When I began this oil painting of Mount Kenya, I thought I was creating a fully rendered colour piece for my dad’s office… only after starting the second layer did I learn he actually wanted something more like a colouring‑style depiction; although that could have felt limiting, it instead turned into the very thing that pushed the work beyond what I expected.
In the foreground I’ve built up texture, sharp edges, and rich colour and form, while in the distance I shift into loose, flowing squiggles my signature illusionistic technique that suggest peaks rather than defining them, allowing atmosphere, memory, and creative energy to shape what the distant mountains become. The contrast between the detailed foreground and the wispy, gestural distance offers a tension and balance between realism and freedom, structure and expression. That unexpected turn in process forced me to trust what I love: layering, light, texture, and those free‑flowing squiggles that show my hand, my instinct.
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