The Ice Queen in Iceland

last day in Iceland

2008-09-29T10:03:00.001-07:00

Today is my last day in Iceland. I arrived yesterday in Reyjavik, and I stayed at the Sim house (Sim is the association of visual arts in iceland) in Seljavegur where other art residents have spent the month. There is a great atmosphere here and yesterday we all went to the local swimming pool, with naturally hot water and hot pots all outdoors, it was really relaxing. Today I visited the city in more depth, its a really exciting place, with lots of shopping to do and museums and galleries. In a bit I will go down to the harbour and have some lobster soup. Then tomorrow morning Im taking the bus to the airport which stops at the Blue Lagoon for one last relaxing swim before take-off!
I really enjoyed my month in Iceland, and am without a doubt coming back next year, I would like to try May when the sun never sets. If anyone is reading this and thinking about visiting Iceland or doing a residency, think no more, you will have no regrets. Its just brilliant here. Im looking forward to home and seeing my friends and family tomorrow.
Thanks for reading my blog. Till next year ...

Grettislaug

2008-09-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Here are photos from the lovely invigorating swim that Grettislaug was. It was really in the middle of nowhere, at the end of a very rough and long dirt road. The sort of place you would never just chance upon. It was a really enjoyable experience, to have the cold wind blowing in your hair while youre stewing in hot water. Parts of the pool are even boiling and you have to be careful, they regularly have to top up the natural thermal water with cold water to achieve the right temperature. Its the last week of my stay so it was about time I got into some water, as it is said by all icelanders that you havent really been to Iceland if you have not been in a pool! Better late than never. The concert was good too. We stopped for an inevitable hot dog at the even more inevitable petrol station, then drove to the High School where Megas was playing. Its a shame I speak no Icelandic, or even understand it for that matter, because clearly the music was all about the ironic (or so they seemed, from the laughs drawn out of the happy audience) and witty lyrics. There was a interval where some young Icelanders from the school played some music, and I was really impressed by their standard. They were in their early twenties, but their musical maturity was beyond their age. I thought about a concert of Olafur Arnald I saw in Hollywell Music Room in Oxford, a young Icelandic musical genius, and realised that Icelanders are very humble. They are quietly very good at what they do. I guess maybe it has to do with Iceland being a relatively small country, and the musical scene being smaller still, that the meaning of stardom or fame is put in perspective. Its a really refreshing attitude, compared to the Uk where charisma and attitude seem to have as much of a part to play as musical ability. Anyway. Enough rambling. I packed my paints and posted them back home today, and the air in Skagastrond has aromas of farewells and departures. I included a pic of the invitation / flyer for our open studio affair on Saturday. The end is near...

the last 100 metres

2008-09-24T08:57:00.001-07:00

So...thats it. The last painting. I wont be able to do more before Sunday as it needs to be dry for transport. Here is the shot with all of them. I might be making some drawings etc but tonight its the concert and I shall be posting shots of that and of the thermal swim. The name of this natural hot spring is Grettislau, which apparently comes from an Icelandic legend. Grettis was an outlaw, exiled on an island opposite the hot spring, and he swam accross to steal some embers for his fire which had gone out. He was found cold and passed out, naked on the shore by the two local girls who commented on the small size of his attributes. Apparently, swimming in the hot spring sorted that out for him, or so says the TimeOut guide to Iceland. So anyway, its a man-made pool, but a very old one made of stones. Looking forward to it. Sunday I am leaving for Reykjavik where I will spend two nights before flying back to Blighty. I intend to go to the Flea Market, eat some whale skewers and lobster soup, and make a trip to the Blue Lagoon. And do galleries. And shopping. I forgot to mention I bought some horse meat last week. Icelanders eat horse meat, although its not so common, and there was some at the local supermarket, so I gave it a try. I am French, so Ive eaten horse before, and Im very fond of it, so I was looking forward to it, but the Icelandic horses are left in the mountains free to roam for 6 months of the year, and so the meat was SO strong and tasted nothing like I was used to. Im a very enthusiastic meat-eater, but I must say this tested my limits. Venison is for beginers compared to this! I ate some of it, but I cant say Ill be cooking it again anytime soon. They actually boil the meat here, they dont pan-fry it or grill it like a steak. So, bring on the rotten shark (the other icelandic specialty) and the puffins!

2008-09-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hello. Its been a while since I posted anything, as Ive frankly not been up to much. Had enough painting for a while, so only just got painting again today. Here is my latest painting. Although it is not meant to be read very figuratively, its of the upside down house that was blown away by the wind in a deserted valley. The weather has been pretty awful since the storm last week, which was in fact the follow-up from hurricane Ike. The wind has made it hard to get out of the house at all, and the studio is pretty chilly. For tomorrow, we have planned a trip to Saudurkrokur to go to a local hot spring for a swim, then to a concert by Megas. He is a kind of Icelandic star, poet/singer on the mad side, so it should be really interesting. more anon...

