Aoraki Mount Cook Timelapse
Apr 26, 2018
Aoraki Mount Cook is New Zealand’s highest peak at 3724 metres and surely the most magnificent. I love the way Aoraki towers over the Southern landscape and can be seen from both the East and West coast.
The photo reference I used for this painting was kindly given to me by Rob Suisted, I spent a week camping around Mount Cook village and never photographed an image like this, I really appreciate the lengths (and cost) photographers go to, to get ‘the pic’.
So as an artist I sometimes use reference material from photographers, my best advice is to contact the photographer, in my experience they are happy to give permission to use the reference and often for not much more than the price of a tank of gas. Personally, I have my own hangup that I have to visit the landscape, I just don’t always get the greatest photo.
The painting itself took over 30 hours in four or five sessions which I wrapped into a 60 second timelapse. I even went to the extent of wearing the same clothes every time I painted (I have washed these clothes now). The sky and the dark rocks colour were mainly painted with brush, all of the snow was painted with just the palette knife and I only used Ultramarine blue, Prussian blue, Cad orange, Permanent Mauve and Raw Umber plus white of course.
I hope you enjoy the video, it’s been my first delve into timelapse and I have lots to learn. This painting will be available once it dries. It’s 30″ X 48″ so it needs a large wall, personally I think it would look great framed in a stairwell entrance or similar, it’s a powerful image recreated with some very thick impasto paint.
Cheers
Wayne
