One of the things I was drawn to when I looked at this wall painting with the rippled edges
Jillian Taylor via Design*Sponge
was how it reminded me of the many topographic models I made in architecture school and at my first job outside of school. Now everything I do is modeled in the computer, but it wasn’t that long ago that we were still building these site models by hand. I had a site planning course in graduate school where where we modeled our sites out of clay, sculpting the topography by adding or subtracting material. That was kind of fun to do, but what really got me going was the layering of cardboard or chipboard or mat board, elevation by elevation, layer by layer. Kind of like this image I found while looking around.
I think I still may have a model or two of my own stuffed into a closet in my parents’ house, but I don’t have any at our house. I also love the paper topos done with different colors by this artist.
Crafterall on etsy
It reminds me of some of the holiday cards I’ve done in the past, and gets me excited about some ideas for this year’s card.
It also reminds me of my favorite dish I’ve ever received as a gift, this one. I love how when you fill it with olive oil the various layers read different colors.
It also reminds me that I haven’t seen it in awhile and I should probably organize my cabinets.
Before I got to this idea of topography-like lines on the wall, I thought that I might do a stenciled pattern over the walls. I loved these two:
Lisboa Tile Stencil, Royal Design Studio
If I had gone this route I wasn’t necessarily going to render them in the same high contrast way – I thought I’d still try to do a graduated color over the wall, from highly saturated at the bottom to lighter at the top. In the end, the pattern was still too much for me in the space, and I’m glad that I returned to the topography idea, especially after seeing it in cake form!
This makes me want to either a. hang a map on that wall to sort of continue the idea of site contours and place, b. make something new with layers of paper / mat board in the same vein of a topographic model, or c. find something I already have in the dusty archives otherwise known as the basement that M or I did in school and attach it to the wall. Of course I’m leaning towards b. since that would mean another project to start when I already have two dozen or more in the works. That’s the way I roll.
Your idea for art makes me think of a pencil drawing my mom picked up while on vacation — the artist drew a simple plan of the city (outlines only) and then hatched it in. I could see something like this for you with your house featured (colored in Anjou Pear or with a heart on it to distinguish it from the neighborhood). Enjoy your weekend (sunshine!) Cheers – CT