When thinking of Vincent van Gogh or Monet or Rembrandt, it’s easy for us to conjure up images of these artists sitting at their easels with paintbrush and palette in hand. But for Stephen Lund, his canvases are the streets of Victoria, British Columbia, his brush is his bike and his “paint” is his Strava GPS app.
And his results are nothing short of spectacular art!
Lund refers to his masterpieces simply as “GPS Doodles” so as to inspire people that anyone can be creative. He has his own detailed website called “GPS Doodles” explaining how he goes about creating each one.
A more lyrical term might be “Strava Art” as Strava is the GPS program Lund straps on that lets riders and runners track their workouts. Strava the route as data that generates a thin red line on a map that traces every move an athlete makes. (Apparently he also uses a Garmin GPS device, but I don’t know the difference.) And you can follow Lund on his Strava Homepage.
So how does Lund do it? Sometimes he envisions what he wants to create and then puts together a layered Google map and sets out penciling in his route to create his “Doodle” – like Darth Vader below. But that’s difficult because he has to find a route that runs in a continuous line. He then writes down the turn-by-turn directions for his GPS device to capture the route that he then uploads to the Strava map.
Here’s a detailed description of “Logistical Process”
Other times he begins with the Google map and then highlights major streets to see if anything jumps out at him – like seeing faces and objects in the clouds. That’s how he created his Giraffe Doodle.
Here’s a detailed description of what I’ll call the “Inspirational Process”
To be honest, for complex designs, he will sometimes turn his GPS off at one point and on again at another point to create a straight line via a “Connect-the-Dots” feature because it’s through an area his bike cannot go. Like with the Hummingbird below. But he uses this technique at a minimum, and a great many of his drawings are done with uninterrupted pedaling line.
Here’s a detailed description of the “Connect-the-Dots Process” that he used to create the WordPress Logo
Each Doodle requires about 70 km (44 mi) of pedaling, but the largest one —a mermaid he named “The Siren of the Salish Sea”— required 220 km of pedaling that took more than 11 hours of cycling over two days’ time.
[NOTE: The Salish Sea is a network of coastal waterways of southwestern portion of British Columbia and the northwestern portion of Washington]
He’s been featured on countless news sites as well as having given a TED Talk
Lund began this quest on January 1, 2015, and last year he cycled over 22,300 kilometers (13,857 miles) – a quarter of which were used in creating his 70+ ”GPS Doodles”. So let’s enjoy some of them …
Raccoon
T. Rex
Grasshopper
David
Queen Victoria
"Christ the Redeemer" – Rio de Janeiro
And a Link to a List of Favorites, (some of which I’ve used above)
11 Responses to “Friday Fun – An Artist Who “Paints” With His Bike”
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Cross posted to Care2 at http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/3959216
Wowsers. (NOT in the Australian sense LOL) How stunning. I love the "Life-imitating-art-imitating-art-imitating-life" quality of the very first one you show, but all are amazing. And OMG, the mermaid!
WOW! He had to go long distances to create these pictures!
So original and amazing!
I like the giraffe, and grasshopper.
Thank you, Nameless for this, and Joanne for posting.
So FANTASTIC! GPS tracking is his paint brush just blows my mind!
Oops..forgot to submit…Thanks Nameless–my legs are hurting just contemplating doing some of them but I am in awe on both the creative and fitness fronts.
Like jla, my legs hurt thinking of this, but I do admire his creativity.
Wow, Stephen Lund must be in fantastic condition, as his "painting" took only a quarter of the kilometers he rode last year (more than 22,300 kilometers). Makes you wonder when he'll move to another town with an equally interesting grid of roads, because Victoria must have given about all she had road-wise by now. Then he'll have a lot more of these great "paintings" in store for us, I'm sure.
Thanks for posting, Nameless, and Joanne for cross-posting.
I like the grasshopper..
I think the Grasshopper is my favorite, too. But I was amazed at how he was able to do Queen Victoria's portrait – such a striking resemblance! Well, and also David & Christ the Redeemer.
He better not ever move to a "modern" city w/ a grid layout for its streets!
Maybe this is best left forgotten – but as good as Queen Vic's is – she might be "not amused." (Not that she wasn't capable of amusement, even occasionally at her own expense – there's a story about asparagus…)
OK – now you've REALLY captured my curiosity!
You’ve got a story about Queen Victoria and Asparagus?
Details … we want DETAILS!
(You owe us that!)