courtesy sean yoro
"A'o 'Ana" ("The Warning"), is one of Hawaiian surfer-turned-artist Sean Yoro's earlier works. The stunning portrait of a woman, barely emerged from the icy water, is precariously painted on an iceberg freshly broken off from a nearby glacier in Iceland.
courtesy sean yoro
Yoro traveled to Iceland and scouted for an ideal location to create "A'o 'Ana."

"Just in the short week I was there, the icebergs all around me were constantly cracking and flipping," he says, noting that the portrait was fleetingly short-lived. "I would have given it a week or two, maximum."
© Renan Ozturk / Courtesy renan ozturk
This striking piece of art, titled "What if I Fly", is Yoro's latest project. Painted on the disappearing ice floes near Baffin Island, Canada, it features the portrait of a local Inuit girl. The goal of Yoro's work? "To ignite a sense of urgency towards climate change in those who stumble upon these murals," he tells CNN. (Photo credit: Renan Ozturk)
courtesy sean yoro
The artist, who's also known as Hula, has previously painted portraits in remote locations. For "A'o 'Ana" he had a strong vision beyond aesthetic appeal. "The portrait represents the millions of people in need of our help who are already being affected from the rising sea levels of climate change."
courtesy sean yoro
To paint on ice, Yoro first applies an acrylic sheet: "It's similar to plexiglass. I had been experimenting with different techniques to be able to paint on ice and the best way was to have an acrylic ground. Thus, I mounted these very thin sheets of acrylic by drilling screws into the ice."
courtesy sean yoro
Yoro always scouts different places before setting up camp and embarking upon his painting. He's seen here walking on location -- the details of which he'd rather not disclose -- and says it was a good 5 mile hike on foot to reach his ideal spot.
courtesy sean yoro
Finding the perfect iceberg to paint on is also a challenging task. "It took us a whole day of searching until the right one came along and I was able to set up to paint. The currents didn't help either, as the quicker my iceberg moved, the more it melted," says Yoro of his "A'o 'Ana" portrait.
courtesy sean yoro
For "A'o 'Ana", Yoro had to paint at night so as not to be seen. Here he sits on the beach working on the hand of A'o 'Ana right before sunrise.
courtesy sean yoro
Yoro approached the iceberg with his surfboard and then climbed on with ice picks. "I do think we are headed in the right direction with the actions we are taking to fight global warming, but we are late in responding and we need to quicken the pace of action if we want to keep this world safe for our future generations," he says.
courtesy sean yoro
A previous project involved a series of mesmerizing portraits in yet another undisclosed, abandoned location: "One of the exciting things about painting portraits is being able to bring life and emotion to objects and surfaces that were once without."
courtesy sean yoro
Yoro recently moved to Los Angeles from New York, but is originally from Hawaii New York City. "I grew up on Oahu, where I was surrounded with everything nature had to offer," he tells CNN. "The ocean was my playground and art didn't enter my life until my later teenage years."
courtesy sean yoro
Who's the woman in the portraits? "She's a friend from New York, although she prefers to remain anonymous."
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The artworks are created with traditional oil paint: "I use it in a traditional old masters' technique, mixing both loose brushwork with very tight strokes of sharp lines. I'm always trying to make the paint have a juicier texture to really help the portrait come alive."
courtesy sean yoro
The water and the elements could ruin the artworks any minute, so these portraits also had an expiration date by design.
courtesy sean yoro
"Oil paint outdoors definitely isn't the best and it doesn't last nearly as long as acrylics, but I kinda like that my figures have their own lifespan," says Yoro.
courtesy sean yoro
Each painting takes anywhere from a whole day to three or four days to complete, depending on the size and detail.
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"I'm lucky to have grown up on a surf board and it's just so natural for me to be on my paddle board, so I'm very comfortable in all types of situations which made it easier for me," says Yoro of his unique approach to art.
courtesy sean yoro
Why portraits? "One of the exciting things about painting portraits is being able to bring life and emotion to objects and surfaces that were once without. Also these figures just seem to match with the moods. A mysterious surreal combination."
courtesy sean yoro
Painting from the precarious balance of a floating board might seem like a stressful task, but it's not as bad as it looks. "I use a lot of ropes and anchors to keep me in place and steady, and the board itself is pretty stable when it's locked in. I usually choose places with minimal waves and tide changes too, so it feels just like any other platform."
courtesy sean yoro
What's next for him? "Like most things in my life, I don't try to plan too much into the future. I only plan to stay true to my passion and see where it takes me. Currently in the works are more water murals and even hopping onto land for some figures who blend in with their environments."

Story highlights

Street artist Sean Yoro creates hauntingly beautiful portraits on pieces of floating ice

Yoro creates the fleeting murals while balanced atop his paddle board

CNN  — 

Surfer turned street artist Sean Yoro has created hauntingly beautiful portraits on icebergs in Iceland and remote waterside walls, navigating his aquatic locations on a paddle board.

But his latest balancing act proved to be his most ambitious yet, as he braved the rapidly disappearing ice floes of the Canadian Arctic in his ongoing quest to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change.

“It was tricky because you can’t see and there’s some clear ice that I was bumping into while I was on my paddle board,” says Yoro of his latest project, titled “What if you Fly”.

“And there were definite close calls where I almost fell in, but I’m lucky to have grown up on a surf board, so I’m very comfortable in all types of situations which made it easier for me.

courtesy sean yoro
Yoro with one of his previous works, AoAna.

Painting on ice

Yoro, who grew up in Hawaii and also goes by the name Hula, describes his fleeting works as a “balance between nature and art” and says his Hawaiian upbringing instilled in him the belief that it’s his responsibility to take care of the environment.

For “What if you Fly”, Yoro teamed up with well known extreme wilderness photographer and filmmaker, Renan Ozturk to document his work and try to take his message to the “younger generation.”

This is how you capture the spectacular beauty of arctic wilderness

The photographer and artist spent two weeks in Nunavut, on Baffin Island in Canada, working with the locals to get to know their culture and local environmental issues. One girl that Ozturk photographed ended up being Yoro’s muse.

“The portrait I painted was of a local Inuit girl that we had met up there, and she’s spoken on climate change, which is what I love to get inspired by,” says Yoro.

But while choosing a subject was easy, finding the floating canvas for his art proved much harder, as the ice floes in the area were melting fast.

“Even the locals were saying how quickly the pack ice, which is the main ice that they usually hunt on for most of the year, was melting,” says Yoro.

“Basically the week that we were there, probably 80% of the ice was gone. So when we were scouting for the smaller ice floes, it was very tricky. When testing how thick the ice was, some of the ice was cracking just while I was standing on it.”

courtesy sean yoro
Sean Yoro navigates remote locations on a paddle board to find the right pieces of ice for his art

Yoro finally settled on a piece of suitable ice and set to work creating the girl’s image with paint. Although he said it was a quick process once they started, the ice eventually proved too fragile for the artist.

“With one head I painted she’s kind of embracing the ice, lying on her back. That’s the big one that we tried to complete but the ice ended up cracking and we basically had to bail out of it at the last minute.”

Incredible paintings that actually breathe

While not complete, Yoro’s work is a striking piece of art, with the lone eye of the girl glaring accusingly from among the remnants of floating ice. From that perspective, it certainly seems to have met its goal.

“I think just visually its important that people can see how quickly that ice is melting,” says Yoro.

“You know there’s hundreds of articles on climate change, but I want to be that little visual voice that people can actually, hopefully, have more of a connection with.”