Jocelyn Curry Lettering and Illustration

Artwork and Design During the Pandemic, Part Two

In the spring of 2020, during which time I was sewing Covid 19 surgical masks for King County health care workers, I began work on a second book. Originally conceived as a booklet of biographical profiles, it evolved into a linen-bound hardcover book produced as an edition of 150 copies. Also a collaborative work, with my clients providing the colorfully written text, this book was fully illustrated by me with thoughtful, creative guidance from my clients. Calligraphic titles also added interest to the many profiles and historical additions.

The completed manuscript was sent to the publisher and binder in April of this year. Followers of my map artwork may be familiar with the large property map I did for this family in 2018: see my post on this HERE. In addition to images clipped from this map, I created many more for the book.

Custom border design for one of the profile pages.

This spread combines photos, image clips from the map, and one custom ink and watercolor illustration based on an old engraving.

 

 

One of my favorite spreads allowed me to draw a fun map showing aspects of the families' historical immigration routes and further travels in the Colonies.

 

 

One Colorful Map of "A Special Place" in Vermont

 

With personal information removed, here is the finished map. At 20"x26", the map is large enough to allow a greatly reduced image of it to be folded and used as a pocket map while family members and private visitors navigate the property on foot, skis, bicycle or sled.

It was late October, 2017 when I first received an email from a couple who sought an artist to create a map for their family retreat property in Vermont. After years of thoughtful property development and construction of a home, a cabin, and outbuildings, they wanted it all mapped for practical but artistic wayfinding. Their wish to commemorate family members through naming woodland trails, structures and overlooks after their ancestors and current family members was their hearts' desire. This passion and their overall joy in active family togetherness compelled me to accept the challenge of designing their map. I said yes without having seen photos or existing documentation of the land. Once I began receiving those aids, I quickly realized the awesome task ahead of me! Through the months, we worked closely and harmoniously toward the map's creation. 

For this post I've compiled a few images to illustrate to readers the design approach I took. A photo of the finished, framed map in place is at the bottom of this column.

The first step was to sketch two layouts for the map and the added features around the property boundary. This northerly-oriented layout was selected.

 

My clients had thoroughly documented their property with drone photos, GPS trail tracings, and casual photography. Here is one working draft showing their work on naming trails. I also superimposed a few graphics in the top right section to help determine scale.

 

After penciling in many of the map's features through 3 layers of pre-existing specialized maps, I inked them in on tracing vellum before transferring the whole to the final art paper.

 

 Samples of lettering, icon drawings, and paint colors were essential in making choices for the final rendering of the complex map. 

 

Here is the inked and painted, finished section shown in the draft sketch above.

Nine months after the initial phone conversation, the map was completed and shipped to my clients. Starting with their sending an abundance of photographs, images of antique area maps, Colonial signage examples and modern land documents, they were involved in every stage of development of this heirloom piece of artwork. After my pencil draft was developed enough to review with them in person, I traveled with my husband to Vermont to meet them at Hidden Hill. There I, too, fell in love with this land and deeply admired the visionary trail planning and artisan construction work completed throughout it. To be the chosen mapmaker will always feel like an honor.

What a complete delight it was to me to receive this photograph of the map handsomely framed and placed in the primary entry area of the Hidden Hill home. Here, hikers, skiers, bicyclers and all others can refer to the map on their way out the door to explore, walk in contemplation, or have lively recreational time together.

 

 

 

 

Mapping a Serpentine River: the Mosel

My summer began early: in May. Off to Europe I went to make a 50-year anniversary visit to Germany where I lived during my senior year of high school. To make the trip an adventure, a friend I had made during that year rendezvous'd with me at the Frankfurt airport and off we went, bike helmets in hand, to board a venerable old barge headed out of Koblenz for the tiny town of Saarburg just past the southern end of the Mosel River. As a reminder of our fun week of barging, biking, and learning about Riesling viticulture along this scenic river, I made a map. Please click on the map to see an enlarged version. After all, you don't want to miss a thing!

 

Map is about 6"x9", done with a black gel pen and watercolor, freely written and drawn in my sketchbook.

 As a side note, I will be teaching my class, "The Art of Drawing Maps" at the North Cascades Institute's Environmental Learning Center in the gorgeous mountains of Washington State. This location is about a three-hour drive from Seattle. To read about it or register, please click HERE.

The Map as Memoir

When a close friend wistfully recounted a rural walk taken in the Yorkshire Dales by her and her husband, I felt compelled to offer to draw a map of the area and trail. One year later (yes, even I am overly optimistic about the time required to draw a map by hand), the map is complete.

