🎨 🌎 Darren Sears 🌴⛰️
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darrensears.bsky.social
🎨 🌎 Darren Sears 🌴⛰️
@darrensears.bsky.social
73 followers 77 following 69 posts
Artist-cartographer on a detour from landscape architecture. Exploring plant ecology/geography, islands, volcanoes, in watercolor maps and the real world.

darrensears.com
darrensears.substack.com
YouTube.com/@darrensears.worldviews
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darrensears.bsky.social
🎨 🌎 Darren Sears 🌴⛰️ @darrensears.bsky.social · Jun 4
I’ll start things off by sharing a few of my watercolor maps! They’re like cubist mosaics, capturing experiences of islands and contrasts in nature - desert oases, rare mountaintop ecosystems, “actual” (oceanic) islands - by combining multiple views together.

#cartography #biogeography #watercolor
darrensears.bsky.social
The next stage of my #watercolormap inspired by Corona Heights Park, #SanFrancisco - first layer of greens.

#Art #ArtTimelapse #Timelapse #PaintingTimelapse #WatercolorTimelapse #ArtProcess #PaintingProcess
@sfrecpark.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 8:56 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
More on the origins of my #WatercolorMaps - some works inspired by an artist residency in Iceland a few years ago.

#Art #SciArt #Iceland #Volcanoes #MixedMedia #Topography #Geology #Landscape #ImaginaryMaps #FantasyMaps #FantasyLandscape
October 16, 2025 at 3:49 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Just finished the first layer of shadows on my current #watercolormap - trying out a #timelapse for the first time!

#Art #ArtTimelapse #PaintingTimelapse #WatercolorTimelapse #ArtProcess #PaintingProcess
October 7, 2025 at 5:28 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
#Imaginary #island design, part of the origin story of my current watercolor #maps

darrensears.substack.com
YouTube.com/@darrensears.worldviews

#Art #EcoArt #NatureArt #SciArt #EnvironmentalDesign #Climate#FantasyMap #MapArt #FantasyArt #Ecotourism #EcoLodge #IslandEscape #IslandAdventure
September 26, 2025 at 4:36 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
More on the origins of my #WatercolorMaps - #LandscapeArchitecture, #photomontage, #OilPainting

#Art #ArtInspiration #ArtVideo #CreativeProcess #BlueskyArt #ArtSky #FantasyArt #SurrealArt #AbstractArt #EcoArt #MapArt #AbstractLandscape #NatureArt
Origins of the Watercolor Maps, Continued | From Design Back to Paint
YouTube video by Darren Sears
youtu.be
September 11, 2025 at 6:30 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Excited to be attending this year’s International Cartographic Conference in Vancouver! A lot of great maps in this year’s Exhibition - my Cape Town-inspired watercolor (upper left in second image) is one of the US entries.

#icc2025 #maps #cartography
August 19, 2025 at 3:42 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Lone #Mangrove near #Broome, #WesternAustralia.

I use a lot of my photos to make immersive watercolor maps! Learn more at YouTube.com/@darrensears.worldviews

#Seascape #AbstractLandscape #AustraliaLandscape #AustraliaNature #TravelAustralia #Landscape #SurrealLandscape #LandscapePhotography
August 14, 2025 at 11:54 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
#Palm #oasis in #AnzaBorregoDesert State Park, CA.

One type of “island” my watercolor maps are based on! Learn more at YouTube.com/@darrensears.worldviews.

#LandscapePhotography #NaturePhotography #AnzaBorrego #DesertPlants #Desert #CaliforniaNature #CaliforniaPlants #Climate #CaliforniaArtist
August 10, 2025 at 3:23 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Immersive #watercolor #map of Volcàn Villarrica, #Chile.

Find some background to these maps and their inspiration here:

YouTube.com/@darrensears.worldviews

darrensears.substack.com

#Art #AbstractArt #AbstractPainting #SciArt #NatureArt #Collage #Volcano #CubistArt #Cartography
August 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
First video in a series sharing the process behind my watercolor maps! Featuring an in-progress work inspired by the wild landscape of a #SanFrancisco urban park.

#Art #SciArt #EcoSky #SanFranciscoArtist #ArtProcess #CreativeProcess #CubistArt #WorkinProgress #Photomontage #UrbanNature
How the Maps Get Made | Starting Out
YouTube video by Darren Sears
youtu.be
August 2, 2025 at 2:53 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
View of Strzelecki Peak at #Sunset on #FlindersIsland, #Tasmania.

I integrate a lot of my photos into immersive watercolor maps! Learn about those here:

darrensears.substack.com

YouTube.com/@darrensears.worldviews

#LandscapePhotography #Landscape #Beach #Mountains #Conservation #Climate
July 29, 2025 at 2:48 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
The early origins of my watercolor maps….

