Exuberant Þórdís in Akureyri

Exuberant Þórdís in Akureyri

Young energetic five-year-old Þórdís
Lára Atladóttir, Miss Personality, "walking"
Hafnarstræti, the main street in Akureyri, while holding
the hand of her grandfather, Ólafur "Óli" Ólafsson
on July 31, 2018, painted on August 29, 2018
12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano
Artistico cold press fine grain 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
NFS (not for sale)

Across the Street

Across the Street

Langholtsvegur in Reykjavik 104
on August 4, painted on August 25, 2018
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano
Artistico cold press fine grain 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
framed, $100 + $5.50 sales tax + $9.50 shipping = $115.00

Glacial Streaming Bridged

Glacial Streaming Bridged

at the summerhouse private road at Syðsta Mörk, Iceland on
the south coast from the glacier Eyjafjallajökull, over the volcano
that blew in 2010 and stopped all air traffic to Europe,
photographed on August 4, 2018, painted on August 23, 2018
10" x 7" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb.
Arches cold press fine grain 100% cotton watercolor paper
framed, including tax and shipping, $160

Flight Light

Flight Light

over a New England sunset
on a flight from Iceland to Boston
on August 20, painted on August 21, 2018
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano
Artistico cold press fine grain 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
Private Collection, Switzerland

Low Tide Low Clouds...

Low Tide Low Clouds
at Seltjarnarness

by and over the Grótta Island lighthouse  in Seltjarnarness, Iceland
on a cloudy Sunday afternoon painted plein air on August 19, 2018
10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb. Arches
cold press fine grain 100% cotton watercolor paper
framed, including tax and shipping $240

Plein Air Painting Buddy

1
Low tide at my Grótta Island lighthouse
Seltjarnarness painting rock spot,
next to me is Óskar

 

2
My Icelandic good friend and watercolor
painting buddy in Maine and Iceland,
the fine watercolor painter
Óskar Thorarensen

3
Óskar's palette

4
Óskar painting in his sketchbook,
on this cool cloudy overcast day,
in not the most comfortable location

5
Wow, look at Óskar's masterful sketch
of Grótta Island lighthouse.

6

Sunset two nights previous

To Eat an SS Pylsur Hot Dog

To Eat an SS Pylsur
Hot Dog

at Iceland's noted oldest hot dog stand,
Bæjarins beztu pylsur (Bæjarins Best Hot Dog),
located in downtown Reykjavik, at its temporary
location across the street while the city
builds around it, and which even has it's own
website English HERE, Icelandic (more photos) HERE
on August 10, painted on August 18, 2018
11" x 7" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano
Artistico cold press fine grain 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
framed, including tax and shipping $250

A Bus on Suðurgata
by Bruce McMillan

City night, spots of
dots of light, bus at stoplight,
people going, gone.

© 2018 Bruce McMillan

Shadows and Reflections
around Iceland with my Icelandic friends
the last three weeks this 2018 Summer
- in nontraditional solo selfies -

1
On top of a hill in the south at Syðsta Mörk
trying, unsuccessfully, to paint a
watercolor in the wind

2
Fishing in the north on the Skjálfandafljót,
where I caught an Arctic Char

3
By the family barn at Syðsta Mörk
where we had the best wedding,
Rannveig and Atli, in 2014

4
In the museum at Kjarvalsstaðir in Reykjavík,
the museum's website HERE

5
In the old harbor of Reykjavík reflecting
in the EVE Monument from CCP Games, an online
science fiction game, about the game Wiki HERE.
Standing over fifteen feet tall, the monument
consists of three differently shaped spires, two
made of stone flanking a shining metal center
pillar. The game was created Reykjavik.

6
An evening barbecue on the deck in Syðsta Mörk,
Bína's shadow, left, while Óli grills, and both
my reflection and shadow in the window.

