Dear Liza,
Yes, I have made progress! Once I got the shorelines figured out, everything starting making sense.
I kept looking at my patterns for the Grand Massif, the Alps, and the Pyrenees, and they were just …. Clunky. They made the whole eastern side of the country look like a mountain range, which just isn’t the case.
As you can see….
So I pulled up different topographical maps of France to see how I might make them better. Certainly more accurate, and maybe just a little prettier.
My process isn’t artistic, or even scientific. I glue sheets of scrap paper together and start cutting, staring and trimming until I get a shape I like.
This took a good part of the morning, because there is a lot of cutting, placing, staring, and walking away for a while. During the walking away parts I vacuumed, went shopping, and watched the Olympic Triathlon on YouTube.
And when I got a pattern that was closer to the shape of the Massif, I laughed out loud. Un Escargot!!! That is, a snail.
I like that a lot. Escargot are one of the classic French dishes. Snails are also raised all over France for it, and it is one of Auntie Bridgett’s indulgences when we visit there.
So I chuckled and pinned the patterns down, carefully trimming the lumpy shapes out of the purple fabric. The highest peaks of the Pyrenees and the Alps will be shown in red.
Et voilà! The big shapes are taken care of.
But there is one more detail hanging over my head.
I have this half yard of black fabric that I haven’t used yet.
It is part of the color palette, and I think it will give the map some depth and drama. I intended it to be mountains, but it looked like a big black hole. I think it would be better as a detail, a curve or a line rather than a blob.
So now I get to stare at this for a while, and figure out what comes next.
Ain’t art fun?
Love,
Grandma Judy
Dear Liza 