Returning to one of my favourite lakes, Zugersee, for this big commission inspired by Switzerland! I seem to get asked to paint at least one Swiss scene every year and this year’s attempt came early in the calendar… not that I have any complaints, as the subject matter is full of detail and the colour across the landscape seems unique to every sunset.
‘Zugersee’ was to be created on a 120 x 90cm canvas, a decent sized piece that would fill most walls with a window of bold colour. I built the stretcher and pulled the canvas material before a heavy priming. I do like a relatively smooth surface to work. The client wanted to capture the view across the lake to Mount Rigi, but also wanted to see certain features of the Old Town. A tricky balancing act that required some blending and bending of the real space. I recorded a time-lapse of the work in progress that you can watch below.The client had spotted an older Zug inspired commission, ‘Landsgemeindeplatz Altstadt Zug‘ and wanted to retain the standout popping colours of the buildings. But we agreed to leave the skies more open and subtle, at least at first. I like having that balance between the two. It leaves space for the eye to escape to from all the busy brushstrokes and bold outlines. Hopefully the pastel shades of the open air also give it that crisp and clear mountain feel. Here’s a few close up shots of the canvas surface.
The painting was finished with my current favourite style of floater frame, which I again custom built here in the studio. The crisp white shows off the blues of the sky and lake wonderfully, even if I do say so myself. The whole piece then had to be packed into a crate for shipping. Everything in the process has felt very hands on and i’m rather proud of what I managed to achieve.
