December 2018 Challenge: Hazyview

[Tonquani]

When I was very little, growing up in South Africa, we used to go away on holiday as soon as schools broke up, usually in the first week of December, and stay away until just before Christmas – One of my favorite places to go (we went back several years in a row before I became a teenager) was a village / small town in what used to be called the Eastern Transvaal (Now part of the province of Mpumalanga). For the life of me I can’t remember what the town/village was called, but I remember it was in a huge forestry area, and had big hotel in the middle, next to a bridge over some river or other, and from what I remember the main industry in the town was forestry – made sense with the place being in the middle of a forest.

I am not going to map this town exactly, as I can’t remember which town it was (I was quite small and it was a long time ago…), but I am going to map a pioneering (early 19th century) village/small town that has most of the elements that I can remember, based roughly on the layout that I can remember.

I’ll try to post a rough draft of the village later today – not sure what I’m going to call it yet.

[Tonquani]

Sorry, don't know where October came from - could a CL please change my title to December?

Thank you

[Tonquani]

Right, here we go, I can clearly remember we used to come into the village from the East. The Sun was always in our eyes as we approached after travelling all day (well, it feels like all day when you’re young!), and we used to drive through town, with the lumbar yard off behind the houses on the left, and the hotel on the right, just before we crossed the river. There was a big Dutch Reformed Church on the right just after the river, and then a couple of rows of new houses on the left (My dad reckoned they were probably built originally to house forestry workers).
Then you left the village – we used to stay in a little campsite about a mile or two down the road.

### Latest WIP ###
village.jpeg

[J.Edward]

Changed it for you.
Nice start.
Reading your story got me thinking of a childhood winter memory.
Might join in if I have time.

[Jaxilon]

You oughta try and google map this to see if you can find the village. It'd be kind of like that movie "Lion". Plus, it'd be an awesome story if you found it.

[Tonquani]

Changed it for you.
Nice start.
Reading your story got me thinking of a childhood winter memory.
Might join in if I have time.

Thanks John. And yes, come on and join in please. The more the merrier

You oughta try and google map this to see if you can find the village. It'd be kind of like that movie "Lion". Plus, it'd be an awesome story if you found it.

Ha, you have no idea how much I've searched for it. The problem is it was so long ago (at least 40-odd years) and things have changed so much since then. Apart from the few bits I've mentioned I really can't remember much about it at all. It'll pretty much be invented apart from just a few key things. But yes, I agree it would be a great story.

[ChickPea]

Great start, Tonquani, and I love the backstory behind the map. Thanks for jumping in right away!

[aeshnidae]

Yup, what ChickPea said. I love the color scheme thus far!

I hope to join in; these challenges are really the only thing keeping me sane at the moment, because they're the only time I can truly escape from work and thoughts of work. I'll have to give it some thought. My December memories aren't ones that I can easily translate into a map (building a snow fort, making gingerbread, lighting the menorah, decorating the tree). Unless I want to revisit some memorable times stuck in traffic on the New Jersey turnpike, desperately hoping that the next rest stop is nearby, and then sneaking into the men's restroom because the line for the women's was insanely long.

[Tonquani]

Great start, Tonquani, and I love the backstory behind the map. Thanks for jumping in right away!

Thanks Chickpea, the next stage (linework) won't be particularly quick. I'm working on A3 paper, and still have a rubbish scanner, so need to draw it so that I can easily piece together the finished line work before colouring. Every time I've tried using any sort of photo stitch software (and believe me I've tried loads), I end up wanting to launch my scanner out of the window in frustration.

Yup, what ChickPea said. I love the color scheme thus far!

Thanks Aeshnidae, I quite like it even though it was just thrown together more to show layout than anything else. My colour schemes always end up being radically different to what I start with, but we shall see...

I hope to join in; these challenges are really the only thing keeping me sane at the moment, because they're the only time I can truly escape from work and thoughts of work. I'll have to give it some thought. My December memories aren't ones that I can easily translate into a map (building a snow fort, making gingerbread, lighting the menorah, decorating the tree). Unless I want to revisit some memorable times stuck in traffic on the New Jersey turnpike, desperately hoping that the next rest stop is nearby, and then sneaking into the men's restroom because the line for the women's was insanely long.

Yes come on Aeshnidae, join in, as I said to John, the more the merrier. Everyone needs a little bit of calm sanity time amidst the chaos that is work ...

[ChickPea]

Aeshnidae, the December association doesn't have to be absolutely literal. So, for example, you could do a map of some high mountains with a snow-covered fort that's said to guard a mysterious treasure. What no one knows is that the treasure is in fact an empty and CLEAN bathroom!

The challenge is meant to be pretty open to encourage people to join in, so don't be afraid to use your imagination.