Iceland Travel Sketches
Iceland is all drama: volcanos, lava flows, cinder cones, geysers, tectonic plates, waterfalls, sheer cliffs, glaciers, frigid waters, shifting weather. It’s a place of all or nothing. All darkness, all daylight, all in, or stay home. But it’s also a place of great subtlety, where keeping your eyes wide open makes all the difference.
My family spent a week exploring just a small fraction of the country. I took many photos but managed just a handful of sketches. Despite my best preparations and intentions, cold weather, gusty winds, big hikes, and traveling with five family members made sketching difficult. Alas, I’m sharing what I have from our grand adventure with the encouragement to put Iceland on your bucket list if you’re game for wearing a wool hat, down jacket, and raincoat in July.
And a few photos of some of the dramatic landscapes that I wish I’d had time to paint.
Up for an adventure and lots of painting? Join me for Sketching the Fall Nature of Italy, September 30 – October 7. There are a few spots left!
Drawn In 
Beautiful place and wonderful sketches, Jean. It’s a place I’d love to visit or teach at.
I feel your frustration at not being able to sketch it all, but what you did manage to do is still fantastic, as always.
I thought of you there, Shari. You’d love the landscapes and you’d be much better than me at figuring out how to capture them quickly. I don’t like sketching in wind, which was a major drawback. I also realized that I need more than 15 minutes and a small sketchbook to capture a big landscape. I’m going to get out some big paper and charcoal and see how that feels.
So beautiful and dramatic!
Lovely rendering of your trip to Iceland. I feel part of it. You know how to capture the essence of what you are seeing and observing.
Thanks Carole! I really wanted to capture more landscapes, but realized quickly that I just couldn’t do it in 10 minute spurts.
Your words and even colors…are….so poetic and gentle. The washy blues of water so carefully and skillfully done show your patience. Thanks for a short trip to a place distant now come alive through images and description. Your work is luscious! Thank you
You’re welcome! Thanks for your kind words of appreciation!
Oh my ! What beautiful information packed pages and grand photos of Iceland! Its been in my bucket list for a while – hope to get there sometime soon🤞
It’s a special travel experience. So many huge, dramatic landscapes, and so few people. We loved it. Hope you can get there sometime.
Thank you for your generosity and thoughtfulness sharing this beauty with us!!
You’re welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.
As always, Jean, your work is beautiful. Sketching is difficult on a trip – believe me, many times I cannot – but the photos and the memories are really worthwhile. I am looking forward to a small amount of time in Iceland in September, knowing full well I am unlikely to get much done. And then there is the problem of what camera to bring, which is just as much of a challenge as finding time to paint or draw. Do share more drawings with us!
Good for you. I hope you can get out of Reykjavik to see some of the wilder places in Iceland. Big landscapes are everywhere.
Thanks – something to see in the future!
Lovely. I especially like your plover painting. Unless everyone in the group likes to sketch, you made the wise choice to take lots of photos.
Thanks Peggy. I was the only sketcher, so I only took 10 minutes here and there. I don’t like to sketch in wind either. But I’ll enjoy the photos.
Wow! Iceland has been on my bucket list, and it just moved up a few notches. 👍🏼 Your images show the wildness of the places, so glad you were able to visit and enjoy!
I love the wildness of Iceland– definitely part of why we chose it. The seabird colonies were astounding– July was a great month to see them.
Birds, flowers, maps-all the things you excel at-rendered beautifully here! Glad you enjoyed the trip, as much as we enjoy your sketches. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Denise. I had hoped to sketch a lot of other things too, but it just didn’t work. Disappointing, but the trip was terrific!
Oh yes! What an amazing collection of sketches and photos from just one week in Iceland! I looks like you covered so much ground, and still managed to create beautiful sketches. (I know you aren’t a big fan of sketching from photos, but how I would love to see all of the ones you shared painted in “Mackay” fashion.) Remarkably rugged landscapes, dramatic skies (the lenticular clouds are gorgeous), and wildlife (birds and plants). Iceland is definitely on our bucket list, and I’ll remember your comment about all in (or not) with splashes of subtlety. Thanks for sharing Jean, and welcome home.
Thanks Barb. We tried to really focus our trip so that we didn’t spend too much time driving. Good for you on the lenticular cloud– they formed over the mountains and were quite a sight. I will likely work with my photos from this trip as I would really like to work on landscapes. I’m going to begin with a large sheet of paper and some charcoal. We’ll see how far I get.
