Paradise Launches

New for 2021: A map for a fast-rebuilding community.

Streets are laid into the folds of hills and creekbeds, and land forms are drawn in relief with shadow, in Mapa Jeff's signature technique. The result is a a unique three-dimensional illustration of the landscape.

Other than ghost graphics for the churches temporarily lacking a facility, this map indicates as little as possible the tragedy of November 8, 2018. All street names from the time before are on this map, aside from a few whose new owners have already decided to take them private.

The first image shows the first edition print, covering Paradise proper, available in stores as of Jan. 27 (for now, Jeannie's Consignment is the sole vendor in Paradise; in Chico, Ellis Reprographics and Art Etc. on First Street downtown also have them).

They can also be ordered shipped or delivered locally at my online store.

The last shows the large version, which shows the region all the way to Mount Shasta. This can be custom-ordered mounted and framed.

Easy to read - easy to retail.

Chico 2021

Edition 2 of the Chico Panoramic Map focuses in on the city core for a smaller (2x3-foot), more affordable ($25) poster with more legible type. It is available so far at Made In Chico, Ellis Reprographics, and MONCA. Order the new Chico map at Mapa Jeff's online store.

Edition 1, first released in May 2019, proved uneconomical this time around due to a more than doubling of the cost for prints of that size at Mapa Jeff's usual vendor. There are still a half-dozen of these left ($50 each), and two mounted and wall-ready prints that were used as displays at Made in Chico are also for sale ($200 each).

Mapa Jeff originally designed the full-region version in Edition 1 to be printed five feet wide, but shrank the image to make it feasible to print at quantity. Going forward, this full-region map will be available at that size, mounted to foamcore and ready to hang with a frame/brace backing, signed and delivered locally, for $300. Contact Mapa Jeff at mapajeff@hotmail.com for details.

Order the new Chico map at Mapa Jeff's online store.

Lo De Marcos

LO DE MARCOS POSTER, FIRST EDITION

A panoramic, isometric, ground-researched map of the increasingly popular town north of Sayulita and San Pancho. Many streets are unnoted on any other map, including those of neighboring pueblo Ursulo Galvan.

Lo De Marcos is available by mail order in the US and Canada.

The first print is a signed 14 by 20 inch one-sided poster.

It will look great in a frame or on a fridge.

Comes in a tube.

Check Mapa Jeff's online store.

Yelapa 2020

15TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

This print, research on a visit in early 2020, recorded the new beach lines in the wake of Storm Narda. It is the first edition with the jungle tree cover in place across the range of Yelapa's gorgeous mountains.

This print is and will be available as a keepsake in Yelapa, both folded and as a poster, for years. The printer, in Leon, Mexico, was unable to stop the machine apparently and bargained with me for a thousand prints. Most sat in a friend's cafe's loo in PV for the entire covid period, side by side with paper towels and napkins.

Order this map for delivery in the US and Canada through Mapa Jeff's online store.

 

Mapa Jeff at MONCA

Thursday, May 30, 5-8 pm: opening party for Monca's summer exhibit, "Map It Out."

https://www.facebook.com/events/437611690324897/

Mapa Jeff's first-ever American regional city map will be on display all of June and July along with works by 30 other artists from all over northern California.

"Chico Iso 1.0"

The compass faces northeast at a tilt sufficient to see the horizons for about 100 miles at its furthest - the purple peaks at top.

At bottom, Chico, all the incorporated city save a few far-out nibbles; the 99 and the railroad frame Chico up like a tapestry loom.

This map is still evolving at the screen. But as a stationary item, it hangs up for close, well-lit, silent inspection. How well do you know your city?

I know it well, let's have a look.

Chico, California Panoramic Map

The first-ever print of this map will be shown at the Museum of Northern California Art (MONCA) in downtown Chico as part of its "Map It Out" exhibition, May 30-July 28, 2019.

A regional perspective, facing northeast, aligns the town with the canyons that send it water.

