Lake Music

What is lake music? Well, there is a lake near Music City (Nashville) that has a long history of lake music. There must be music in the waters because many, many country music stars and song writers live on or near the lake. Stars like Johnny Cash lived on the lake, Taylor Swift lived near the lake while going to high school and this is just to name a few.  The lake didn't create the stars, but it certainly seems to have helped. It must be those foggy mornings with a blue heron flying over and the sun just rising over the water that is a catalyst for great songs and music.  I just finished this beautiful art decor map of Old Hickory Lake the “Music Lake”. 

The lake is actually named after Andrew Jackson “Old Hickory” the 7^th president of the United States, but could have just as well been called the music lake. In fact, I hide a musical note in the waters to emphasis the lake’s music heritage. The lake is printed on canvas from a watercolor painting and the waterfowl is hand painted.

I call my maps treasured maps because most folks have that special body of water that they treasure. These maps make great gifts for the lake house owner, lake lover, or fisherman. I have over two hundred on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalizes lake, river or bay maps, too. If you would like to see more and read about my treasured maps go to LeoMaps.com. 
 

"Life is short, reduce screen time and increase stream time, get on a big stream."

Vintage Style map of Norfork Lake

Checkout this Great Blue Heron looking for a fishing hole. I just completed this 2ft x 4ft map of beautiful Norfork Lake. Norfork Lake is located in Northern Arkansas near the Ozark Mountains. 

I added a Bald Eagle to the map because Eagles have become much more common. I guess you could say that this is a birds eye view.

 Checkout these Canadian Geese flying over the lake. The geese appears to be floating over the water looking for a nice landing pad.

I placed this vintage plane over the waters to give the map a touch of adventure. This map holds a lot of secrets. Find out more at my website!

Below is the actual map of Norfork Lake. I call my maps treasured maps because most folks have that special body of water that they treasure. These maps make great gifts for the lake house owner, lake lover, or fisherman. I have over two hundred on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalizes lake, river or bay maps, too. If you would like to see more and read about my treasured maps go to LeoMaps.com. 

Remember that life is short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream!

See more at www.LeoLakes.com

Bad cat in the studio!

It's unbelievable what's happened in the Old Field Studio, recently. It all started when I was working on a lake map. I was about to print the map when I noticed scratches on the flat screen monitor. I thought, I have never noticed these before, wait a minute; there are multiple scratches across the screen. Where did these come from?

A closer inspection indicates that they are fairly deep and appear to be claw marks. I had only two questions: how did they get there and who was responsible. If you look closely below, you can see them.

I immediately had a suspect in mind, "Stormy" our rescue cat. The big mystery was why would Stormy just arbitrarily scratch my computer screen? Well, the answer to that question is very simple, take a look at my screen saver.

Here's what I think happened. My computer will go into sleep mode when it's not being used, but will wake-up and the screener saver will come on if the mouse is moved. Old Stormy likes to roam around the studio alone and hunt for whatever. Stormy must have played with the computer mouse and the screen saver came on with the three owls. Stormy, thinking he had hit the owl jackpot took a few swipes at the owls. Boom, that's how I got scratches on my computer screen. Oh yeah, Stormy has been banned from the studio!

Here you can see a picture of Old Stormy on his cat perch "none too happy!" Folks the moral of the story is to keep your cat away from your mouse. Yes, that is one of my decor maps. I was going to put this picture on my the LeoLakes web site, but may not due to Stormy being in the picture. Oh well, Check'm out at www.LeoLakes.com they make a great gift.

"Life is short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream!"

Custom Lake Map Painting!

Here's a custom lake map that I did for a customer in Pennsylvania. This paintings is printed on canvas and is 16x32. For a special touch, I actually hand paint/touch-up the waterfowl and other areas after printing. This makes the print pop when hanging on the wall. Oh Yeah, I hide things in the waters, but more that later. The print shown here is before touch-up.

Cheat Lake is located on the states line between Pennsylvania and West Virginia and it's a fairly small lake. I do all size lakes and shapes. This map turned out great and is now hanging in a lake house over looking Cheat Lake. I sometimes place a star at the location of the lake house which folks really enjoy. Also, I have had folks request this poem that my wife dreamed up. I place it around the map or insert it in the map somewhere. I love the poem.

"I Love this lake, The most amazing scenes appear in its wake, The sun arises just above the shore, Giving grace and beauty to this place I adore." LKO

What do I hide in the waters of my lake painting? I hide a tiny mermaid/fish in the waters of all my lake map paintings that folks love to search for. I call my maps treasured maps because most folks have that special body of water that they treasure. These maps make great gifts for the lake house owner, lake lover, or fisherman. I have over two hundred on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalizes lake, river or bay maps, too. If you would like to see more and read about my treasured maps go to LeoMaps.com. 

As you can see, my maps make a great gift. To see more of my work click 

See more at www.LeoLakes.com

Leo Lakes Treasured maps

My goal is to make my maps almost glow. Check-out this beautiful map of Lewis Smith Lake. It's a large 2 feet x 4 feet and printed on  canvas.  

 On large maps, I hand paint the waterfowl to make them pop and to appear as if they float over the map. I just noticed in this photo that if you look closely you may find something swimming in the water.

I hide things in the waters of the river, lake or bay. I don't hide snapping turtles, but I do hide a tiny mermaid/fish in the waters of all my lake map paintings that folks love to search for. 

I call my maps treasured maps because most folks have that special body of water that they treasure. These maps make great gifts for the lake house owner, lake lover, or fisherman. I have over two hundred on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalizes lake, river or bay maps, too. If you would like to see more and read about my treasured maps go to LeoMaps.com. 

 

As you can see, my maps make a great gift. To see more of my work click above.

Remember: Get away from the big screen and get on a big stream, if not, put one on the wall."

leomaps.com