Large Ice Floes continues the large aerial ice series I’m developing for my Imaging the Arctic project. I love how these ice floes create such an abstract composition, despite appearing quite literally as they did when I flew over the ice in a helicopter last year in Greenland. I’m reminded of puzzle pieces, and I imagine fitting them together into one complete piece of ice.

In creating this painting, I masked off the ice shapes first with packing tape (a favorite trick of mine, see an example in action with my Aspen Series timelapse), and painted the water first. Then I built up textures in the ice, using salt to create organic patterns, and touching up areas with white gouache. I’ve got another painting in process on my studio table, stay tuned for more!