Offering new techniques and approaches to making maps by hand is an important part of my teaching workshops on this subject. For example, when the springtime wildflowers started blooming in my yard last year, I decided to try a mixed media version of the original wildlife pathways map I made two years ago. This map, above on the left, was created by my pacing off by foot our property and house structure. The original was done in ink and watercolor. I wanted to try something new to suggest to my 2015 "Artful Map" students at the North Cascades Institute Environmental Learning Center. ("ELC")
Buttercups, forget-me-nots and star flowers are represented on my second yard map using rubber stamped icons. The legend at the lower right itemizes these icons. In order to render a softer look to the other map elements, I used graphite and collaged pieces of vintage, commercial maps (softened first by painting a thin layer of gesso over them). The substrate paper is an Indian handmade sheet whose border was also painted with gesso for contrast and to create a surface for the graphite writing.
Are you interested in taking this unique workshop in a residential retreat location? It is scheduled for June 24-26, 2016 at the ELC: Read and Register HERE. A big bonus for those who attend my workshop will be the concurrent teaching of John Marzluff's In the Company of Corvids. Marzluff, a professor at the University of Washington, is one of the pre-eminent research scientists and teachers of corvid (crows, jays, ravens) bird behavior. Evening programs at the ELC will feature his fascinating videos and lectures.
Please see my general page on all currently scheduled 2016 workshops HERE.
NEW: An introductory map drawing workshop will be held in Sidney, BC (Vancouver Island) April 16 and 17, 2016. A downloadable brochure for this can be found on the 2016 Workshops page. I will post more on this soon.
Jocelyn Curry 
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