In 2023 I got a request for a commission work.
The inspiration behind the project was two fold.
A friend was working on a block chain project called Arweave. The concept of the project is an online storage solution where the information cannot be deleted. The idea being to create a permanent achieve where organisations or people in power cannot simply cherry pick what articles and information is convenient for them to be visible. So if the BBC where to upload their archive to Arweave, it would stay there permanently, unaltered. The icon for the project is an elephant; because they never forget.
Another story he found personal inspiration from was Hannibal’s crossing of the alps. Hannibal was a general in the Carthaginian army and in 218 BC he made a move that still to this day many count as one of the biggest military feats in history. With the intention of striking Rome, he did the unthinkable. The romans had assumed the alps the be a natural barrier for any army. Hannibal crossed over into Italy through the alps. One of the reasons this event is still so famous is that he did it with African war elephants.
So the elephant represents doing the impossible and the unexpected.
I myself love the alps, and have been during the summer for the climbing a few times. The mountains behind the elephant is taken from the French alps, Aguille du midi, when I was there in 2022, and camped on the glacier at 3400m. That same year I also climbed the Matterhorn, my first 4000m peak! (Which can be seen as the little peak under the left ear of the elephant!)! The mountains are covered in the famous red light called Alpen glow. I wanted to try and capture the breath taking effect this light has on you; the red cutting through the blue present in the rest of the image.
The elephant itself is painted using only two colours; white and blue, with a special glazing technique which gives the image both texture and luminosity.
I finished the painting in July 2025. It’s hard to say exactly how long this painting took; it didn’t take 2 years of actual painting, as I often had to leave it be for 1-3 months at a time to focus on other work. But I can say for certain that it was months of hard work all together.
It has without a doubt been the biggest technical challenge for me as a painter.
