Giant Portraits Appear on Abraham Lake Ice

Large-scale portraits have appeared across the frozen surface of Abraham Lake and along the canyon shores of Cline River Canyon in recent weeks, though they will soon vanish as winter gives way to spring.

​​The works were created by Finland-based artist David Popa, who spent nearly two weeks in Nordegg, Alberta, creating four large-scale environmental portraits directly on ice and shoreline rock in collaboration with Travel Alberta. Like all of Popa’s work, the pieces are temporary installations. His portraits last anywhere from a few hours to several days before the environment reclaims the canvas.

Popa describes himself as a portrait artist whose canvas has expanded beyond studio walls into the broader natural world.

“I’m a portrait artist, but my canvas is the world: ice, sand, rock, and snow. I started as a traditional artist, drawing and painting, and I’ve always been obsessed with faces because they carry story and emotion instantly,” said Popa.

Over time, he felt a pull to leave the studio, experimenting with raw materials and realizing he could construct monumental portraits directly in the landscape and document them by drone, preserving the work even after the original was erased.

“I began experimenting with raw natural materials and realized I could create portraits directly in the landscape, photograph them with a drone, and let the work live on through the image even after nature erased it,” said Popa.

His large-scale works have appeared around the world in remote settings across Finland, Norway, Greece, Saudi Arabia, and Utah. He added that his projects created in extreme environments are particularly meaningful to him.

“The ones that hit deepest are the projects where the landscape and the personal meaning line up, where it feels like the location is part of the message,” said Popa. “Pieces made on frozen seas, remote islands, or extreme environments tend to carry that ‘this almost shouldn’t exist’ feeling. Those moments remind me why I do it.”

The environment and the health of the ecosystem are central to Popa’s practice. He limits his materials to natural elements and avoids binders, solvents, or paint, opting instead for inert materials that disperse harmlessly over time. He also avoids leaving any debris behind.

“The goal is: when I leave, the place should look untouched,” said Popa.

Popa came to Alberta after a representative from Travel Alberta reached out about creating pieces set within the province’s winter landscapes. Popa was given significant creative freedom, allowing him to develop works that best suited the environment.

“It still felt like my work,” said Popa. “There were practical considerations - safety, access, timing, and conditions, but creatively I had room to make something ambitious and true to the spirit of what I do.”

Before beginning, Popa worked closely with local guide groups to identify and explore safe and visually compelling locations for his work.

Abraham Lake was selected as one of the project locations for its deep blue tones and the distinctive methane bubbles trapped beneath the ice. The bubbles form when bacteria on the lakebed decompose organic matter, releasing methane gas that rises toward the surface. As the lake freezes in winter, the gas becomes trapped, creating suspended bubble formations beneath the ice, a feature Popa was drawn to incorporate into his composition.

“The bubbles are like a cosmic texture, almost like the ice has a memory inside it. They add depth and a sense of time,” said Popa. “I wanted the portrait to feel like it belonged to that world, not like it was pasted on top of it.”

Popa incorporated the bubbles as a motif in his 24-metre-long portrait of a woman titled New Beginning. The piece was completed over two days using chalk, charcoal, and water applied directly to the surface of the frozen reservoir. It reflects themes of renewal and transition.

“Abraham Lake felt like the perfect metaphor: this beautiful, fragile surface with an entire world trapped beneath it. The portrait becomes a symbol of breath, awakening, and the courage to start again even when everything feels cold or uncertain,” said Popa.

He arrived with a general blueprint for the composition but allowed the environment to shape the final design.

“The surface tells you what it can handle,” said Popa. “The bubbles, cracks, snow drifts and wind patterns become part of the design. If you fight that, the work looks forced. If you collaborate with it, it feels inevitable.”

Creating a portrait at that scale required planning, mapping, and constant adjustment. When it came time to execute the design, Popa laid out a grid system at scale, established key features such as the eyes and built the image in layers, moving from light tones to shadows.

Popa uses chalk and charcoal mixed with water, applied with a hand-pump sprayer to create gradients and bold lines, while relying on a drone to check alignment and ensure the piece remains proportional.

“A big part of the process is moving constantly: flying the drone up, checking alignment and correcting proportions,” said Popa. “I used chalk and charcoal mixed with water, applied with a hand-pump sprayer. That lets me paint with gradients and soft transitions, but also build bold lines and contrast. On ice, you’re always adapting, some areas take pigment beautifully, others resist depending on frost, texture and temperature.”

Popa is constantly adapting his execution strategy in response to changing conditions.

“I plan like a filmmaker and improvise like a painter,” said Popa. “I’m reading the environment minute by minute: wind direction, humidity and surface texture, how the snow is behaving, whether the ice is drying out or getting slick. I work in sections, lock in key features early, and I’m always ready to shift the schedule.”

For Popa, the disappearance of the artwork is essential to his practice.

“Impermanence is the point. In the studio, we try to make things last forever. In nature, you accept that everything is temporary, and that makes the moment more valuable,” said Popa. “The disappearance doesn’t diminish the work; it completes it. Nature gets the final brushstroke”

As temperatures rise, the portraits will fade, leaving only photographs and video as proof of their existence. Photographic prints from Popa’s Alberta project, titled Renewal, are expected to launch on his website in the coming weeks, offering a permanent record of their brief presence.