Saturday, July 30, 2016

Siuslaw Study - Iceland

                                                              Siuslaw Study watermedia on Yupo 12x9


 Driving home from Coos Bay a couple of weeks ago, we stopped along a road in Appleton to get a good look at the Siuslaw River. It was flowing quietly in the evening light and the riverbank was in full summer flush.

 Iceland delivered! The beauty was everywhere, ridiculously casual! The most astounding sights breezed past our moving car. We took many photos while in motion because there were very few places where the road was wide enough to pull over. This was one of those;




 Just a farm with a waterfall and canyon in the backyard.





Another.
Many places were quite similar to New Mexico but with even less people. The place was immaculate too. No litter, billboards, crappy tourist attractions, or distractions of any kind other than the extraordinary landscape. The smallest waterways were lush with healthy vegetation;




 Art Travel booked us into a remarkable place called Solheimar, the oldest intentional community on earth. It was our base as we explored the South.
Word to the wise, get Icelandic made GPS if at all possible. We had two that often proved worthless. The small, tasteful roadsigns were barely legible so maps became much more necessary. Although  everyone graciously speaks English, the language is still ball busting. With seven extra letters, the pronunciation of anything is an embarrassing guess. John was making some headway, he loves languages, but Icelandic is a tough nut. Place names are naturally in the mother tongue, and that makes talking about them very difficult. But with lots of stops to confer with the locals, we found our destinations. Gjian was one of them. In dusty terrain that could have been Utah, one tiny sign directed us to this extravagant oasis;











 So over the top magical, it reminded me of a hippie, back to the earth poster from the sixties. BTW, you pronounce it gal-win. It wasn`t easy to find and    Fjaorgliufur wasn`t either;










 Even though I was there less than a week ago, it`s hard to believe something so completely fantastical exists. Look at those curves!
We also saw some of the more famous sites too, such as Gullfoss;




 Although geothermal activity was visible with steaming fumaroles throughout the landscape, there were also concentrations of features like at Yellowstone.







Now being so far north, the day stretched on endlessly. As a night owl who wishes he could be a morning person, the vast daylight was a total luxury. One can go visit Geysir at 11 pm! or 2 am! Plenty of light in July and no tour busses then! Sunset at midnight is a beautiful thing!


 Not much artwork was made except for I-pad doodles drawn on the plane or in downtime;
















5 comments:

Libby Fife said...

Randall,

I have never seen anything like this landscape. Incredible and evidently, as you described, it's everywhere. I know nothing about Iceland though so am at a bit of a loss. Is the country incredibly developed in other places? I can't get over the color of the dirt in that last shot either.

Not sure I could have managed any sketching in the face of all that beauty. It certainly sounds like an adventure. I am glad that you were able to do it.

Good to be back home, I am sure. Great post, thank you!
Libby

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

What a beautiful trip you had to Iceland. It looks like an untouched landscape, primitive and wondrous. Traveling to Iceland to fill your tank during the summer, your least favorite season. Brilliant!

Jennifer Rose said...

I need to go to Iceland, looks gorgeous! and love seeing all the water

E.M. Corsa said...

Wow. It's gorgeous though not what I expected. Hope you took lots of pics and did lots of sketches with your tablet thingy. My friends, Ted and Todd, went there fairly recently and loved it. In fact, Ted was just here today for a visit and I showed him these pics!

Gary L. Everest said...

Welcome Home Randall,
I must've had a "lost time" experience. Seems like I just read your post asking for stuff to do while at JFK! Visiting your blog today blew me away! What great photos of a most beautiful and intriguing landscape.
I can only imagine the painting binge you must be on as I type this. Put a few more lamps in your studio and you'll, no doubt, be working for two or three days straight. Those photos would probably sell very well as prints, too.
So happy you were able to fulfill a dream visit like this. Not only natural beauty to be in, but endless possibilities for paintings, as well. The world will be waiting to see what you do with all this superb material, including me!!
Congratulations and have a great tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Gary