Iceland

[ARNC]

@Oaktavia keep ‘em coming!

Also hoping you’ll share the Iceland series of paintings when they’re ready.

[goosehd]

Outstanding start @Oaktavia Thank you!!!

Because every thread should have a theme song… I know, I’m old…

[endo]

Thanks for sharing @Oaktavia beautiful pictures and report.

[Oaktavia]

@goosehd wait...Immigrant Song is about Iceland?! I had no idea. That's so rad...I've been a huge fan of Led Zeppelin since I was a kid when my dad introduced them to me. I've heard that song so many times and never made that connection. Amanda says that song is going to be stuck in her head all day now hahaha...

@ARNC I have painted one already while I was there. I wanted to make an "en plein air" watercolor which is simply a referrs to the practice of painting outdoors.

Not my best work by a mile, but I'm glad I made it. The colors have been embellished and lots of the landscape left out. The photo with the landscape was taken at a different time of day. Trees are meticulous to paint!

I made this drawing on the plane over to Gatwick yesterday. I think I'll add color when I get home. Or maybe just more ink.

A simplified abstraction of this image taken of lake Þingvallavatn, which was a short walk from our Airbnb.

[goosehd]

@Oaktavia That cloud and sea picture is amazingly surreal!!

[ARNC]

@Oaktavia great to be able to capture your memories like this. Wondering if we should have an IH artist in residence (not my decision, of course).

[Mizmazzle]

@Oaktavia hell yeah dude!! What an incredible first leg of your trip. You and Amanda look great in the new sweaters!! I’ve heard the food in Iceland can be really far out!!

Now tell me, has the travel bug set its teeth deep into your soul yet??

[twin]

@Oaktavia What a great vacation in Iceland for both of you.

[Oaktavia]

@Mizmazzle said in Iceland:

@Oaktavia Now tell me, has the travel bug set its teeth deep into your soul yet??

The possibilities are endless now and I definitely won't be traveling with this many fucking bags next time.

[Mizmazzle]

@Oaktavia hahah. Yeah the bag burden is real. Normally I’m a single backpack guy. When Morgan and I went to Italy for our wedding the bag scenario was an absolute nightmare.

New addiction to unlock…passport stamps!!!

[Oaktavia]

@Mizmazzle oh my I can't imagine that goodness!!!

[derek111]

@Oaktavia those sweaters are incredible! Looks like you two are having an amazing time.

[Oaktavia]

@derek111 said in Iceland:

@Oaktavia those sweaters are incredible! Looks like you two are having an amazing time.

I can't wait to wear the sweater back home when it gets cold and rainy. They were perfect for Iceland weather!

[Oaktavia]

I love how many of the homes and buildings there had moss and grasses growing on the rooves. This one was well lit and caught my eye. We were at a gift shop in the middle of nowhere.

This was a view of a mountain/hill right outside of our Airbnb. There were many of these hills in every direction. We were unable to see how tall they were until this day when the fog subsided.

These red rocks were on a path next to the lake. I thought the denim looked neat next to it.

These are Icelandic horses. They are often mistook at ponies but hey are indeed a specific breed of horse native to the country. Icelanders do not like it when you call them ponies. I found a tooth from one of these horses a few miles from these particular horses. I found two actually.

This lighthouse was both eerie and beautiful at the same time. Nobody was around (aside from the horses) and the lighthouse door was locked. There was a loud calling raven that circled around Amanda and I as we walked around the tower. It reminded me of a scene from Alejandro Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain.

I quite like this particular photo from standing on the platform of the lighthouse and want to use it as a reference for a painting.

These are black sand beaches that we visited. I found a good amount of seaglass here! I also found some tumbled ceramic pieces that were really cool looking. Some of the seaglass had words imprinted onto it. We were going to go to the black sand beaches in Game of Thrones, but a group of tourists had to get rescued after a sneaker wave trapped them in a cave. That and it was two hours one way. It turned out there are a lot of beaches with black and in Iceland and we went to two that were closer.

These candies were left for us to try from our Airbnb host. They were delicious and tasted like Kit Kat bars. 10/10 would recommend.

Lastly for this post are images of an Icelandic lake inside of an inactive volcano. It looked much bigger in person...if you look at the people down by the water and across the rim of the volcano you can get a better idea of the scale.

I have more photos and will post again in about a week. Hope you enjoy! I miss this place a lot!

[tody]

Most excellent photos!

[goosehd]

@Oaktavia Love it!! Thank you for sharing

[Oaktavia]

@tody @goosehd I have edited the post with captions. Thanks!

[ROman]

@Oaktavia Great journey through Iceland. Thanks for sharing.

[Oaktavia]

@ROman thanks for taking the time to check our the posts. I will continue to add more. It really is a special place.

[Mizmazzle]

@Oaktavia what I love about these photos, aside from their striking beauty, is how void of people it looks. I know Iceland has a really small population…but these photos really capture the vastness and remoteness of the country.