Watercolor Show Window View

Watercolor Show
Window View

on a rainy day, looking out the gallery window at the Reykjavik and Beyond watercolor exhibition in Reykjavik on June 21, 2022, painted June 23, 2022, 8" x 10" (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.
$300.

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Bonus Photo Essay
Rainy Day Views from
an Art Gallery Window

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Photos taken from the widow views
looking down, out at  the street, Skólavörðustígur, from
the  Reykjavik and Beyond Art Gallery Exhibition
on the second floor, above, on a rainy
afternoon in Reykjavik,
June 21, 2022

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Heiðmörk Sun Reflection

Heiðmörk Sun Reflection

with the Lupines at the Heiðmörk conservation preserve in Reykjavik, painted plein air with Óskar Thorarensen, painting in the Beyond, on June 10, 2022, painted June 18, 2022, 5" 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 rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$150

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Bonus Art and More...

Óskar Painting Plein Air

Óskar Thorarensen at the Heiðmörk conservation preserve in Reykjavik, painting plein air June 10, 2022, painted June 18, 2022, 5" 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 rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$150

On June 10, 2022, Óskar and I painted beyond plein air at Reykjavik's Heiðmörk Natural Preserve, where more than 4,000,000 trees of 26 species have been planted since 1950, the most prominent the Sitka spruce.

Heiðmörk I
Óskar Thorarensen
Gouache on sketchbook paper,
3.5" x 2.5" / 9 cm x 6 cm (w x h),
Plein air, June 10, 2022

Heiðmörk II
Óskar Thorarensen
Gouache on sketchbook paper,
3.5" x 2.5" / 9 cm x 6 cm (w x h),
Plein air, June 10, 2022

Down to the Iceland Sea

Down to the Iceland Sea

looking down from an east coast cliff on Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland on June 15, 2022, painted June 17, 2022, 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,
$150

Stóri Dímon Clearing

Stóri Dímon Clearing

sky after a rainy start to the day along the south coast of Iceland, on June 14, 2022, painted nearby on June 15, 2022, 12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed
$300

Rainy Day Syðsta Mörk Greens

Rainy Day Syðsta Mörk
Greens Study 1

The view from Óli and Bína's summer house in south Iceland, with the thin clouds of our planet's north, painted plein air June 13, 2022, 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. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed
$300 USD

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Photo by Bruce McMillan of the waterfall, Seljalandsfoss, in south Iceland
as is makes a rainbow on June 4, 2022.

On Painting Water Color Green
by Bruce McMillan

Water falls on
watercolors,
as one paints with
a rainbow of

color, yet not
any green in
this palette for
yellow, we love,

mixing with blue,
wet on wet, or
wet over dry,
different hues

of blues, they flow,
well-watered, to
rich growing greens
that one pursues.

Text, photo, and watercolor art © 2022 Bruce McMillan

Greens in Jóhann Briem Paintings

Greens in Jóhann Briem Paintings
A visual essay on green and Icelandic artist Jóhann Briem's (1907-1991) painted greens using his oil paints.

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Börn að leik / Children Playing
Laugarnesskóli / Laugarnes School, Grades 1-6
For many years, Jóhann was a drawing teacher at Gagnfræðaskóli Reykjavíkur, later Gagnfræðaskóli Vesturbæjar, as well as the elementary school, Laugarnesskóli, where this painting of children playing hangs today.

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Þrjár kusur
Oil on canvas, 37" x 35" (w x h)
Gallerí Fold 12/20/2019 auction: 3,510,000 ISK

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As early as 1936, Jóhann Briem created a solid, personal style with substantial, harmonious colors, where color dominates rather than drawing.

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Jóhann took his subject matter from Icelandic rural culture and human life, focusing on the countryside, animals, humans in front of nature, and tales.

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His colors got stronger, the shapes distinguished by his emphasizing the colors.

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Liggjandi kálfur / Lying calf
37" x 37" (w x h), 1965,
Listasafni Íslands / National Gallery of Iceland
Gift of the artist

Jóhann first studied art with the brother of noted painter Ásgrímur Jónsson, painter Jón Jónsson. In 1929 he went to Germany, where many Icelanders studied art at this time. Foreign currency was in demand in Germany. People survived on little.

Jóhann stayed in Dresden until 1934, where he married his first wife. He studied at the Akademie Simonson-Castelli and then at the Staatliche Kunstakademie. He developed poetic expressionism, combining a warm color scheme, simple imagery and a vivid brushstroke in images, his subject often of animals and people in nature.

When he returned home, Jóhann taught art, first at a private school he ran with Finnur Jónsson from 1934 to 1940.

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Tré í grænni brekku / Trees on a Green Slope
Oil on canvas, 28" x 22" (w x h), 1960
Reykjavik Art Museum

A retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the National Gallery of Iceland in 1977 on his 70th birthday.

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Gallerí Fold 12/19/2016 auction

In his human and animal images, he often appeals to the experience of lonely creatures facing nature.

Bibliography: Article in the Icelandic March 8, 2007 newspaper Visir.

Reykjavik Lupines, Reykjavik Walk

Reykjavik Lupines, Reykjavik Walk

along the triangle bridges walkway on June 7, 2022, painted June 8, 2022, 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.
$150 USD

I painted with the artist Gunnar Valur Atlason...

Woman with Purple Hair
Gunnar Valur Atlason, Icelandic
Watercolor on paper, 7" x 5", 2022

Bruce and Gunnar Painting
photo by Rannveig Rós Ólafsdóttir

The Artist Gunnar Valur Atlason

Collection of the Artist, Gunnar Valur Atlason
framing with glass and matt from
Góða hirðisins (The Good Shepherd)

 

Midnight on the South Coast

Midnight on the South Coast

of Iceland, looking east, by the islands of Vestmannaeyjar, on June 4, painted at Syðsta Mörk on June 6, 2022, 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. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed
$300

Dandelions and Lupines...

Dandelions and Lupines
Uplifting in Reykjavik

along the walkways, these in an empty parking dirt parking lot, painted June 1, 2022, 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.
$150

June 1st arrives...

June 1st arrives
at 8° C in Reykjavik

looking across the harbor at Viðey island and Mount Esja, painted June 1, 2022, 10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed,
$300