This afternoon/s road trip with Karen Thor and her husband Thorsteinn Halldorsson was a great chance to see the landscape from their viewpoint. Karen is a photographer from Brooklyn, New York and has been in Iceland for six years with Thor and their two daughters, Bryndisa and Svana. Thor is Icelandic and lived for many years in the US. Together Karen and Thor gave me a tour of Þingvellir National Park and the countryside in between, from our starting point in Hafnarfjörður. While they both pointed out favorite sites along the way, Thor would stop the car or maneuver to allow Karen and I to photograph. With the weather still cold and overcast, the moss and tundra vegetation was the most colorful element of the landscape. We shot forest and lake, waterfalls and steam vents. Watching Karen make choices of subjects to capture and save was a nice change from following my own selecting process. She moves fast and would get Thor to have fun posing. In their Lopi sweater and hat they looked like they were models in an Icelandic knitting pattern book.

The Park was beautiful and quiet. Along the Oxara river, Þingvellir is the site of Iceland’s earliest governance. Representatives from all regions of the country would assembly here over the centuries from 930 AD. It is also the junction of the American and Eurasian tectonic plates, a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The volcanic activity going on in the south right now makes you aware of the potential for earth shattering changes that can occur at anytime given the geography. The peacefulness if this chilly afternoon has not been disturbed by the force just below our feet and Karen, Thor and I enjoy the day and Iceland’s rugged beauty.

When I first started to write proposals to travel to this island nation in the North Atlantic, it was to experience a coastal landscape that I thought was similar to Newfoundland., Canada. That was ten years ago, and at a time when I was spending a week each Fall painting with friends on islands in Maine. My thought was that the landscape that had influenced Louisa Matthíasdóttir’s work of expansive, intersecting planes of color might hold some relevancy to the New England coast where I made my home. It seemed necessary to me to go abroad to study landscape that related to my own environment to see my surroundings in a new way.

Paint is the best medium I know of to record color relationships that occur in my daily life. I have looked for opportunities to frame these experiences hoping that they communicate the same awe that has captured my attention and caused me to want to distill the vision and share it with others. Here in Iceland that process began with the notion that the geothermal sites would provide color relationships from the colliding of super heated air forcing it’s way up from the earths center and out into the cold atmosphere. I imagined that the simple cloud-like plumes would replicate weather systems which form in a similar fashion. On my first trip to Krysuvik I realized that the steam vents and geysers did not make for the kind of color experience that I had imagined. April weather was also unsuited to painting on location. The volcanic eruption on March 21st and then on April 14th of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano has provided the intriguing color that changes the visual scale of the subject that I came to study and the environmental implication. Just by chance, I have arrived in Iceland at the wrong time of year to paint a landscape that I did not understand and was rewarded by an even better more relevant subject to study and explore.

The outdoor pool was closed, so Karen came by my apartment and took me with her to the new swimming facility, a short drive from the center of town. A huge indoor facility with lots of glass and a view up to the mountains, this was the place to see the young families of Hafnarfjordur.. Icelanders wear a lot of black( a Sunday church service looks like a funeral). The children, however, wear a rainbow of bright colors in patterns and stripes. We sat outside in the “Hotpots” after our workout, Despite the steam rising up around our shoulders and the view of the snow covered mountain range, the warm sun and the children in there colorful suits and floaties reminded me that spring was coming.

Most days I begin to paint soon after I eat breakfast, I have several images going at the same time so that I can take frequent breaks and still make progress on one idea or another. Sometimes it seems that most of the paint is going down the drain. The acrylics are drying very fast here and I need to clean my brushes at least every half hour to keep the color clear. This process allows me to rest my vision appropriately, but headway is slow.

At 4:00 today Karl, a geography professor for the University of Iceland that I’d met through the Laison Office there, said that he would meet me at Hafnarborg and take me to a hot springs area west of Reykjavik called Reykjadalur, “Valley of Smoke”. He said that it was vary colorful and might give me some ideas for paintings (Karl was the one who originally suggested finding a residency in this part of Iceland, knowing that I was interested in geothermal activity). As we left Hafnarfjordur it started to snow and as we got to the mountain range where we would begin the hike into the valley below, the landscape turned completely white. Though Karl thought that the near blizzard conditions of wind and snow ruined the planned outing, the pictures of the steam vents and the drive back are some of the most interesting I’ve taken. They have given me lots of material to work from about color and the geothermal effects on the landscape of Iceland.

Svava Egilson is an artist who creates using many different materials. My favorite is her quilting that interprets Iceland’s landscape in multiple layers of fabric. The island of fire and ice has a long tradition of textiles. Everywhere you go you see examples of hand knitting, especially the Lopi patterned sweaters. Svava’s pieces incorporate applique as well as the grid pattern of weaving. Today I went with her to Reykjavik to get some pastels while she greets visitors to the show of her recent work. I had a chance to visit several of Reykjavik’s art galleries and craft stores, along with stranded airline passengers who were entertaining themselves while planes are grounded due to the volcanic ash. Afterward, Svava invited me to have dinner with her family at their home in Hafnarfjordor. It was nice to spend the day with Svava, getting to know more about Iceland’s art scene

(These images are by the photographer Ragnar Th Sigurdsson, shared with me by my swimming buddy Karen Thor, who works for him as a photo editor.)