7
Walking along Nýlendug in Reykjavik,
from the grassy Þúfa sculpture to Erna's home.

8
At the National Gallery of Iceland HERE,
captured on the display in the
video gallery downstairs.

Snow in Summer Mountains

 Snow in Summer Mountains

seen from the valley looking east on road to
Hvalvatnsfjörður in the far north of Iceland above
Akureyri on August 2, 2018, painted on August 14, 2018
12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
permanence, and #3 graphite on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold
press fine grain 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
framed, including tax and shipping $280
 
Art of the Icelandic Landscape
National Art Treasures - To the Mountains
 
I had the good fortune to see the following paintings at two art museums in Iceland on August 13 and 14, 2018 at Kjarvalsstaðir HERE and the National Gallery HERE.
 

1
Sumarnótt / Summer Night
Jón Stefánsson (1881-1962)
Jón Stefánsson was Iceland's first modern landscape artist and one of the founders of modern art in Iceland. He spent three years studying engineering in Copenhagen, Denmark before turning to art. He studied art on Copenhagen and then Paris. He studied with Matisse, but it was Paul Cezanne work which led to his thoughtful composition and strong forms in his paintings of Icelandic nature. In Summer Night, perhaps Iceland's most iconic and well-known painting, Jon Stefánsson paints the quiet light of an Icelandic summer night, calm and serene. A single mountain, displayed in the center, is a recurring element of his art.

2
Án titils / Untitled, 1995
Eiríkur Smith Finnbogason (1925-2016)
Known as Eiríkur Smith, he's from Hafnarfjörður. He had to work so he didn't attend secondary school, his family could not afford to lose him as an employer. However, in the evening during the winter of 1939-1940 studied with painters Finn Jónsson and Jóhann Briem. After years of working, from 1946 to 1948 he studied at the Icelandic Art and Crafts School. Jóhann Briem was one of his teachers. In the summer of 1948, Eric held his first show Hafnarfjörður, works in oil, watercolor and chalk, of houses, ships at the pier and flowers, selling sixty paintings at low prices. It was enough to get him to Copenhagen where that fall he began his studies with his friend Benedikt Gunnarsson. In 1950, school completed, he and Benedict went to Paris, Spain, North Africa, and back to Iceland in the summer 1951. Eric painted abstract images based on shapes and surfaces in pure color. Then his style changed, the shapes more liberal. From the 1960s his paintings were painted with broad brush strokes depicting nature. In the 1970s he painted images of people and terrain with great precision. His hometown museum had held many exhibitions of his work, chronicling his career.

3
Moldarbarð / Soil's Edge
Jóhannes Sveinsson Kjarval (1885-1962)
Jóhannes Kjarval is one of the most important artists of Iceland, the country's Picasso. He is depicted on the Icelandic 2000 króna bill. A prolific painter, his paintings vary in style, mixing different styles into a very personal style. Some of his works include absurd and symbolic elements, elves and myths in landscapes. Many of his works include Icelandic landscape and lava formations. Yet many of his landscape paintings are cubist and abstract, his focus on the close ground, not the impressive mountains. Born in poverty, he was adopted. He first worked as a fisherman. But the spent all of his spare time drawing and painting, learning from noted artist Ásgrímur Jónsson. At twenty-seven, with financial support from fishermen and the Icelandic Confederation of Labor, he passed an entrance exam admitting him to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where he completed his studies. He studied various styles, impressionism, expressionism and cubism, while becoming an accomplished drawer, which all served him well during his long, prolific, artistic life.

4
Snæfellsjökull / Snæfells Glacier
Júlíana Sveinsdóttir (1889-1966)
Júlíana Sveinsdóttir, one of Iceland's first female painters and textile artists, was also the first female artist to have a painting acquired by the National Gallery of Iceland. She studied with the prominent Icelandic artist Þórarinn B. Þorláksson, before moving to Denmark, returning to Iceland for summers. Her summers inspired her landscape paintings. In 1947, a her landscape won the Eckersberg Medal. She was an early member of the Danish Female Artists' Society, and sat on the board of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Though best known for her painting, Sveinsdóttir, was also a noted textile artist, one commission a decorative rug for the Supreme Court in Copenhagen.

