you - do you remember how intrigued you were with maps when you were a child? Do you recall how they sparked your imagination? How enthralled you were with their detail? How the colours and designs made your innate and youthful curiosity sparkle? I’ve designed and painted a whole new series of watercolour works with exactly that sentiment and nostalgia in mind.
Roche lake is in south central British Columbia and a favorite fishing lake for some many outdoor enthusiasts.
Each of these original watercolour pieces is painted onto an historic topographic map or navigation chart from British Columbia. From fishing lures and bright fishing fly patterns to compelling landscape scenes, these unique works of art will show you a side of cartography and imagination that you haven’t seen before.
Whether it was a childhood camping trip or a fishing trip with friends after you got out of High School - Stump Lake was a great get-away destination.
As a Geographer by training, maps have been part of my professional and artistic life for decades. Cartography is clearly its own special art form – and I hope you’ll find my new art is a compliment to the imagination that maps invoke in all of us.
In the far southeast of British Columbia, the little town of Fernie holds adventure in everything from skiing and hunting to hiking and mountain biking!
Generally, these are small paintings measuring from about 4”x6” up to roughly 6”X12” and, as you look on in detail, you’ll see so many sides of time and place in this new ‘Map Art’. Each piece will draw you into your own memories in ways that only maps can seem to do. It’s okay to admit that your youthful intrigue with maps still tickles you today!
While sea turtles rarely visit the cool waters of British Columbia's Gulf Islands, it was a nautical image that just seemed to fit with this piece of an old and well-worn Navigation Chart.
I'm not really sure if there is actually a lighthouse on Moresby Island of BC's west coast......but it seemed to fit nicely onto this section of old Navigation Chart.
Whether a map like this is for yourself – or for a retirement, house-warming, wedding, or other special occasion – it will draw you in. And isn’t that what we want art to do!
BC's old topographic maps seem an ideal backdrop to a series of Mushroom paintings done in watercolour.
These new pieces will be on display and available at the studio beginning Saturday, June 1, 2024 from 9am-3pm) at 1090 Gordon Drive in Kelowna.
You can DM me directly at k.wayne.wilson@gmail.com for more details.
And for more works of art, please visit my website at:
Follow the river past Ramage, BC and see where it leads in your mind!