What do other countries in the world really look like? Standard tourist photos don’t give you genuine slices of life.
The website “MapCrunch.com” allows you to view random images from the vast Google street view archives. You can select from 18 different countries around the world and choose whether you want country roads or not. The examples above are from Spain, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Missouri (USA).
This would be a fun motif-generator for the tiny landscape painting exercise in yesterday’s post. Press the button and paint the scene in 10 minutes or less!
MapCrunch.com
GurneyJourney: Tiny Landscapes
Thanks, Toby Neve
Hi James. I've been using Street View as a ref for some time. Unlimited buildings, vehicles, etc. to use. Google told me that artists can use Street View images as references without fear of copyright infringement. I've actually sold several large Street View paintings to Google for their San Francisco and London offices. I also run a blog called the Virtual Paintout. You should check it out. This month is Rio. We should talk more about this subject.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the idea of the tiny paintings in 10 minutes from random GSV images. What a fun idea--and a real challenge.
ReplyDeleteI've taken part in Bill's Virtual Paintout, too, and it's great fun to find and paint one of the views from the monthly city.
Oh wow, that is a fun site. Thanks for sharing. Street View is so much cheaper than airline tickets.
ReplyDeleteBrief paintings from photos? Great idea--good exercises.
ReplyDeleteI am usually less than overwhelmed by tourist photos too. They seem to go for extreme lighting and extreme views, so they are not good for reminding you of what you remembered or loved about the place, which usually has nothing to do with those things. These are more normal--nice.