World Map on Canvas

How do you fill a giant blank wall?  That’s a dilemma for lots of folks living in larger homes.  But it lead to a really cool project for me, when I was asked to paint a giant World Map on Canvas.  In order to make it substantial enough to fill at least 8′ X 4′, we decided to spread it out over four canvases…each measuring 24″ x 48″.  This quadtych art came out great, so thought I’d post a few pics showing you how it all came together.

Because the canvases were so large, the only way I could work on them, was to hang them on a wall myself.  The only problem?  I don’t have a giant blank wall in my house.  So, I ended up hanging them in my garage and painting them there.  

After penciling in the map, which took longer than I care to admit…I began filling in the masses of land, using a small brush to follow all the detail.

  

This tan colored paint is “Drumskin” by Valspar.

I then started painting the water a dark brown.  The color is called “English Tea”, also by Valspar.

I had no idea how many islands there were on this planet of ours, until I started this tedious project.  At this point I was thinking, “I wonder if anybody would notice if I left out the Philippines or Papua New Guinea?”  But I’m kind of a perfectionist, so I pressed on….eventually finishing the whole earth…(minus the North and South Poles, anyway).

 I decided to paint the sides of the canvases too, so the image would look cohesive no matter which angle you look at it from.

I always love when people send me pictures of something I’ve painted for them, so I get to see how it’s used or viewed daily once in its home.  After getting these pictures of the World Map on Canvas, I was on top of the world!