I came to Iceland’s Southwest coast to be close to geothermal sites where I thought that I would find interesting color to paint. The super heated air forcing it’s way up into the cold seemed to have many of the properties of frontal systems that move across the landscape and often create dramatic layers of color. I look for these color events to record and to find ways to understand naturally occurring color relationships; I imagine it would be like a writer collecting names.

Throughout the day we have been getting news of a major new eruption, not where the other occurred, but beneath a glacier west of the first. Flooding has washed out roads and land below the sight of the activity and a huge plume of ash has curtailed flights to Northern Europe and even as far west as Russia. This seismic activity was a little more than I bargained for! Some worry that it might cause a more dangerous volcano, Katla to erupt. If the winds change direction I might bee staying here longer than planned.

It isn’t easy finding picture-making sites when you first arrive at a new location. The weather here in Iceland has made it difficult to paint out of doors, but using my camera has given me an opportunity to edit hundreds of possibilities as I search for relevant images through the viewfinder.

Svava came by for coffee this morning and got a chance to see my apartment and the work that I have been doing thus far. It was a break from her routine and she said that she had time to take me back out to Krysuvik again with the hope that the weather would be warm enough to paint. I quickly got my materials together and we headed out of town following the same route that I took for the first time last week.

What a difference seven days can make in the color of the moss covered lava fields. Without the thin layer of snow dusting the interwoven slopes and rock strewn plains, the craggy forms unfurled brilliant velvet green. Dark clouds compressed the remaining sunlight into dramatic bands of color. The day never provided us with painting weather, as we traveled a loop along the coast that would bring us back to Hafnarfjordur via Reykjavik. Our shutters clicking away, we framed the open land and weather drama of the road. Svava’s surprise tour provided me with lots of color ideas to work from and the bonus of an Icelandic artist’s perspective.

When I returned to the Museum, everyone who works at Hafnarborg looked concerned and was trying to get information online. The internet was so overloaded that no one could receive the Icelandic news service. Since I had the only TV in the building, everyone gathered round the set in my apartment to see the news report. What I discovered was that the special inquiry to determine the cause of the failure of the banks two years ago came out today. Ólöf, the Director of the Museum, explained that it would be a day that people remembered where they were, like 9/11. I could see in the faces of the staff here at Hafnarborg how frustrated Icelanders have been with their government. They seemed satisfied with the work of the economic advisers who had prepared the report, but unsure of where the economy is heading. I could relate to that thought. It seems the whole world is re-evaluating; economics and simply how to live. As you walk around Hafnarjordur there are lots of tall, new, empty apartment buildings. Cranes are poised overhead but motionless. Sometimes failure is too big to miss.

I was determined to get to Reykjavik this weekend. Partly for the break from painting, but mostly to go to the museums and to a flee market that I had read about. The “Todd Farm ” of Iceland is held indoors in a warehouse by the wharf. If I was going to buy a sweater, it would be in this “inside yard sale” as the guide described it. I didn’t need the latest Lopi from the downtown galleries, though they are beautiful! I took the bus from Hafnarfjordur and found my way to the market that matched the image that I had in my mind and rewarded my effort. I bought a sweater from a woman who knits from Hafnarfjordur and purchased smoked salmon, rye and potato bread for well below the prices in the market. It was fun to see the variety of people who rummaged through used clothing, furnishings and such. There were new shoes and leggings, underwear and jewelry. Bargains and a chance to see another side of Iceland!

Afterwords I found my way to the National Gallery and enjoyed the design of the building, but not the work on display. Svava had a show of her work that was a surprise to find in the second floor of a charming gallery at the center of the shopping district. The artfully renovated old workshop was the scale of the traditional houses that I see on the streets near where I am staying. Clean lines and uncluttered, it is just enough for the simple life of a small family or a brief gallery space. Svava’s quilts were rich with beautiful layers of color and lit up the room.

The rest of my city tour was in circles. If I asked for directions, I got farther from my intended museum destination. The map was more helpful, but the names of the streets are all at least fifteen letters long and look much the same. After more than an hour of seeing the neighborhoods of Reykjavik and not the museums, I headed back to the bus stop where I began. It would seem that the return trip would be just the reverse of the ride in; but it was much more tricky than that. Fortunately I had better luck with directions from a group of three women, who walked me to the stop that would make the trip straight back to Hafnarfjordur and end my wandering for today.

On one of my outings, I stopped in to see a gallery that is just beyond the bakery. There I met an artist named Svava who does just about everything; painting, quilting, textiles and hat making. Her strategy is to create enough accessible work to support the rent and make a small salary. It was inspiring to see her many interests, talent and her determination to make art making work as a business. Since arriving in Iceland, I have been reminded of the way in which Scandinavian artists make everyday choices artfully. This was something that was an influence to me in college when I decided to weave and knit. Using color in a grid pattern that could become a wearable item seemed very practical then. It is interesting to revisit ideas that I was attracted to years ago and see them again from a new perspective. I don’t long to weave or knit, but if it stays cold for too much longer, maybe I will reconsider.