Technique-wise, I was inspired by the beautiful colored pencil illustration work by Fred Marcellino. Recently, another artist friend sent me a copy of a charming map he had drawn for the book The Wainscott Weasel. If you click on this link, scroll down when you "look inside" this Amazon listing to see his map I am referring to. Mind you, my own map ended up being way more complex than Marcellino's map, but maybe you'll be able to see a resemblance between the two.

Here is the map in full. The artwork is 10.5" wide by 16" in height. All drawing is done with colored pencil. The monoline pen lettering was done with Rapidograph technical pens and India ink with the exception of the title which was done in gouache with a Speedball B-nib.

My friend who took the walk provided lots of photos for me to refer to. I chose to do pull-out illustrations based on those photos, placing them roughly in their pertinent locations. The bottom panorama drawing gives a more dimensional view of the bucolic landscapes of the Dales. Sheep are abundant, and all the pastures are partitioned by original stone fences. The gray dotted lines throughout the map represent these walls.

A word about the lettering: I simply loved Marcellino's lettering on his map, so I blatantly copied it. Style-wise, the letters seem to be inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's sketch labeling. All caps combined with generous letter spacing make for clean and legible titling with just enough personality. 

Other details: with the predominant greens of the pastures, red was the color I chose for decorative accents on the map. With all the texture in the pasturelands, I opted to leave the 1/4" border and the title box uncolored. The circular pull-outs are 1.25" in diameter. I did refer to a GoogleEarth image of the Gargrove Walk area as well as two existing maps to create this map. Creating a memoir for my friends to look at in the years to come was my intent and inspiration. 

 

Maps for a New Book - Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of Empire

Coll Thrush, a Washington state native and author of Native Seattle: Histories of the Crossing-Over Place, has written a new book published by Yale University Press: Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of Empire. The Seattle Times has just published a glowing review of this already-lauded volume. Coll, an associate professor of history at the University of British Columbia, approached me nearly three years ago to commission me to draw the maps he wanted to include in his manuscript. 

Maps were needed to illustrate the locations of the Indigenous peoples who, over centuries, travelled to London to challenge decisions made by those in power over British colonialism in the Indigenous peoples' homelands. The maps were to include simple outlines of the land masses, hand lettered names of the Indigenous nations whose peoples traveled to London, some navigational lines (primarily for ornament), and titles. All four maps appear at the beginning of the book. The one featuring North America is shown below.

 

When Coll and I first met to discuss the maps, I showed him a sheet of calligraphy samples. He liked this sample as a basic style for the labeling:

 

"Rigoletto" was written directly with a calligraphy pen without any retouching. For the maps, I felt I needed to polish the letters by writing them in ink, scanning them, and retouching them in Photoshop. All elements on the maps needed to be crisp and clear when reduced to a small size for the pages of the books. Ultimately, each map was assembled and completed digitally which was not how I originally intended to create them.

 

 

Here is a sample of the finished letterforms, enlarged. After individual letters were retouched, I used them almost as if they were a font, placing each individual letter. Therefore, I could correct the spacing and alignment to a higher standard. For the capital letters I kept flourishes understated. 

In addition to my maps, Thrush has included dozens of antique engravings, photographs, excerpts from letters, and poetry. The result is an enriched manuscript based on extensive research and heartfelt interest in the Indigenous experience. 

On the back of the book jacket is this quote: This book confirms Coll Thrush's position as the best historian of place working in Native American and Indigenous studies today. Indigenous London is a major contribution to the growing scholarship of the Red Atlantic. Jace Weaver, author of The Red Atlantic: American Indigenes and the Making of the Modern World, 1000-1927. 

Congratulations, Coll, on a finely crafted, original work. 

Map of My Yard, Second Take

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.

Installation Complete: Judy Reservoir Water Treatment Plant

Complex assignment projects appeal to me. I've had enough of them throughout my career so that if enough time goes by after the completion of one, I get to hankering to take on another. Earlier this year I posted another artwork from the same project for which the artwork below was completed in late January of this year. Both artworks are now installed in the Control Building visitors' area at the Skagit County PUD Judy Reservoir Water Treatment Plant. The installation is open to visitors so if you'd like to see a 7-foot version of this map on the wall there, you may schedule a visit and a tour of the facility!

