New Commission, Chair lift to Heaven

Chair Lift to Heaven. 18 x 20(click on the photo for a close up). Using the photo below as a reference, my client wanted this painting to convey the treasured feelings she had when riding the chair lift up to ski on Big Mountain.

I tried to think of my own thoughts and emotions when riding up the chair and infuse them into the layers. This is what came to mind: anticipation, peace, joy, the historical greatness of this thing you get to partake of, the mysterious nature of snow, the respect for and closeness to nature that skiing gives you... the thrill of speed, and excitement of finding untracked powder, feeling both cozy and tingly cold at the same time... there is a lot to capture there, hopefully I got a little bit of it for my client, but as usual I seem to have very little control over the actual outcome of a painting commission and am crossing my fingers in hope that she likes it!

What I think really came through is the mountain itself, or rather the ski run... When I look at this I get a sense of quite waiting, a glimpse of Tony Matt early in the morning, blanketed in a few inches of un-tracked snow. An intimate look at the run itself before the crowd transforms it with bustling energy and whoops of glee.