California: My Perspective

 

One of my goals this month is to finally finish my art wall. Basically, this means that I need to fill up five more frames with either art I make or purchase. I had fun using paint chips to make something to hang up on my wall, so I thought I'd give handmade art another go.

I've been wanting to incorporate my home state, California into the mix. I liked the idea of incorporating the actual shape of the state and highlighting several cities that hold dozens of memories.

I included a little picture symbolizing what each particular location means to me as a way to personalize my piece of art. Most people probably don't think of dalmatians when they hear of Fresno or Visalia, but that's the first thing I think of when those cities are mentioned.

I outlined everything in pencil while simultaneously looking at real and clip art images online. It took many tries and lots of erasing to arrive at what I believe are adequate representations of California's shape and my respective chosen symbols. I then wrote out all of the cities I wanted to include, pinpointing them as geographically accurate as possible.

I decided to keep the piece simple, just black and white, using black Sharpies on white card stock. I used a fine tip Sharpie to write "California" at the top, and an extra fine tipped Sharpie for the remainder of my art. Although I tend to like pops of color, I think this simple black and white piece will go well with the rest of my already colorful framed art.