For this month’s First Thursday festival, we wanted to share more about the Bloomington community with students. As a part of this, I had the opportunity to create six watercolor maps detailing different spots around town that are wonderful to visit.
I typically paint in oils and have never had any experience with map-making. It was pretty challenging to come up with a process for the maps. It took a lot of precision to translate the streets and locations into more simplified forms. I ended up focusing on the main streets connected to the places on the maps. Once I was able to get that down, it became a lot easier to paint the locations. For each destination, I tried to replicate what the actual building or outdoor space looked like. The thought was that it would aid in finding the locations while exploring what Bloomington has to offer. It was really fun to try and illustrate each place. It was especially exciting to recreate the statues in the Arboretum on the Nature & Recreation map.
Throughout the maps, I also tried to create a cohesive design. They are each formatted in a similar manner and have the same small nature details. Along with this, I tried to make all the green grass colors the same. The main variations other than the locations are the title colors. I think, overall, these simple yet charming maps were a very successful project. It is also inspiring me to pick up my watercolors again and create more works like this.
You can pick up all six maps by visiting the October First Thursday festival. The maps will be located at six different booths across the festival in a treasure hunt format. Collect all six and learn about the great places that you can explore in Bloomington!
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