Can’t wait to see what magic you create with charcoal!
I’m afraid to ask what Kropp is! (Your painting reminds me of ………) hahaha!
And being on the wooly cap and overcoat in July. Sounds so delightful!
How were the prices for food, gas and lodging?
Kropp is like chocolate covered Kix, but Icelanders really go for licorice (even chocolate covered). Prices for food were very high. Gas and lodging more on par with other cities.
Chocolate covered licorice is just weird! I would have expected everything to be high priced since almost everything must be shipped in. I’d like to stroll through a grocery store to see how fresh their produce is, and to enjoy looking at all the strange foods (like chocolate licorice!). Thanks for the reply!
There weren’t many strange foods or differences in the grocery stores. But you would not like to see the state of the produce. Let’s just say that beyond apples and bananas, I didn’t eat (m)any greens all week.
Hi Jean! For some reason I wasn’t able to reply to your last comment! It made me laugh when you described the state of Iceland produce. Brings back memories of our years (back in the day) in Fairbanks and North Pole, AK. Produce deliveries were like pinball machines …. First arriving in Seattle, then by ferry up the inside passage to Haines, then over to Anchorage, then many stops in between Anchorage and Fairbanks. All along the way, everyone got their pick of the best stuff, so that when we got deliveries, produce was reduced to bruised, smashed, rotten and sometimes green as gourds! Don’t get me started on dairy deliveries! But it was worth it living up there, frigid winters and northern lights included! Add AK to your bucket list. Worth seeing any time of the year!
Your artwork is always so beautiful and inspiring!
Thank you Susanne!
Wow, Jean, you captured an amazing variety of experiences, despite your limited time and the weather conditions. I love your wild flowers and Icelandic palette. What interesting birds they have there! I’m glad you were able to sketch a couple of them.
Thanks for sharing the photos as well. Such breathtaking beauty. Iceland is definitely high on my wish list, right behind Finland and the northern lights.
Were you with a tour guide, or did you plan your trip yourselves? Do many people speak English?
Hi Susan- We planned the trip ourselves, as that’s just the way we like to roll. Gives us lots of flexibility and freedom. English is widely spoken in Iceland, though people are proud and protective of the Icelandic language. It was easy to get around. Roads were excellent and driving conditions very good. I would assume that the same is not necessarily true in winter.
Hi Sue- We put together the itinerary ourselves. We like being able to set our own schedule, explore and hike at our own pace, and avoid crowds when possible. English is widely spoken, so it was no trouble at all to interact and find what we needed. I’ve seen the Northern Lights in Newfoundland and Labrador and they are quite spectacular. But I’m not sure I would travel to a cold, dark place in the winter for the chance to see them. I’m so glad we chose summer, endless daylight, and the opportunity to witness seabird nesting colonies.
your Iceland post was lovely and it certainly gives the sense of the place (although Ive never been there) I love the speckled bird – Looking forward to class on the 22nd!
Hi Georgia–I thought the golden plover was just gorgeous, especially through binoculars so you could really see the gold on its back. See you soon!
Each of your paintings are a beautiful reminder of a rugged landscape. You found some colorful flowers, too. I’m reminded of a favorite painter of mine who lived in Iceland – Louisa Matthíasdóttir – who painted Icelandic landscapes using bright colors. Also, I had a similar experience trying to find time to paint in Maine and Nova Scotia. A little painting was done, but not enough! We had family members and sight-seeing to do. You’ve inspired me to use my photos to paint at home while I can still remember the feeling of being there. Thanks for sharing your artwork!
Thanks Maria. I checked out Matthiasdottir’s paintings…I like the simplicity and color of the landscapes. I prefer to capture something on location so that the feeling of the moment is in the sketch, but I’ll work with my photos from this trip and see what happens. I’m looking forward to heading to Maine later this summer.
Your paintings of the rugged landscape of Iceland are beautiful! What a good idea it is to make swatches of color that you saw while you were there. The flowers and birds are colorful and bits of color in the landscape really make the paintings fun to look at. I had a similar experience trying to find time to paint while vacationing in Maine and Nova Scotia. I managed a few paintings, but not enough. We had family to visit and sights to see! Iceland reminds me of a favorite painter of mine – Louisa Matthíasdóttir – who exaggerated the color in the landscape. You have inspired me to use my photographs to paint while the feeling of being there is still fresh in my mind. Thank you for sharing your artwork and experiences!
Beautiful sketches of a wonderful country!!
Thank you. It was my first visit — such a unique place!