My job has taken me to many place around the world. I admire, respect, and really enjoy the cultural differences of all of those people and places. Add that to fact I've always had a thing for maps and we needed some wall art in our living room... I decided to paint a map.

During this project I found myself thinking about the many friends I've made from all corners of the globe, it was great to relive those moments during this build.

Hope you enjoy the video. Details Below.

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Step 1: Scale the Map

I found a map online and printed it on 11x17 paper. I drew a rectangle around the map that would represent the edges of my finished painting.

I divided that rectangle into a grid that I will transfer to the painting in the near future.

I had an old hollow core interior door that I was previously using as a wall art in my college home. After setting the total dimensions on the paper I cut the door to match in proportion. My proportions were 2:1 (width to height)...

Step 2: Paint the Water!

This part was fun. I had no real plan. We used whatever left over colors we had in the garage and mixed hap-hazardly until we had various earth tones.

Then we rolled on a base yellow and used sponges and T-shirts to apply different browns and creams.

Step 3: Stencil Map

Unfortunately, I don't have great photos of this step so hopefully the video will pick up the slack for me.

After the paint had dried, I used clear adhesive shelf lining and covered the entire door and taped down the edges to make sure it wouldn't move.

Then I used the map grid and transfered that grid onto the door, making sure to maintain accurate scaling.

For my door the scaling was a follows:

The paper map grid was drawn into 1" grid and was 16 squares wide by 8 squares tall.

The door grid was draw by divided the total height and width by 8 and 16 respectively and marking on the grid.

Then using the grid as a guide draw on the map.

There are simpler and more accurate ways to scale and transfer the map, but this was a tehcnique I've had in my head for awhile and wanted to try.

Step 4: Cut the Stencil

After the entire map had been outline I used a razor blade and cut out the continents.

Again no pictures, but it's easy to imagine what comes next.

Pull the "land" off the door and paint the continents. We chose "french bread" color to keep the painting in line with the room theme, but this could be a great time to add a hard splash of color to a room.