Hey everyone, I just wanted to introduce myself here.

I have had a love of maps since I was a kid. Whenever my dad went on a business trip I asked him to bring me home a map of wherever he traveled to. I would pour over them for hours at a time wondering what those places were really like. My imagination would go crazy as I visualized those places in my mind. Undoubtedly nothing like the actual place. But it was exciting to imagine what could be. And of course that led to drawing my own maps of my own imaginary worlds.

I still love looking at maps of real places. And I still love imaging what those places are like. But I also still make my own imaginary worlds come to life through map making.

Professionally, I am a visual fine artist. I paint landscape oil paintings and sell them. I've been very fortunate to have had a career doing what I love my entire adult life. But despite being a visual artist by profession, I find myself drawing maps whenever I am absentmindedly doodling.

So I thought to myself, I have successfully had a career with one of my passions, why not expand and try it with my other passion as well. So I am here.

In the past, I always viewed my map making as a hobby at most, but even that was a stretch. It was really more doodling and a way to zone out whenever I needed a break from other things. So my proficiency is far lower than the art I create for galleries. And I have always only created maps with pen or pencil. Always analog. But I am eager to learn digital map making.

Browsing through this forum has truly inspired me. There are so many great cartographers here. I have lots to learn, but I am super excited for the journey and I will share once I have something I feel worthy of sharing. May be a while. lol.

Keith