Nautical Chart: US and British Virgin Islands

Nautical Chart of U.S. and British Virgin Islands. Anegada to St Croix.
I drew this antique-style map by hand in India ink on D'Arches paper, layering a watercolor wash over it in an old-world style. Nothing is computer-generated here.
 
The idea for this Virgin Island nautical chart formed around an idyllic day sailing: the trade winds represented by a misty Saint Ursula with her lamp, gently playing with an old sailing ship and the Magnificent Frigatebirds, the passages marked for easy navigation, and I embellished it further with wildlife and my mermaids and sea monsters.
 
In this map of the British and US Virgin Islands, I've included the Tortola Sloop, sailing ships, and most bays - especially odd favorites like 'Throw Away Wife Bay' off of Great Camanoe Island (some names make you wonder). I've included reefs, shoals and drops, pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds, sea turtles, a nurse shark, a spotted eagle ray, a bottlenose dolphin, and more sea life, mixed in with my mermaids and sea monsters. And, to satisfy a request from my serious gamefish hunting friends, I've included more game fish and favorite fishing spots in this chart.
 
My charts all include the ports of today—the places we drop anchor, drag anchor, snorkel, dive, encounter curious dolphins, swim up to the beach bar...  I use GPS locations, satellite images, and charts as reference material, but they are hand-drawn and not a copy of anything. My maps are accurate compared to the cartographers of old, who were limited to celestial navigation or the captain's rum-soaked notes. Still, I'd advise against navigating with any map that has a mermaid or sea monster drawn on it. These are for dreaming, remembering, and planning the next adventure. Sit back, enjoy a rum, and dream of idyllic days.
 
I've repeated a style I'd created for my Thai chart using two side columns, giving more room for embellishments while still playing within the boundaries of cartography. My mermaids and sea dragons create themselves when I settle into the sun-dabbled corner of my mind on a stack of floor pillows with my box of sixty-four Crayola Crayons with its built-in sharpener, pens, and loads of paper.
 
My maps and charts are available as fine art Giclee prints in several sizes on archival paper and stretched canvas and are available custom-framed.
 
*The images are watermarked to protect my work online. Your finished archival print will not have the watermarks.
 
If you were wondering, Christopher Columbus named the Virgin Islands in honor of St. Ursula.
 
Hahnemuhle Torchon Paper
Torchon by Hahnemuhle is an environmentally-friendly, 100% TCF and acid free cotton rag watercolor paper with a parchment or pastel paper surface. Especially well-suited for reproductions of oil, watercolor and pastel paintings, the printed side of this paper has been specially coated for excellent image sharpness and optimum color graduation. The term 'torchon' is taken from French and means 'coarse structure.'
Thickness Heavyweight Stock - 19.6 mil (285gsm)
Lightfast Permanence Over 100 years (Wilhelm Imaging Research Institute).
 
Needs to be said:
Copyright @ Savanna Redman - All copyrights reserved.