Another birds eye city view to share today! it’s another impression of Zurich, Switzerland with imagined rooftop views looking out into the cool lake. ‘View Over Zurich’ is a 70 x 50 cm feature canvas within a 74 x 54 cm floater frame.A previous attempt at this skyline, ‘Zurich Rooftops’, was the same exact canvas size but was a flatter vantage point including more buildings like the Swiss National Museum in the foreground. This composition moves the viewer a little higher… but still includes the spires of the Grossmünster and Fraumünster. It allowed me to open up the foreground and collage in a sort of square/pedestrian area in front of the Peterskirche (the client requested some figures in and around the city).
There’s more nice little details that the customer suggested, based on their time and experiences in the city. We added a number of distinctive blue trams, as well as flag details and hints at certain shop fronts. It’s always lovely to get those first hand accounts and to try and see a special place like Zurich from someone else’s point of view!
The client seemed happy with the results but I was also pleased at how it came together… sometimes returning to a scene, too closely modelled on a previous painting can prove tricky. Sometimes it feels stale, if that makes any sense? But I honestly feel this canvas has it’s own personality, finding new things and keeping the interesting balance of cityscape with it’s mountain backdrop.
