#72 Thingvellir Valley, a pen and ink drawing

One of the last days of my 2017 visit to Iceland, I was traveling with my dear friend Zuzana to Thingvellir, the site of Europe's first Parliament in 963. It is a broad valley in the south of Iceland with sufficient water and grassy lands for folks to gather and find what they needed to stay a while. It also has the most interesting rock faces which were formed by earthquakes and the movement of tectonic plates.  I don't know enough geology to be able to begin to explain what happened, but each time I visit there, I am enthralled by the walls of rock. They are 20'-30' tall, bereft of life other than a plant or two sometimes growing out of the crevices. They're imposing, silent witnesses to all that has happened there. Laws were created; justice was meted out - sometimes cruelly as from the hanging rock or the drowning pool; alliances were formed; couples were coupled; horses and sheep were traded. In more recent times, Icelanders have gathered there to celebrate freedom from Denmark and other important hallmarks.

Tons of tourists go there because it is relatively close to Reykjavik and is part of the "Golden Circle" trio of sites: Thingvellir, Geysir, and Gullfoss (a waterfall). It is where the European and North American continents meet - you can even scuba dive at Silfra, the rift between the continents. There's a place you can touch both continents at once! The water is so clear there, it's disconcerting even to experienced divers.  And cold!  The water that feeds it is glacial, so you have to wear the right diving suit, etc., to have that experience!

When I go to Thingvellir, I tune in to a most remarkable energy that makes me feel really good. It emanates from the ground and swoops through me. I gather inspiration and a feeling that all is right with the world from it. I visit there each time I am in Iceland to experience the energy and even chose to stay on the lake one year for 18 days to have more time there.

The picture I created here is from a part of Thingvellir National Park where there aren't so many tourists. The rift valley seems to extend forever, and I can well imagine horsemen arriving from the North for the annual gathering at Thingvellir. I'm guessing it looks very much now like it did over 1000 years ago.

#72 Thingvellir Valley
pen and ink
11"x8"

My impetus for creating that picture was Paul Landacre's woodcuts. I saw them on Pinterest and wanted to try to create something similar. In drawing my piece, I learned just how difficult it is to simplify the landscape as beautifully as Landacre did. I plan to keep trying, but my marks became much more detailed, not as general. I really like his work and want to learn what I can from it. I find it very helpful to try to copy art by artists I admire - I learn a lot from their style and methods of working and eventually incorporate it into my own work, or at least have a sense of their strokes in my own fingers as I work.

Monterey Hills
by Paul Landacre
woodcut

#21-28 of 100 Creations in 100 Days: Visual Journal Explorations

#21

#23 from a fabric design by Knoll 

#21-24 are images I drew/copied from artwork I found on Pinterest.  I am drawn to patterns and lines and Zentangles and these were variations on those.  Eventually I'll incorporate more lines and patterns into my paintings - when I figure out how to do it!  But for now at least I can have the pleasure of doing them separately!

#22

#24

I had suggested to one of my students that she try copying some drawings by the Masters as a way to improve her observational and drawing skills.  I liked the suggestion so much that I decided to take it on myself!  Vincent Van Gogh used a quill pen or some other kind of ink pen when doing his drawing, but I didn't have that available so I used a couple of markers with wide and narrow points instead.  He is a true master!  I learned a lot from doing this - about his marks, his choices, his different kinds of strokes.  The trick now will be to include them in my own drawings!

#25 Apres Vincent

#26 Looking at Her

On our way to Wintergreen Ski Resort, we stopped at Tuckahoe Antiques in Nelly's Ford. I bought some antique postcards there then had the fun of playing with them in my visual journal over the course of the weekend.  #26 combines one of the postcards with a woven image I made of my husband.  It looks like he is oogling the girl, so I named the piece "Looking at Her".  I like the juxtaposition, but it does Chris an injustice as he would never, ever look at a woman like that - unless it was me!  He's the kindest, most appropriate man ever.  But the images worked together, so I'm sticking with them for now!

#27

I took my students to the museum last week and asked them to look for patterns throughout the galleries.  I have posted about that before.  At Wintergreen, I took the time to add watercolor to the images I'd drawn just because it felt good to explore what they would look like.  I enjoy having this set of images to use for documentation and for reference to include in my work.

#28

When I created the CitraSolv/watercolor tree, I first cut out a tree to use as a template. This is that tree juxtaposed against some watercolor paper I'd used long ago for templates of leaves which I used as stencils.  It was fun exploring how they'd work together.  I chose this weekend to not adhere tightly to what I would normally think was "right" or "OK" and instead pushed my boundaries and explored how things looked.  I enjoyed trying new things and doing things I wouldn't normally - like putting the pink flowered pattern together with the tree and the leaf stencils - I had to release my usual judgments about what would work together to let myself do this.  Ends up I like what happened!  Who knew that exploration and boldness could lead to cool results??!