Francesca sent me a preview of the piece which is almost done… and it looks beautiful. I love it! It looks like I may be able to name the piece as well as a few places on it. Yay! I’ve requested a slightly larger image to help with this, but I’ve already got a bunch of ideas.

The inspiration for this commission (on my end) is artificial cities and communities. I thought it fit well with Francesca’s style since this is essentially a map that has been cut up and reconstructed from other cities, oceans, and bays. In my silly story, Man Versus Himself (wikipedia) there is a city named Andom Bay that is basically a city owned and run by the protagonist (Anselm Betty)... and he also creates a city within the city named Little Anhedonia (wikipedia). I love artificial cities, and when talking about this commission Francesca and I sent links back and forth on my hometown of Irvine, Celebration, Florida, New Songdo, and Dubai’s crazy World Islands. One of the best things about these crazy communities is that they also employ very deliberate and altruistic/futuristic/naturalistic naming-schemes. I grew up on Songbird then moved to Falling Star and Springbrook, for example.

So, in the spirit of radical self improvement, I may inject a few philosophies into the landscape as well. In It To Win It Lake. Accept All Offers Drive. Going For Broke Hill. They may all be rejected though. I’ll have to Sleep On It Valley.

What do you all think?