Maps aren't always the perfect surface to paint on and for me that’s precisely why I love to paint on them. The paper can be thin in places, creased, sometimes stained or torn. They show outdated borders, lost paths, places renamed or erased entirely.

Old maps fascinate me because they show us how places used to be and hold stories from the past. When I first started painting on old maps, it wasn’t a grand concept. I just loved doodling on my old walking maps that were no longer fit for navigating by as they were torn or outdated. I loved the texture, the sense of history, the quiet stories of all the journeys they had been part of. Over time, I realised what I loved most was giving them a new lease of life. These maps have been folded and unfolded, stuffed into pockets, pinned to walls. They hold creases and blemishes, signs of use and wear. Some are weather-beaten, others carefully preserved. All of them carry stories I will never fully know, places they’ve been, hands that have held them, moments they’ve witnessed.

And then I add my own story.

I paint wildlife, landmarks and other subjects over the top, things I’ve seen myself in the landscapes the maps depict. It feels a bit like a conversation across time.

Some people see old maps as obsolete. I see them as potential for continuing their story.

I think how much our lives can resemble these maps. We all carry our own histories. Our own stories. We hold blemishes. We are weather-beaten. We have folds where we’ve been bent too many times in the same place. Marks from experiences that changed us.

And sometimes, the story we’re living becomes outdated.

Maybe it once fit. Maybe it never truly did. From the outside, it can look ok, it can look successful, it can even look perfect. But inside is a different story. The paths we’re following may no longer lead where we hoped. The borders feel too tight. The labels don’t sit right. We may feel we just don't belong where we are.

For a long time, I was following a map of life that looked fine from the outside, but didn’t match the person I was on the inside.

We often believe these life-maps are fixed. We keep following the route that was drawn many years ago. We trust that if we just keep going, we’ll eventually arrive somewhere that feels right.
But what if the map is wrong? What if it just needs updating?

Old maps are constantly being updated, with new roads, new paths, new boundaries, forests may be felled, even watercourses can change. They show us how much the world changes.

And just like real maps, our life maps can also be updated.

When a path leads nowhere, we’re allowed to stop following it. When something no longer fits, we’re allowed to question it. We can redraw borders. We can sketch in new routes. We can leave space for the unknown.

Painting over old maps doesn’t erase their history. The original lines still show through the paint, just as our past experiences still show through who we are now. I don’t need the surface of the maps I paint on to be perfect, but I work with the flaws. The creases and stains add character and the imperfections give the work honesty.

I think we can treat ourselves with the same gentleness.

Updating your map of life doesn’t mean you failed at the old one. It means you’ve grown beyond it. It means you’ve learned enough to know that the world and you are more complex than a single set of directions.

We don’t have to know exactly where a new path will lead before we take it. Exploration rarely works that way. Sometimes we try a route, realise it’s not right, and turn back. Sometimes we wander. Sometimes we get lost and discover something unexpected in the process.

Old maps were made by people doing their best with the knowledge they had at the time. So were we.

And just like those maps, we are allowed to change course, to be reimagined. To hold both our history and our future on the same fragile, beautiful surface.

I made some big changes to my own life map several years ago to choose a life free from the constraints of 'employment' , a life of art and freedom to be in the outdoors and nature more and I am still updating my 'life map', choosing new paths and seeing where they lead.

If your life no longer fits the map you were given, maybe it’s time to pick up the brush.