The SOUTHERN STATES: USA Map-Drawings

I've just finished the Southern States Map-Drawings! Celebrating MLK Day. I imagine every one of these states saw Dr. King in his dynamic lifetime and yet feels his indomitable spirit of peace.https://www.etsy.com/shop/turnofthecenturies?section_id=14268693

Here they are - sort of geographically hung on my wall. Now, I waffled over Texas and Oklahoma. Is OK. in the Midwest? Is TX. its own region? Some (from Carolina) even say Virginia's not The South...  It's an exclusive club and membership and debatable. Well, here's The South as it settled out for me.
Each drawing features the state tree and a quintessential or common small house type found in-state, layered over the state's borders and topography, and highways.  You choose the location of a small red heart or house - where's special to you? Available in 8x10 Prints and Postcards. https://www.etsy.com/shop/turnofthecenturies?section_id=14268693 

LOUISIANA! (New Orleans hearted)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/163836450/louisiana-map-8x10-print

MISSISSIPPI! (Natchez & Starkville hearted)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/176118504/mississippi-map-8x10-print

ALABAMA! (Birmingham hearted)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/176121358/alabama-map-8x10-print

FLORIDA! (Miami & Jacksonville marked)
 https://www.etsy.com/listing/167598706/florida-state-map-postcard
https://www.etsy.com/listing/167609707/florida-map-8x10-print  

GEORGIA! (Atlanta & Savannah marked)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/163903917/georgia-map-8x10-print

SOUTH CAROLINA! (Charleston hearted)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/163930899/south-carolina-map-8x10-print

NORTH CAROLINA! (Asheville hearted)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/175002215/north-carolina-map-8x10-print

VIRGINIA! (Charlottesville hearted)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/163923727/virginia-map-8x10-print

WEST VIRGINIA! (Charleston & Morgantown marked)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/175992494/west-virginia-state-map-postcard
https://www.etsy.com/listing/175998867/west-virginia-map-8x10-print

KENTUCKY! (Lexington hearted)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/176028154/kentucky-map-8x10-print

TENNESSEE! (Memphis & Knoxville marked)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/176042479/tennessee-state-map-postcard
https://www.etsy.com/listing/176027294/tennessee-map-8x10-print

ARKANSAS! (Little Rock hearted)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/175773895/arkansas-map-8x10-print

OKLAHOMA! (Tulsa hearted)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/175791815/oklahoma-map-8x10-print

TEXAS! (Austin hearted)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/175733667/texas-map-8x10-print

NYR 2014

I love the clean slate and fresh start and longer perspective of the NEW YEAR - and making goals! This year, I plan to make a lot of new drawings of places I love.

CITIES (and States and Countries) TO DRAW in 2014!

I've thought carefully about the places I've loved and want to get to know better, through drawing. Places I have visited and photographed with an eye to make drawings. Drawings emblematic their unique and ubiquitous qualities and evocative of the senses they conjured in me.  
CITIES (and States and Countries) TO DRAW in 2014 Mapped (above) and Listed (below)

CITIES (and States and Countries) TO DRAW in 2014!

Architectural Map-Drawings to Date: December 2013

Last Bits of Christmas: FREDERICK, Maryland

On a very cold and windy December 31, 2013 -

- Frederick's East 4th Street revealed Christmas dressings still mostly pristine on stately rowhouses.

The colors of Christmas and the colors of historic rowhouses complemented -

Red doors were inadvertently festive, as well as scalloped window shades.

A single red velvet bow askew made a sea green door a holiday portal.

Even a gated narrow passage between buildings which punctuates Frederick's streetscapes comes alive with a Christmas planter.

Celery is a perfect backdrop to delicate piney wreaths - 

- and brass bells watched over by a brass eagle on this blue double door, which must shine at night when those string lights turn on.

On Market Street, the shop windows are shifting from Christmas the the New Year, and we caught the wreaths on the front door of VOLT restaurant just as they were being taken down, at the end of their holiday lives.

Last-minute LOCAL Holiday Pop Up Shop: STAUNTON, Virginia

LAST-MINUTE. LOCAL. POP-UP SHOP. PHOTOGRAPHS & DRAWINGS. STAUNTON, VIRGINIA.