2008-09-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

Hi. Just a quick late night post to show you my latest discovery: these are cake plates from the local shop. The cake obsession is a real icelandic thing, so its quite suited really. Im loving the gold

2008-09-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Yesterday afternoon a man came to the studio and warned us about a storm to be coming over Skagastron in the night. He actually asked us to take the heavy picnic wooden tables inside, in case they blew over! Sure enough, the wind was really strong, and all I could hear last night was the noise of things being blown down the streets, the doors rattling and the rain hitting the windows. This morning all the windows were covered in a layer of sea salt! And the wind has not diminished at all, it's really difficult to even walk in a straight line. Ive never experienced anything like it. Other than that, here are pics of the two last paintings ive been working on. I hope the weather gets better, its not doing much for my mood...

shelves and horses

2008-09-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Sorry Ive been out of touch for a few days, Ive been busy doing not much. I went to a horse round-up on Saturday, its actually the second biggest horse round-up in Iceland and the television crews turned up with their cameras. It was really impressive, with huge amounts of horses running down the mountain. There were hot dogs, a lot of drinking, and Icelandic music was sung by the people. It was a very heart warming experience all in all. It took all day and my ears are still hurting from the wind. In fact the wind is really becoming super strong these days. Yesterday I had to get off my bike, because I wasnt really moving forward at all on it against the wind. It evens blows your breath away before you can catch it. Its driving me insane. Anyway, while we were at the horse round-up we drove up to a desolate farmhouse deserted by its inhabitants, it was kind of eerie. There was even a house upside down, blown by the wind. The red patches on the mountain are blueberries.
Then sunday was sleeping and laundry day so I did absolutely nothing. I had been thinking and wondering about how to put my work up for the open studio which will happen on friday 26th. The walls are concrete and in any case it seemed rather unecessary to put a massive plug in the wall for a light board the size of a comic book. So I am quite pleased with myself today as I wrestled with a giant board outside in gale force winds and managed to detach the metal edge off it. And I turned it into a shelf! I know it sounds like nothing, but for ME, its a lot...
It looks good actually, I have left the rusty nails on it etc so that it remains an object instead of a shelve. Im really relieved to have sorted that out now instead of running around like a headless chicken in ten days. Now I can bear it in my mind while doing the rest of the paintings, and think all the while about how many, in what order, on top or next to, over or under, even or uneven, sequences etc. I always think the way you put your painting up creates 50% of the work. Painting is really very 3 dimentional. At the moment I like them close together and the accidental meetings of line and colours that provokes. Tomorrow I shall do some more painting. Today I even found some nutella at the shop. AND there was a rainbow on my way home. These good omens can only mean that my shelf is good news... Speak soon x

more work

2008-09-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hello there. As you can see the weather has been a bit overcast here recently. The wind is unbelievably strong and keeps me awake at night! So I have mostly stayed in the studio (you can see it in the photos) and tried to make some paintings. The main highlight of the day was eating a hot dog with mustard at the petrol station, watching the rain fall against the window panes. Ive taken some shots of the local church. Here, they either have cute wooden churches or concrete modern ones. I prefer the concrete one. Its weather proof.
Ive put up the last work Ive done, and better pictures of the stuff I made the other day...
There isnt much more to say for now...
until later x

2 first paintings

2008-09-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

So, Ive been working away and struggling to paint vast landscapes on boards of 10 by 12 inches and less. Ive been trying to avoid the obvious which is hard with the beauty of the nature here. I think I am interested in painting without painting, so to speak, using brush marks rather than brush strokes. I want to rely on intuition rather than true reproduction.
What I would like to achieve eventually is translating visual items by brush marks, so that the way the mark feels translates as what it should represent. Something like that. Painting as problem solving. To be honest it has been such a long time since I last painted that Im doing the thinking retrospectively. Nuff said.
Apologies for the bad image quality, Ive been reduced to cropping etc with iphoto as I dont have photoshop on my laptop. We are planning on having an open studio on Friday 26th of September for the village of Skagastrond, so Id better get moving and make some good work. It feels so great to get up in the morning and only have painting to do. What a luxury!
Other than that, Ive made the discovery of lamp oil. As there is no white spirit of linseed oil available around here, Hrafnhildur (the woman in charge of the residency) tipped me on using lamp oil. Her mother has been using it for years and apparently its great. Its what Ive used for these two oil paintings, and so far its pretty cool. It makes oil painting as easy as water colour. Basically you dont need to mix it with white spirit, you just use it on its own, and then you also use it to clean the brushes. I was very sceptical, but its great! It dries the same as usual, and there are no fumes. I dare not look at the contents, my work will probably fall to pieces in two days... If it works out though, I definitely will not go back to white spirit. Long live painting without headaches....
Thats it for today. xxxx

