Inspiration
A recent trip to the island of fire & ice brought me to an unforgettable lagoon of floating glaciers, Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. Here giant ice once belonging to the Breidamerkurjokull glacier float along melting becoming one with the sea. I spent a lot of time observing, photographing, and kayaking in between these glaciers. Some glaciers melt from the bottom into the lagoon’s lake and when the bottoms melt away they become top-heavy, literally flipping themselves over. It’s unbelievable to see something so inanimate seem so alive.
As ice melts, flips, and rotate they also morph into unexpected shapes. The colors and textures of all this frozen water are not only beautiful, but have meaning. They tell a story of climate. The different ratios of oxygen trapped in the ice explain how fast the water froze and how compressed the hydrogen was compared to oxygen. The whiter the ice, the more oxygen is present. I studied the white, blue, and green variations. Light was bouncing between glaciers, the sky, and reflecting from the lagoon itself creating visually mesmerizing effects of color. I was excited to try and capture a piece of what I was experiencing in this painting.
Process
It is easy to get lost in a composition of abstract shapes such as ice. I decided to set my ice forms in space with a rough draft the applied perspective techniques for depth. Once the glaciers were formed, I distorted them here and there to imply the topsy-turvy nature of the glaciers. I think this really helped create the illusion of glacier movement in calm water. Once I was ready for color I decided to use a limited palette to prevent colors from getting to heavy or muddy. I wanted to keep the painting as bright and light as possible. I kept it simple with titanium white, cerulean blue, viridian, and cadmium red. As I played with color I dedicated a custom color to each glacier, then used cadmium red as its opposite for shadow. Titanium was for highlights.
Art Goals
I always create a challenge for myself in my paintings. For this painting the objective was to capture the topsy-turvy yet hefty glaciers, their abstract-organic forms, and the unique light they absorb & reflect. As I worked on this painting I realized the actual challenge was making the glaciers look heavy but also like they are floating without loosing too much detail or overly distorting their forms (from perspective & foreshortening). This is where I took a few artistic liberties for the sake of my desired outcome. According to time-lapse, I created this painting in less than five minuets with a few outfit changes in between, however in real life it took about a week from sketch to signature. I had to stop myself from getting lost in the blues and greens and put the paintbrush down. Sometimes knowing when to stop is key. I have these glaciers right where I want them, but I have a feeling there will be more Jokulsarlon paintings to come.
