MAPS & GLOBES (PART 1)

Globes of the Earth are fascinating to look at, but they're seldom done right.  Most people who make them seem to think that globes are just round maps. They're not. Globes are meant to awe. They should be big enough to firm up the idea of planetary volume and the wonders of physics on a grand scale. They're meant to evoke mystery and to provoke philosophical questions.  

Globes should never contain writing or be brightly colored, or contain distracting details like clouds.  They should be dark (but not black) and brooding like the one above. They should be understated.

Maps are different. They're for telling you the location and relative distance of places. A good map contains something startling, something that forces you to wake up and see the subject in a different light, like the raised map above. My favorite maps are of distant places that I'll probably never see.

A good size for a kids globe is the one above. It's big enough so you can't take in all the details in one glance, even of the side facing you. Even on a globe this size, there should be no writing and no bright colors. Mountains should only be raised very slightly and there should be no color coding for elevation.

MAPS & GLOBES (PART 2)

This (above) is a map that you can buy (click to enlarge). I think it's about 40 bucks. If anyone's interested I'll try to dig up the address.

Map people tend to like other pictures on adventure themes.  Here's (above) an interesting one.

MAPS & GLOBES (PART 3)

All this reminds me of grade school projects where I had to paint watercolor maps then draw pictures of the country's exports all around the edges. Here's (above) a professional's take on the same thing.

Here's (above) a David Hockney-style map. Very pretty, and it actually does make me think about all the
dirt and stones and trees in those places. It's odd how purely graphic depictions of things sometimes capture their essense almost as well as realism.

Above, my favorite kind of map.

THREE CARICATURES OF ME!

Here's some caricatures of myself that I just did in Photoshop. I was trying to do them the way John K used to draw me, with a shovel nose, big teeth and Ubangi earlobes.  I did several but Beta Blogger will only accept one photo per post today, so I'll spread out the pictures over three posts.  The largest pictures will overlap the sidebar, but that's intentional. I actually like the way it looks. Wait, there was something else.....oh, yes! The background on the third picture (below) is by DeKooning!

THE SECOND ONE....

Me again! I LOVE the sidebar overlap!!!!!

ONE MORE....

The last one! I printed it normal size, and it works just fine. I want to emphasize that the overlap on the pictures above was deliberate! I just liked the way it looked!

MAURICE KISH, PAINTER

Writing about Raplh's pictures (previous post) got me to thinking about other favorite painters of New York City, including the much-neglected Maurice Kish. That's Kish's masterpiece above, the unromantically named "East Waterfront." It's a dark and moody picture, so you might have turn up the brightness to see it.

The beta Blogger program cut off the rest of this article, which you might be able to read by clicking "Read More" below. The new Blogger templates are great, but putting up posts

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