Yosemite Days

2020

Oil colour on 40 x 60 cm prefab canvas.

Yosemite national park has already been described with so many superlatives when it comes to rock climbing that it feels quite unnecessary to even try it here. A few of my friends have climbed there and initiated the lovestory of their life. Admittedly my heart skipped a beat upon getting this commission for a birthday present of my friend's boyfriend. The source photo is seriously astonishing with those epic proportions and depth so exceptionally visible.

Most of my time was spent with that vast forest. I have to confess that a bit of desperation could not be avoided while doing it. I might have broken some brush sticks out of frustration had I painted all that photorealistically. Now my strategy was to paint the foreground trees more carefully but did the forest background according to a "believable adjustment". Another problem was the birthday hero's figure that is only ca. 5 cm tall even on this big of a canvas. I had to settle for a quite generic figure. I'm hoping he'll identify with this just enough.

So many hours went into this that I feared for a moment I might not make the agreed schedule. But all's well that ends well, and with pride I released this on the right day.

SOLD and no prints can be purchased of this painting.