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Lisa Middleton
Growing up on the Upper Mississippi River valley, Lisa Middleton’s bedtime stories were tales of her parents’ adventures in Australia, south Asia, and Europe, where they were backpacking and travelling as teachers in the 1970’s. Family trips in her parents’ RV to places like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Arizona, and Florida, were the highlight of her childhood. She always knew she would become a traveler herself. Her journey has taken her to places like Nepal, Haiti, China, Western Europe; she has lived in Seattle and Chicago, and now resides in the beautiful state of Montana. Thanks to her mom, a Mississippi historian and writer, old books and old maps were always a part of her daily life.
Lisa took an interest in art at about the age of seven, but at the age of twelve, she began corresponding with renowned “camouflage artist” Bev Doolittle who encouraged her to become an artist. Her art was always around as Lisa blossomed, and Doolittle became a big influence in her life. Other artists who influenced Lisa include Louis Tiffany and Alphonse Mucha. Entirely self-taught, Lisa started out painting abstracts using acrylic and cotton paper, which she sold on the streets of Seattle and in small galleries. She also sold some of her own renditions of Tiffany’s stained glass. At age 22, she began experimenting with painting maps, and over the course of 13 years of trial and error, perfected her skill, and now, painting historic maps is at the heart of Lisa’s art business. Her work, Father of Waters is the map on which her entire business was built. It is a beautiful hand painted map from 1887, depicting the headwaters of the Mississippi River to the Delta of the Mississippi in the style of the historic ribbon map.
When not working on her next masterpiece, Lisa relaxes with her books on travel, exploration, and adventure. She also enjoys watching historical dramas. This traveler’s journey is still in progress, and her maps will take you on a journey of your own. Take the journey with her!
"Custom Map of the Florida Keys" Artistically Enhanced Historical Map by Lisa Middleton
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys celebrates a diverse and colorful history that is full of adventurous tales of Native American Indians, Spanish explorers, pirates, hurricanes, and shipwrecks. Offering the only living coral barrier reef in the U.S, this island archipelago lies along the Florida Strait stretching 200 miles from Biscayne Bay to the Dry Tortugas. Before Spaniard Ponce De Leon’s expedition in 1573, the Florida Keys was home to the Native American tribes Calusa and Tequesta. The Spanish named these islands Los Martires (The Martyrs) and rightfully so, since many ships were wrecked on the reef during early times. However, the name was once again changed by the Spanish to “Keys” from the Spanish word “cayos” meaning “small island.” Subsequently, the official name Florida Keys was adopted.
The Keys and all of Florida became U.S territory in 1822, but it was 10 years later that settlers began to arrive and began making the Keys their permanent home. Railroad was first introduced in 1905, and in September of 1935, a hurricane killed over 800 people and caused devastation to farming communities. The Florida Keys Overseas Highway opened in 1938 and still serves as the main connection to the mainland today.
Plant and animal life in the Florida Keys are distinctive and many are found only in the Keys. The Keys’ flora is diverse, consisting of red maple, slash pine, oaks, gumbo limbo, stoppers, and Jamaican dogwood. Though present in the Keys, bougainvillea, hibiscus, and papaya are not native plants but were introduced in the area. The fauna of the Keys is also unique, which includes the protected Key deer, American crocodile, and the Key Largo woodrat.
Today, Florida Keys is teeming with culture, history, art, and lively community. Visual art and crafts are popular throughout the island chain, such as the Pigeon Key Art Festival, typically held in February to celebrate the heritage of the tiny historic island beneath the Old Seven Mile Bridge. The Morada Way Arts and Cultural District features regular casual gatherings where one-of-a-kind fine art is showcased, and eclectic galleries are rich with affordable original artwork. Islamorada Community Entertainment offers excellent classical and contemporary musical performances, from jam sessions, to reggae, to bluegrass festivals. As a tourist destination, some of Florida Keys’ great attractions include beautiful beaches, museums, theatre, sightseeing, snorkeling, golf, fishing, butterfly and nature conservatory and fine cuisine.