I used Rapidograph pens and watercolor for this illustrated map showing where all the water comes from for Judy Reservoir. My work began with a tour of the water treatment facility. I took home a collection of survey maps and photos I took during the tour. To be honest, I was overwhelmed; where on earth would I start? This map came to me first. The original is about 10"x14". To view a larger image, please click on the map.

The Appeal of Making Maps by Hand

Overhead view of the Skagit PUD Water Treatment Plant at Judy Reservoir. I completed this artwork in January, 2014, as a part of an extensive illustration/mapping job for the Skagit PUD. Maps intrigue us with their symbolic nature, their color schemes, and their helpfulness in our wayfinding. This map was done with pen, ink and watercolor. Most labels for the map above are being added digitally rather than being handlettered.

Preparing to teach my Artful Map class which will be held for the fourth year from June 20-22 up at the North Cascades Institute Environmental Learning Center is a pleasure for many reasons. One: because I never fail to be awed by what the participants create in what is essentially a 48 hour period, I look forward to meeting them. Two: I always take note of what worked well the previous year and enhance that for the current year's curriculum. Fresh techniques are added, and others discarded. Three: for me personally, being up at the Learning Center is always an exceptional experience in and of itself. I never tire of singing its praises. 

This class is now full. To review the work done in previous Artful Map classes, please click here. This will take you to a long, scrollable column that includes my own map assignment work and workshop reviews with many photos of students' work. 

I will be posting a review of this map workshop within two weeks. Thank you for your interest!

Challenge: Mapping for Skagit PUD Water Treatment Plant

I was in an adventuresome mood when I accepted a large project in September, 2013. But was I up to the task of "mapping" the process of treating water at the Judy Reservoir Water Treatment Plant in Skagit county? New territory for me, for sure. The project began with an email from Kevin Tate, community relations manager for Skagit Public Utilities District. After seeing in a publication one of my maps for a nature trail on Guemes Island, he could foresee my work being applied to his visionary public relations concept. The treatment facility at Judy Reservoir (east of Mount Vernon and up above the Skagit River) attracts a lot of visitors. However, the visual aids in the Control House there have been minimal and not helpful in teaching public school groups and interested community members about the process of purifying stream water and river water into drinkable water.

Technical pen and watercolor were used for all four illustrations created for this project. The artwork was scanned at a high resolution (800dpi) which allows the art to be greatly enlarged for the display panels.

Here's the nutshell version of my own creative process for the primary illustration. I did a total of four illustrations, three of which included map elements. The fourth will appear only in the interpretive display sign by the shore of Judy Reservoir and will not be part of the educational display area within the plant.

During my site visit I took plenty of photos of pipes, meters, tanks, and chemical injectors such as those seen in this photo. 

For any map to be helpful, there's a lot of sorting of key information that could be included. In the case of this project, visualizing how all of this information should be sequenced and illustrated was difficult for me. In the pencil sketch below, you can see the first generation of the map. This was not, however, my first concept; the first one was scrapped after it became clear to me that it was not going to serve the interpretive display AND the need for a take-away illustration for visitors. So I essentially had started over.

 

A detailed pencil version of any map is essential for the editing process. Kevin Tate gave me specific feedback on this piece so that I was able to make corrections and additions before any ink or color work was done.

My illustrations will be featured in the Control House of the water treatment facility (and one on the panel by the reservoir) and will be on view after a design firm completes the comprehensive display fabrication. This display will enhance the tours that are regularly offered at the Judy Reservoir facility. I will post information about these when the display is completed in the spring, 2014.

Don't Let This Map Discourage You

Dear Reader,

Perhaps you have arrived here by searching for The North Cascades Institute, or it's superb Environmental Learning Center up at Diablo Lake in the North Cascades mountains of Washington State. Before deciding never to go there because of the story told in the map below, I hasten to assure you that in all the years I've taught at that magnificent place, I've never received a single mosquito bite. Further, I was told that it's highly unusual for there to be mosquitos there at all in September (the winds through the gorge sweep them away), so the incident commemmorated in my map is not likely to happen again in September, at least. Insect repellent is always on the list of things to pack because the ELC is, after all, at the edge of a thriving wilderness, and those are places that serve all manner of living beings. On that note:

 

An ill-fated walking tour intended to give an inspiring overview of the natural features of the area ended in well-tolerated failure. For this map, a crowquill pen with India ink was used for the line work. Watercolor was added after the ink work was done. This map is intended to be humorous, so I used a casual script with no guidelines for the text. Just for fun and a bit of real science, I profiled our dubious friend the mosquito.