 Downtown area and lower Bidwell Park.
The central core's many alleyways are shown in yellow.

The Avenues, east and west, with Lindo Channel.

Bike lanes, on-street and off, are purple.

South Campus and the west side, the orchards that survive right next to the urban grid.

The Green Line urban development boundary, which has protected Chico's west side from development, is shown in translucent green.

The compass rose, with a valley oak leaf motif, reveals the isometric tilt of the map.

Chico has never looked quite right in flat, north-facing maps.

.

Big Chico Creek, the west side, and Ranchaero Airport.

New developments and old orchard lands at the city's northern reaches.

The roads at left are not yet on any map but this one.

Many streets at the northeastern end of the city are also new to any map. To capture the outer grids, I bicycled across building sites with a GPS tracker.

The neighborhoods along Lindo Channel Greenway, which flows with water only in the rainy season.

Each pink cross represents a church. Chico's one synagogue and one Islamic center are also represented.

Upper Bidwell Park, Canyon Oaks, and California Park stretching into the hills.

Private, gated streets are noted in faded red. Private streets that are open to the public are light blue.

Chapmantown is still not annexed to the city though it is surrounded by it.

This map shows the current city boundaries in precise detail, with small pockets of Butte County jurisdiction often peppering plots on the same block.

Outer Park Avenue, the Meyer industrial area, and the Comanche Creek Greenway.

A century ago, a railroad linked Stirling City (shown on this map) via the present Skyway all the way into Chico via what is now a long hiking/biking path shown at center right.

Paradise and Magalia, up the slope via the Skyway.

The peak of Mount Lassen, visible at the upper left corner, is 55 miles from Chico.

Lake Almanor and its towns are also featured in the distance.

See this map May 30-July 28, every Thursday through Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm.

Opening event: https://www.facebook.com/events/437611690324897/

Adios, Amazon

As of February 9, 2019, Mapa Jeff maps will no longer be available on Amazon.
(They may instead be ordered from my online store.)

After three years of paying this company's steep fees to sell my maps, I have decided that my volume of sales there is not worth it - and I plan to do what I have done from the beginning, which is rely mostly on word of mouth.

It would be most useful to small entrepreneurs and craftsmen all over North America to have reasonably-priced access to an online marketplace that had anywhere near the reach of Amazon. And indeed, there are alternatives to buying on Amazon for most of the products one seeks.

However, this one company, having pioneered the online retail space a quarter-century ago, now dominates it completely across almost every sector of retail merchandising and many services too.

There is a reason Jeff Bezos, the company's founder, is the richest man on earth and has enough money to launch vanity projects such as tourism to outer space.

Part of that reason is that I, the one-man-band of fine art maps of Mexico, was paying 30% of every sale on the site (including the postage portion) to Amazon, along with a $40-per-month fee simply for the privilege of being on the platform at all.

But the dealbreaker was when I tried to release my 9th map, Nuevo Vallarta, in the post-friendly foldable portable edition, that I ended up being denied permisson by a bot who required the I prove Jeffrey Obser had authorization to sell Mapa Jeff maps. And no amount of dealing with humans via msm on the Subcontinent could lift the block. The Borg won.

Anyway, Mr. Bezos: Have a nice trip.

I urge everyone who values the part that small publishers, retailers, and entrepreneurs play in our society and economy to boycott Amazon and take your business elsewhere. I have (not just once) written to Members of Congress who have shown interest in initiating anti-trust action against this one particularly powerful company. It's not about punishing Amazon for being wonderfully successful and productive. It's about correcting an imbalance in the equation between its masters of technology and its users who, together, while propelling the incredible wealth and power of the masters, have no real alternative but to keep the money flowing to him by using the site.

I'd rather sell fewer maps and retain my integrity. It's what I've always done: Focus on the art, and be grateful for the interest and delight that my customers have always expressed when they encounter my work.

I do it for you - in the hope (and confidence) that knowing exactly where you are, while out traveling somewhere new, is a wise investment.