This is a digitally colored map designed by Lisa and her team
Lisa makes her own reproductions. She will scan the map and paint the scan, not the original historic map. Starting with B&W, she then adds layers of stain, color to give the painting some of the parchment feel and weathered look. Lisa uses layers of watercolor and tea, pen and ink work to restore letters, and pastel and watercolor pencils to add dimension to her beautiful maps. Every wrinkle and stain is the work of the artist. It’s a process that has evolved through time and experience.
Like every artist out there, she has a reason for creating beautiful maps. In her words, “I would like to add beauty and warmth to their [buyers] lives, and give their home a sense of roots and history. I want to remind them [buyers] of a place that they love very much, and to inspire wonderful memories and a feeling of well-being.” She also wants her art to appeal to the buyer on many levels. Bev Doolittle believes that Lisa has achieved this, stating, “Art just gets better when it can connect on many levels: artistically, intellectually, historically, and narratively. Lisa Middleton has blended-in the old with new technology, a hard nut to crack these days.
18" UV Resistant Giclee Print, Signed and Numbered
Authorized Lisa Middleton Dealer
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"Custom Map of the Florida Keys" Artistically Enhanced Historical Map by Lisa Middleton
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys celebrates a diverse and colorful history that is full of adventurous tales of Native American Indians, Spanish explorers, pirates, hurricanes, and shipwrecks. Offering the only living coral barrier reef in the U.S, this island archipelago lies along the Florida Strait stretching 200 miles from Biscayne Bay to the Dry Tortugas. Before Spaniard Ponce De Leon’s expedition in 1573, the Florida Keys was home to the Native American tribes Calusa and Tequesta. The Spanish named these islands Los Martires (The Martyrs) and rightfully so, since many ships were wrecked on the reef during early times. However, the name was once again changed by the Spanish to “Keys” from the Spanish word “cayos” meaning “small island.” Subsequently, the official name Florida Keys was adopted.
The Keys and all of Florida became U.S territory in 1822, but it was 10 years later that settlers began to arrive and began making the Keys their permanent home. Railroad was first introduced in 1905, and in September of 1935, a hurricane killed over 800 people and caused devastation to farming communities. The Florida Keys Overseas Highway opened in 1938 and still serves as the main connection to the mainland today.
Plant and animal life in the Florida Keys are distinctive and many are found only in the Keys. The Keys’ flora is diverse, consisting of red maple, slash pine, oaks, gumbo limbo, stoppers, and Jamaican dogwood. Though present in the Keys, bougainvillea, hibiscus, and papaya are not native plants but were introduced in the area. The fauna of the Keys is also unique, which includes the protected Key deer, American crocodile, and the Key Largo woodrat.
Today, Florida Keys is teeming with culture, history, art, and lively community. Visual art and crafts are popular throughout the island chain, such as the Pigeon Key Art Festival, typically held in February to celebrate the heritage of the tiny historic island beneath the Old Seven Mile Bridge. The Morada Way Arts and Cultural District features regular casual gatherings where one-of-a-kind fine art is showcased, and eclectic galleries are rich with affordable original artwork. Islamorada Community Entertainment offers excellent classical and contemporary musical performances, from jam sessions, to reggae, to bluegrass festivals. As a tourist destination, some of Florida Keys’ great attractions include beautiful beaches, museums, theatre, sightseeing, snorkeling, golf, fishing, butterfly and nature conservatory and fine cuisine.
This is a digitally colored map designed by Lisa and her team
Lisa makes her own reproductions. She will scan the map and paint the scan, not the original historic map. Starting with B&W, she then adds layers of stain, color to give the painting some of the parchment feel and weathered look. Lisa uses layers of watercolor and tea, pen and ink work to restore letters, and pastel and watercolor pencils to add dimension to her beautiful maps. Every wrinkle and stain is the work of the artist. It’s a process that has evolved through time and experience.
Like every artist out there, she has a reason for creating beautiful maps. In her words, “I would like to add beauty and warmth to their [buyers] lives, and give their home a sense of roots and history. I want to remind them [buyers] of a place that they love very much, and to inspire wonderful memories and a feeling of well-being.” She also wants her art to appeal to the buyer on many levels. Bev Doolittle believes that Lisa has achieved this, stating, “Art just gets better when it can connect on many levels: artistically, intellectually, historically, and narratively. Lisa Middleton has blended-in the old with new technology, a hard nut to crack these days.
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