Daisy Yellow: Maps from the Imagination (02)

maps as a muse for creative work (part two)

Jul 09, 2025

Welcome to part two of a two-part series about using maps as a muse for creative work. First Part: Maps from the Imagination (01).

Daisy Yellow is a reader-supported publication. 💕 I’m sharing a new series called the Creative Gazette that centers on different aspects of our creative practice. 🔄 Upgrade to get access & support my work.

What kind of art could maps inspire?

I like to draw lines that are reminiscent of maps, take real maps and cut them up as collage elements, sew lines that look like city streets or coastlines, make imaginary landscapes, and incorporate components of maps (like legends or scales or cardinal directions) on my art journal pages or in collages.

3x5” stitched collage, 2016

Anything can be mapped —a botanical garden, a junk-filled garage, emotions.

We can also use elements and words related to geography, the science of map-making, the tools of cartography, aerial drones, and let’s not forget Gilligan’s Island, Treasure Island, and Nim’s Island!

Architectural drawings, giving and getting directions (before GPS devices, Google Maps, and Waze) treasure maps, blueprints, room layouts, interior design sketches, arguments over property lines, museum maps, library shelf maps, amusement park maps, mall maps, expedition maps, garden layout sketches, mind maps, imaginary maps, cruise ship route maps, airline route maps, airport maps, getting lost on vacation, and airplane seat maps.

3x5” acrylics, 2022

What stories from your life involve maps?

★ When your family traveled, who managed the maps & itineraries?

★ Is anyone in your family a pilot?

★ If you could draw an imaginary map for a book, what book would it be?

★ What is your favorite type of map?

★ What’s your favorite board game with a map?

★ Are you plotting a novel about a cross-country trip with an improv troupe?

★ Does a book with an illustrated map make you smile?

ink in 5x8” moleskine, 2023

Making and incorporating maps/ landscapes in your art

★ Dye paper with coffee or tea and make a faux treasure map you’d get in 🔥🌴📮📜 Survivor via tree mail.

★ Use a brush to make gestural marks & lines inspired by rivers.

★ Map out a small area of a city that matters to you — the park with the best swings, a city block with your favorite coffee shop, the school tennis courts.

★ Draw a map of the cracks in the sidewalk or your ceiling.

★ Paint an amusement park 🎡 from the perspective of an aerial drone or a cardinal.

3x5” ink, 2019

★ Create a map inspired by the look & feel of an illustrated map inside a book.

★ Cut out part of a city map and attach to an index card and extend the paths of rivers, bridges, and highways, as they radiate outward.

★ In words, describe a route you have traveled many times in your life — a daily commute, school drop-off, the highway to your university.

★ Use part of a map as a collage element or construct a collage that looks like a map.

★ Using a real map as a reference, draw lines that emulate those in the map.

★ Paint a walkable map by leveraging positive/negative space. There’s a blog post about this idea: Painting Spaces as Walkable Maps.

★ Use a quotation about maps, landscapes, traveling, wandering, etc.

★ Draw a map of a house from a TV show or movie. What about a map of Jurassic Park or a blueprint of the house from The Brady Bunch?

Creative Assignment № 05: Paint a walkable trail map. One way to spark creative thinking and keep your mind limber 🏋🏻‍♀️🔋🧠 is to do something in a fresh/different way. Trick: instead of painting the map, I painted the inverse of the map. Or make a mini-version — they could be forest paths, monsters, invented horoscope symbols, machines, or hieroglyphs!

improvisational maps (or contraptions), gouache on watercolor paper

If you’d like to see how the smaller versions were painted, I just published a new post called Challenging Myself to Think in Different Ways: Tiny Trail Maps (with a different video) at Ko-Fi for subscribers.

5x8” junk/art/idea journal, 2015

More off-beat stuff, outside the box, technical research, and other writings

For maps, learn about Organization of Map Elements, the Hand Drawn Map Association, this Confetti Map of Warsaw, Poland, and most importantly, the floor plan to Don Draper’s apartment in Mad Men.

First Part: Maps from the Imagination (01).

Well folks, please do what you need to do to hold on to your art practice. Life is better with art than without. This has been a hard year. I know my art helps keep me grounded (maybe not today, but most days).

Tammy

Daisy Yellow