I am fascinated by whales. We don`t have whales in Switzerland – there is no sea.
Now that I am staying in Iceland for 6 months, it is the right time and the right place to make an art piece of a whale. I think, an image of a whale should be huge; at best original-sized. It`s a huge animal.
My first thought was to make it also look heavy, with black color, charcoal or something of the kind. Then, I observed my four-year old daughter drawing with multicolored wax crayons. She did it in an energetic yet light way. The same intuitive way we all have been drawing when we were kids but then forgot the technique for more sophisticated ones.
So I returned to the old method and discovered that it was great fun and involved a lot of physical work. It became a colorful whale!
I did 63 sheets in A2-size and in the end assembled them on the floor of Menningahusid Berg, June 23rd. It was a fascinating experience to finally see the drawing coming into being as one complete piece. Before, every sheet, all 63 drawings, were individual parts. Now, the total size is 6.53m x 3.78m and the whale’s length is 7. 54m.
In August, the drawing will be displayed at the Great Fish Day of Dalvik. Admittedly, a whale is not a fish, but it swims in the same waters and from my studio in the Kaupfelagsbuilding, I can daily see both the fishing vessels and the whale watching boats set to sea and return to the harbor.
