#icelandicflora

[amytavern]

Blálilja/ Blue lily, Day 8: All the Plants I Know, pen on graph paper, 8 x 12in., 2019.

During my walks I took photos of the plants I saw and then identified them using a field guide to Icelandic flora written in Icelandic. I wrote the names down and tried to memorize each. When I would see them again while walking, I would try to remember their names and say them out loud. At the end of the residency I had identified more than 80 flowers, grasses, and shrubs. This drawing reflects those names all written on top of each other chronologically, and how it feels in the beginning to learn something new.

Also pictured here: Geldingahnappur, Kirtilaugnfró, and Holurt, as well as a picture of my guide.

Thanks for reading.

[amytavern]

I have been studying Icelandic plants as part of my Bær residency. I got a field guide in Reykjavík when I first arrived in Iceland and have been using it every day as I walk around Hofsós. I’m photographing the different plants as I go and keep a running list of their Icelandic names in my studio. The colors, shapes, and minutia are very inspiring to me and I’m trying to memorize all the names in Icelandic, too. I have identified a little over 50 different plants so far and will add another 20 as I take a closer look at grasses today. 

I have created an album on Flickr with the images of the plants I have identified and will be adding/updating as I continue my second week, and beyond that as I travel after the residency ends. 

Thanks for reading. 

[amytavern]

My residency at Bær is now over and I am back in Reykjavík enjoying my last days before I head back to San Francisco. I will post more images from the residency and have more to say once I'm back in the US. For now, here are two images from a series of wreath drawings I started at the very end of the residency. The colors are based on some of my favorite Icelandic plants.

Thanks for reading.

[amytavern]

I really enjoyed working with paint chips for my last body of work so when I was thinking about how I would use my time at Bær, I thought it would be great to keep going with this material. This time, though, I wanted to use Icelandic samples instead and went to several hardware stores while I was in Reykjavík to grab a nice selection. 

I have been working small in my sketchbook, creating monochrome compositions based on favorite colors I have seen while looking at Icelandic flora. Then yesterday I started looking at photos I had taken while walking and made a composition based on the image I took. I only looked at the picture once before I started and then worked from memory.

I’m thinking of these collages, both the single color ones and the multicolor compositions, as sketches and color studies, or the memory of color. I can refer to them later when I return to the US and use them as departure points for larger, more complicated pieces. 

Thanks for reading.