#ArtInspiration #ArtVideo #CreativeProcess #BlueskyArt #ArtSky #FantasyArt #SurrealArt #AbstractArt #EcoArt #SelfPortrait

youtu.be/oW_wKEgBy04?...
Eccentric Origins (of the Watercolor Maps)
YouTube video by Darren Sears
youtu.be
July 26, 2025 at 2:50 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
#Monkeypuzzle trees (Araucaria araucana) in Santuario El Cañi, #Chile.

#LandscapePhotography #Conservation #Climate
Monkeypuzzle trees reflected serenely in a lake in Santuario El Cañi, Chile.
July 22, 2025 at 6:33 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Otherworldly dragon’s blood trees (Dracaena cinnabari) on the island of Socotra, Yemen.

#EcoPhotography #Desert #LandscapePhotography #Succulents #Plants #Socotra #Conservation #Climate
July 18, 2025 at 11:17 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Grove of nikau palms (Rhopalostylis sapida) at sunset in Paparoa National Park, New Zealand. The world’s southernmost native palm.

#NaturePhotography #EcoPhotography #Botany #NativePlants #PlantPhotography #NewZealandNature #NewZealand #PalmTrees #Flora #Sunset #PhotographersOfBluesky
July 15, 2025 at 4:41 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Collecting inspiration and imagery for a new watercolor map - from an “island” much closer to home than usual!

#UrbanNature #NativePlants #UrbanEcology #NativeSpecies #ArtistsOfBluesky #EcoSky #SanFranciscoArtist #SfBayAreaArtist #ArtProcess #ArtInspiration #SanFrancisco
"Urban Wilds" Inspiration - Exploring San Francisco's Glen Canyon
YouTube video by Darren Sears
youtu.be
July 10, 2025 at 4:06 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Immersive #watercolor #map of Floreana Island in the #Galapagos.

Stay tuned for more on this one in a later post!

#Art #AbstractArt #AbstractPainting #PlantArt #NatureArt #CollageArt #SciArt #GalapagosIslands #Climate
July 7, 2025 at 4:26 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
#WatercolorMap of a wholly imaginary island this time, cobbled together from different parts of #WesternAustralia.

Stay tuned for more on this one in a later post!

#Art #EnvironmentalArt #AbstractArt #AbstractPainting #PlantArt #BotanicalArt #CollageArt #EcoArt #FantasyIsland #FantasyMap
July 4, 2025 at 5:04 AM
darrensears.bsky.social
#Watercolor #map capturing environmentally stunning - but also critically endangered - Robinson Crusoe Island, #Chile.

Stay tuned for later posts diving deeper into the map and the place!

#Art #LandscapeArt #ClimateArt #Climate #AbstractArt #AbstractLandscape #AbstractPainting #CartographicArt
June 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Muppet trees? Whimsical Kingia australis at Mt. Martin near Albany, #WesternAustralia.

Stay tuned for the watercolor map this place inspired!

#NaturePhotography #Plants #Botany #ExoticPlants #PlantEcology #BiodiversityHotspot
June 26, 2025 at 5:32 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Isla Incahuasi, Salar de Uyuni, #bolivia - just after sunrise.

#naturephotography #plants #desertlandscape
June 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Continuing the intro to my #watercolor #maps capturing spatial experiences of the natural world: Why am I so focused on #islands?

#art #LandscapePhotography #AbstractArt #AbstractLandscape #island #IslandArt #ArtistsofBluesky #cartographer #islandmaps #ecology #islandecology #geography #botany
Why Islands? And what do I mean by islands anyway? (Continuing the Story of my Watercolor Maps.)
YouTube video by Darren Sears
youtu.be
June 20, 2025 at 10:52 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
More scenes from the atmospheric and endangered páramo landscape (with Dr. Seuss-like Espeletia pycnophylla/“fraillejones”) of El Ángel, Ecuador - an “ecological island” that inspired the #watercolormap in my previous post!

#EnvironmentalArt #MountainEcology #RarePlants #EcoSky #SenseOfPlace
June 17, 2025 at 5:42 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Today’s featured #WatercolorMap, “Lagoon.” inspired by the surreal and endangered paramo of El Angel, #Ecuador. As usual it’s an accentuated ecological “island,” a mosaic of landscape & aerial views. More on this one in a later post!

#Art #MapArt #EcoArt #EcoSky #FragileEcologies #NativePlants
June 13, 2025 at 9:42 PM
darrensears.bsky.social
Preview of a watercolor map I just finished! Most of these are inspired by islands in the ecological sense, but some feature geology more prominently, especially when they’re #volcanoes in the middle of cities. This one is Monte Nuovo in Pozzuoli 🎨🌋🏘️.

#cartographyart #mapart #campiflegrei #volcano
June 10, 2025 at 7:08 PM