Antarctic Odyssey

This painting was a long time in the planning then a long time painting but completely satisfying to do.

I studied the nature of icebergs, how, as they float in the sea, the imbalance between what is above and what is below makes them turn over, revealing the fresh ice from underneath that has already been sculpted by wave and water flow.

The smaller upper portion is further sculpted as it melts, creating unique fantastic shapes. Irregular icebergs have usually calved off small crevassed glaciers and can form into the most fascinating shapes. Cracks and crevasses already in the ice when it calves can be enlarged into caves and arches by the sea.

Tabular icebergs, the very large flat topped bergs, are created when calving from ice shelves. These can be of massive proportions, towering 10 or more stories high and containing enough fresh water to supply a city larger than Auckland for a year or so.

After roughing out the main plan onto the canvas, I set about designing my own icebergs. I really enjoyed this stage, it felt like two dimensional sculpting.

Because I wanted a sense of reality even though this is an idyllic odyssey, I had to take care in the scale between the various wildlife species so back to my many reference boooks. In this way the painting progressed.