Filed under: Oddities | Tags: Alison Murray Whittington, exploration, imaginary lands, Interimaginational Institute for Fantastical Exploratio, magical maps, pirate, Radiogirl, voyage
Under the grand title of Chief Mapmaker, Alison Murray Whittington charts magical and fantastic lands for her organization: The Interimaginational Institute for Fantastical Exploration & Cartography. Each of her hand-inked and painted maps is an inspiration for endless tales of heroes and quests, romance and adventure, mystery and wonder.
I was truly delighted when she agreed to grant me an interview from her home in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Plus, it has my favorite element: the promise of more adventures to be had off the edges of the paper, just beyond the map’s boundaries. 
Was the first map that you created of a real or imaginary place? Was it for you or a project for something else?
I must have made maps as a student, but really, this is a very new occupation for me. And it sprung up almost fully-formed, out of the blue, or so it seemed. I can look back at my whole life, and see how it has led me to this life as a mapmaker, but at the time, it felt like it just came out of nowhere.
One day, I just had a hankering to make a map… I even knew that I wanted to use dip pens and India ink, and hunted them down and bought them before I ever made the first map. I remember buying those supplies very clearly, and I know for sure the first map was a treasure map, but I just don’t remember which one it was. It’s not one of the maps in my Etsy shop, though. It’s definitely in the back of the file cabinet in my “oops” folder. It took some practice before I was ready to start sharing my maps with the world. You can read about that here, if you like.
If you were a pirate, what name would you sail under?
Ooooooh…. I get so excited just thinking about pirating! But not the evil kind. I’d be a pirate in my own way, which wouldn’t be robbing and plundering, but wreaking havoc in fun, wacky ways: like sneaking into a town in the middle of the night with my crew to start a big carnival Or instead of stealing treasure, burying a chest of chocolate coins and tacking a map to someone’s door in the middle of the night. Or firing cannonballs of confetti at another ship! Now, wouldn’t that be marvelous?
So I would need a good name to be that kind of pirate. Like Alison the Revelrouser or Frolicking Alison Faye. Wow, or Frolicking Alison Faye the Revelrouser. I really like that word, revelrouser. I think I will have to use it a lot.
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Originals: http://paintandink.etsy.com (If you are looking to book a holiday trip, be sure to check out Alison’s map of the North Pole!)
Products: http://www.cafepress.com/paintandink
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/radiogirldesign/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/paintandink
Blog: http://iamradiogirl.blogspot.com
Miss Frolicking Alison Faye, if you ever choose to set sail, I shall be the first to sign up as crew!!
Filed under: Oddities | Tags: Coraline, Coraline movie trailer, Henry Selick, Neil Gaiman, stop animation film
If you haven’t yet read Neil Gaiman’s book Coraline, it needs to be at the top of your holiday reading list. If you haven’t read anything by Neil Gaiman than here is your holiday reading list, that’s right, just print it out right now and take it to your local bookshop or library and get started. Don’t worry, there is a little something for everyone: even some picture books for the kiddies, graphic novels for the adults AND audio books for those who “don’t have time to read”.
Last year brought the wonderful film adaptation of Gaiman’s Stardust, and with 2009 comes Coraline directed by Henry Selick (director of Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach!!) An official trailer has now been released, and it looks spectacular. All of the creepy, dark, magical and wonderful that you would expect from such a great duo! Apparently it was filmed entirely in 3D.
February 2009, mark it on your calendar people!
Filed under: Beak of the Week | Tags: altered art, Beak of the Week, blackbird, bunny, collage, crow, Donna Courtney, Halloween, rabbit, raven, The Decorated House, victorian
Halloween Beau Bunny Bandito by Donna Courtney
Ravens, bunnies and Halloween, how could I resist!
Donna Courtney, under the business name The Decorated House, creates the most delightful altered-art prints. Donna also publishes a blog, which currently contains a wonderful selection of Halloween photos.
