An amateur artist in Finland achieved tremendous success by achieving a giant drawing he carved with his steps in the snow with the help of a number of volunteers, attracting a wide audience and arousing great interest in the media.
The painting, signed by Jan Picot, is revealed in a circle 160 meters in diameter of the snow-covered area from a height, which he made last weekend to be the largest painting in snow in this northern European country.
The beauty of the drawing cannot be touched from the ground, as its details are only visible from the sky, and its interlocking lines are revealed in the form of giant mandala circles.
"It was a challenge for me to explain the whole thing to everyone and keep their enthusiasm for the project, and it worked," said Yan Biko, an informatics expert.
All Jan Picot wanted in the beginning was to "make something beautiful" on the snow of a sports field in Espoo, in suburban Helsinki, and he drew his project on the computer.
Then, he recruited volunteers in the ranks of a group of amateur hikers with snow boots, and they used ropes to draw circles on the snow that would duplicate a drawing printed on a map.
Then, Elena Chicarelli, one of the volunteers, recounts, "We spent three hours walking and laughing" in the winter sun, with a temperature of 10 degrees below zero.
"It was very difficult to see what the artwork would look like," said Petri Terralinen, another volunteer, as we advanced step by step over the dense layer of snow.
"So it was great to see the image from a height," he added.
Yan Beku said he has other projects in hand, though "they might be a bit smaller".
But he added, "Since people are so excited, I think there will be new snow drawings in the coming weeks."
