Map inspired by a book I’m reading

I’m reading the book, How to Hide an Empire, by Daniel Immerwahr.  This book brings into focus our common 48-50 State parochialism. I really like how Tom Patterson has posted a version of his Equal Earth Map that shows US Territories.  

I made this image this morning starting with small section of the Equal Earth map and am pretty happy with it.

For this map I used IM Fell for the font.  And instead of using watercolor paper as a base, I used parchment @ 450%. For the outline highlights, I started with glowing edges, but then modified the glowing edges with dust and scratches. I painted with a Water Colored Textured surface brush, setting the opacity between 20 and 50.  My wacom tablet driver wasn’t working, so I just used my finger on the track pad.