courtesy sean yoro
Surfer and artist Sean Yoro has created a mural in a spot -- Canada's Bay of Fundy -- where the tides submerge the work in less than 6 hours every day.
courtesy sean yoro
The painting, which took nine days to complete, measures 30 by 45 feet.
courtesy sean yoro
"For 9 days we lived off the tide schedules, starting our days around 2:30 a.m. when the tides were lowest and taking breaks when the tide was too high," said Yoro.
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"This project was unique because for the first time my mural will be naturally unveiled twice a day, transforming the piece with every tide level."
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Yoro waits for the tide to rise another foot to be able to reach the top of the mural: "The rate of drop/rise was about 1 foot every 15 minutes, so there was a lot of waiting and being patient with the tides," he said.
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"We were exploring the environment around the wall at low tide. Everything I walked on in these photos is usually underwater at high tides so it was incredible to see the change and explore the hidden world."
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"I used a special paint formula for this project which would be able to dry quickly and withstand being submerged underwater. As usual, everything is completely nontoxic."
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"I have never had to deal with my wall being so wet as well as the amount of water moving in and out in just six hours."
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Surfer Yoro uses his board instead of a ladder or scaffold.
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"This was the second day, medium tide. A small storm came in bringing in a thick fog and heavy rains. I tried to paint between the pockets of rain while the tides were still low."
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"This is the fourth day at low tide. I got the bulk of the figure painted. These low tides during daylight were crucial and I needed to time my schedule right to get the most painting done."
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Yoro estimates the painting could last two to three months, depending on natural conditions, but there is a chance it could last longer, up to two years.
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"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.
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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 is titled "What if I Fly." 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)
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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."
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To paint on ice, Yoro first applies an acrylic sheet: "It's similar to Plexiglas. 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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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."
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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."
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The water and the elements could ruin the artworks any minute, so these portraits also had an expiration date by design.
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"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.
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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.
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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."
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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."
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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."
CNN  — 

In the Bay of Fundy, where the highest tides on Earth touch Canada’s shores, a stunning new mural is naturally unveiled twice a day.

It’s the latest work of surfing artist Sean Yoro, who has a penchant for precarious surfaces, having previously painted on floating icebergs, remote waterside walls and tree bark in a rainy forest – always using eco-friendly paints.

This time he negotiated 28-foot tide changes while balancing on his board, creating a piece that is constantly transformed by the water level.

As long as it lasts, that is.

Vanishing canvas

“It was really challenging to adapt to the tide changes, from the dangerous rip currents to the quick rate of rising and dropping water levels, averaging 1 foot every 15 minutes,” Yoro said in an email.

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The tricky part of completing the artwork was having enough time to work on the lowest area of the wall, the first to get covered by the tide: “I had to be on a very strict schedule, knowing the exact levels of the tide every day and night.”

The exact locations of Yoro’s previous works were not disclosed, to avoid legal risks, but this time he revealed the mural is in Saint John, Canada: “I actually had the Bay of Fundy on my bucket list of places to paint long before Discover Saint John reached out to me with the idea to paint in their city,” he said.

The city is across the bay from the Minas Basin, where the tide range can reach 52 feet, according to NASA.

Will it last?

Yoro uses nontoxic paint to minimize the environmental impact of his creations, which also gives his artwork an uncertain expiry date.

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“When using eco-friendly paint, it is inevitable that the sun and saltwater will break it down with time,” he said.

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“Calculating the lifespan is very difficult because of variables such as sunlight and currents around the wall itself, but a safe estimate would have it lasting 2-3 months.”

Yoro said algae could also be a problem and cover the bottom half of the figure, but there’s a chance – through a magical combination of excellent conditions – that the mural could last up to two years.

courtesy sean yoro

Wet wall

Another problem was making the paint stick to a wall in very wet – and rainy – conditions: “It took a lot of experimenting with dozens of paints and sealers to come up with a special formula that would dry quickly enough and stay on the cement wall even when underwater for most of the time,” Yoro said.

courtesy sean yoro
The project wasn't graced by the most pleasant weather conditions.

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It took nine days to complete the mural, which measures 30 by 45 feet.

The unusually long time of completion was due to the rapid tide change, which limited the artist’s access to the wall: “I had to use several calculated formulas to know the rate of the tides coming in or out every day, and use this information to know what speed I could paint for that tide change, which helped (me) pace myself in order to get the proper details finished in the figure.”

“It was an incredible experience to witness this natural phenomenon and incorporate into my art.”