A balmy day in Staunton Virginia. December 21!  the doors of the old Historic Staunton Building are wide open for the first time in...years! Peter Aaslestad's studio is transformed into a Holiday Pop-Up Shop featuring many of Peter's famous Staunton photographs as well as architectural map-drawings by me, Kirsten Sparenborg / Turn-of-the-Centuries.

A sandwich board invites folks to come on down to the shop, by the train station, from Beverley Street.

Come in...

We mixed black and white photographs and ink and watercolor drawings on the gallery walls. Architecture, in subject and approach, is a strong underlying connection in the work.

This was the first time I've framed my Staunton drawings. It was nice to see a body of Virginia drawings - Virginia Tech, UVA, Front Royal and, of course, Staunton - all together.

Peter's curiosity xylophone served as a nice display for his photographs. 

Help yourself to "Swig" sugar cookies with sour cream frosting or ginger cookies with orange buttercream frosting or fresh, homemade gingerbread.  I gift-wrap, too!

The sun set on the longest night of the year and the shop glowed blue...

---while the gallery inside glowed warm and inviting.
It invited some of the most interesting and community-minded folks in town - including a new family here just a week, embarking upon a fixer-upper, armed with training and energy and a fantastic zest for life.

Prints and Postcards!  

Night fell and the crowd grew in this intimate space, still room for friendly dogs.

What a wonderful way to meet people and participate in the Local Economy!
The Holiday Pop-Up Shop was a Success!
THANK YOU to all the wonderful folks who stopped in - keep in touch,

HELD OVER to Monday, December 23 10am - 2pm. Come by!

Peter Aaslestad Studio.  120 South Augusta Street, by the Depot.

LTD 7: Cozy/Breezy Vintage in STAUNTON Virginia

For Those who Call the "Queen City" Home...

There's a great shop in Staunton called LTD 7 - on North Augusta.

Owner Lynne Breeden and her friendly crew know how to find and foster local artisans and put together a shabby-chic showroom which blends all good things - and smells nice, too!

My Staunton Prints and postcards have a nice little nook against the brick wall in the middle of the shop.

Lynne's breezy/cozy vintage style attracted us one night while out for a run. We stepped inside and I felt transported to Savannah Georgia, circa 2007. Lynne was friendly as a southern belle, too, and instantly gracious.

You can learn how to make things at LTD 7!  Like rosemary wreaths -

And don't forget to get yourself a SweetNanaCakes cupcake!

You got to love a place where the banjo feels at home, 

A Hometown Holiday in Staunton's Shop Windows

what's going on at Black Swan Books & Music?

It's time for the annual Downtown Staunton Holiday Window Reveal!  Here are some of my favorites from Schmid's Printery, LTD 7, Pufferbellies and made;

More from LTD 7's Hometown Holiday Windows. Huge Photos of Staunton's holiday traditions.

Jamie and Michaelann of Black Swan Books & Music took Staunton back in time, sort of -
Beverley Street in sketches (Turn-of-the-Centuries) and books (Black Swan), with...

...a trolley! Courtesy of Chip Clarke, building owner at 1 E. Beverley. - And snow!  And lots of people!  And a few cats in windows. Michaelann's painting (gouaching) really brought the drawing to life!  I love it.

It was fun to see folks' curiosity and admiration, both at the window and inside the shop.

I loved Jamie's idea to build the Beverley streetscape out of sketches and books. Streetscapes like Staunton's Beverley resemble a shelf of beautiful books, a variety in design, topic, and age. I suppose it sent us back in time, too, working in paper and foamcore and glue - almost up until the final critique! Architecture School flashback...

You have to laugh at our solution to the rigors of building T.J. Collin's former office (the Marquis building, the Gentlemen's Cigar shop) true to its curvaceous form. Instead, the turret is being mounted by tiny construction workers and a window washer while a business man rounds the corner on the sidewalk with the giant umbrella that currently hangs out from the edge of the corner turret.

Go see them for yourself. Shop Downtown Staunton!