room with a view

2008-09-07T15:00:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone. Sorry Ive been out of touch but its all been very busy recently. I went on an excursion yesterday, from 8 am to 2 am, so a pretty long day, but well worth it. I recommend to anyone going to Iceland to have an excursion budget, as it's well worth investing some money to get a good guide in a good vehicle who knows where he's going. Renting a car and going around yourself is also a good option and cheaper, but if time is of the essence, you just can't beat local knowledge. In one day therefore, we (there were four of us) went to Akureyi (where I spotted a whale), then to godafoss (a waterfall of about 18 meters), to lake Myvatn, and all the way to the Askja volcano, where you can see a warm lake inside a crater. In between we stopped to see hot spots smoking away and smelling of rotten eggs, and a whole field of rising lava which once used to be a lake until there was an eruption in the heart of it. To get to Akjva you must drive for hours through miles and miles of just lava, and this is where the guide gets handy as you sometimes have to drive through a river to continue. This is where the Americans sent their astronauts to train for their time on the moon, to get used to the lunar landscape. So yes, it was all absolutely mind blowingly beautiful trip and well worthe very penny! Akjva is 450 kilometres from Skagastrond, so thats a LOT of travelling in one day. I had only just woken up today when the other people on my residency suggested climbing a nearby mountain. We set out at 2pm and got back at 7.30pm, and thats all walking time! This mountain is a nightmare to climb as its all rocks and moss pretty much, and because there was no beaten path as of yet, just the stakes to mark it out. It was pretty treacherous on the way up but the top, as we had been promised, is completely flat. It was so beautiful and weird, because the top is only moss, its like someone has carpeted it. Green and white moss all over, completely flat, with stunning views. I layed on it, it was really like a mattress. Sorry for the photo overload, but im getting my paints tomorrow (hopefully) so that will keep me away from the camera! see you later x

vegetarians look away

2008-09-04T09:13:00.001-07:00

So, after yesterday's doubts and initial culture shock, I'm settling in to my new world and had a fantastic day today. We drove a half hour north of Skagastrond where there is a cliff stretching for 15km. A river also meets the ocean there in an impressive cascade. At the point of the peninsula there is a lighthouse. There are still remnants of buildings around it. There was a village there until the 1930s. We even caught sight of a couple of seals, too far for a good picture although there is a photo on which the black dot in the sea is in fact a seal. The formations you can see on the rocks are natural. Something to do with the components of Lava and erosion or something. ANYWAY... its beautiful.
Later in the afternoon we went to a nearby factory which produces leather out of fish skin. No, really! It was a really interesting place actually. They do both lamb leather and fish leather. You can see the pictures , with the remaining blood on the sheep skins as it is currently slaughtering season. You can also see the tanks where they prepare the fish skins, and then the dried, soft, finished versions at the end of the process. They sell worldwide (they are called atlantic leather) and for high end fashion brands such as Armani etc, they even do trainers in fish skin for nike. Its really a good idea because all the fish skins go to waste so its much sustainable and ethical than other exotic leathers like snake or crocodile.
I finished the day with a very expensive trip down the shop for fruits and vegetables.
so long x

Wednesday 3rd September 2008

2008-09-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

I have finally arrived to Skagastrond after a lengthy bus journey. At the moment I am not sure what I can say other than "its going to be an experience". Lets just say it's pretty desolate, there are not many houses, and it really is in the middle of nowhere. It's almost hard to remember being in Reykjavik this morning, it seems like another country.
I checked out the local supermarket and for all the talk of there being no fruit and veg, they had salad in packets, berries, and even mangoes!
The studio is nice and spacious, its is in an old fish factory. What used to be the freezer is used for exhibitions. I have already taken a few photos and I am anxious to start painting.
My legendary organisational skills have let me down once again as I am here without paint. Yes with-out-paint. Basically when I closed my suitcase, I realised I couldnt lift it. The oil paints alone and my tripod weighed in at 15kg. So I left without the stuff, my parents are sending it to me with parcel force, god bless them. So I'm not feeling like Ive achieved the bold gesture of independence I was going for, but what the hell! Im here now, and my paints will arrive on Monday. I hope. So, treats for the eye, here are some photos of Skagastrond.