5
Hálendi / Highlands, 1966
Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir Ream (1927-1977)
Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir Ream went to the US at the beginning of World War II with artist Louise Matthíasdóttir, who was going to New York to study art. It was ironical because Ragnheiður, not inclined toward art, worked at the Icelandic Embassy in Washington. She met Donald Forest Ream, a physicist, who she married. In her thirties, she developed an interest in painting, going to evening classes and then, for two years, a daily school for amateurs. Then she studied at the American Academy of Art in Washington for five years, 1954- 1959, her main influences being Mark Rothko and Richard Diebenkorn. Her painting career included major exhibitions but was only a mere ten years, from her first show in Iceland until her death in 1977.

6
Hrímþoka á fjöllum / Ice Mist in the Mountains, 1953
Guðmundur Einarrson,
known as Guðmundur frá Miðdal (1895-1063)
Guðmundur Einarrson was a draftsman, graphic artist, painter, sculptor, photographer, movie maker, author and mountaineer. He had exhibitions in Norway, Germany, and in London at the Tate Gallery. He'd studied art in Iceland 1911-13 and 1916, in Copenhagen, 1919-20 and Munich, Germany, 1920-25, studying graphics, oil painting, sculpture and ceramics. He was a pioneer of etchings and ceramics in Iceland. Of his five children, two of his sons are known Icelanders, the artist Erró and the geologist Ari Trausti Guðmundsson.

A Sampler of my Icelandic Mountain Watercolors
 

7
Memories of Herðubreið, 2016, HERE
 

8
Herðubreið Under Fair Weather Clouds, 2018, HERE
 

9
1,432 Meters of Loðmundur, 2015, HERE
 

10
Skessuhorn Study II, 2016, HERE
 

11
Below the Langjökull Glacier, 2018, HERE
 

12
Looking up the Valley
Sheep Looking Down the Valley at You
photographed on August 2, 2018, on F 839 to Hvalvatnsfjörður, a short, shallow fjord located on the peninsula between Eyjafjörður and Skjálfandaflói.

Glacial Stream, Hay Bales...

Glacial Stream, Hay Bales,
Stóri Dímon

on August 0, 2018, painted on August 10, 2018
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano
Artistico cold press fine grain 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
framed, $100 + $5.50 sales tax + $9.50 shipping = $115.00

Across the Glacial River

Across the Glacial River

Skjálfandafljót in northern Iceland,
where we fished on August 1, 2018, painted on August 3, 2018
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano
Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
framed, $100 + $5.50 sales tax + $9.50 shipping = $115.00

Flowing to See
 

The weight of the past, hundreds of
years of massive ice, scrapes bottom,
rock pulverized to glacial till,
mixing with melting ice, flowing
into a river and over
many waterfalls, as pleasing
gray colors, on the way to the
ocean are met by clean, clear, pure,
mountain rainwater, creating
an edge of cobalt green color,
together on their journey to
embrace the waiting Atlantic.

© 2018 Bruce McMillan

 

Ring Road East to Akureyri

Ring Road East
to Akureyri

with a view of the fjord, Eyjafjörður, painted on August 2, 2018
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano
Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
framed, $100 + $5.50 sales tax + $9.50 shipping = $115.00

Why do you paint from photos too?
Sometimes it's the only way as you fly by.
(The watercolor reference photo
taken a moment before.)

Coffee with My Friends

Coffee with My Friends

Steinþóra Vilhelmsdóttir (Bína's sister)
and Atli Benediktsson (Steinþóra's husband)
on July 31, 2018, painted on August 2, 2018
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and
Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and
permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano
Artistico cold press fine grain 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper
GIFT to my friends

We stopped by again as we passed through Akureyri on August 3rd to deliver the gift.

One week in their new Akureyri apartment,
and already a new painting to hang.
 

The retiring couple.
 

I liked this tea cozy so much 

it jumped onto the painting.
 

Also on their wall, one of the few painting 

up so far, a watercolor commission
by Sigurjón Jóhannsson (1939-), 

which includes the fellow in blue 

mending nets in Siglufjörður, 

Steinþóra's father, Vilhelm