Well, those were three glorious weeks! My Inner Adventurer emerged big time, much to my delight! i'm still crowing with pleasure and pride over kayaking in polar waters! We went just beyond the 80th parallel, as I mentioned we would and it was all that I had dreamed of! It was celestial. It was never to be forgotten.
More later about all of that. For now, a scattering of sketches, quiet glimpses of things we saw and did when we weren't being swept away by magnificence.
A large carved wooden sculpture called Kongetorsk, (cod is one of the traditional mainstays of Norwegian cuisine, commerce, and culture) located in a small square in Bergen, is a favorite subject of mine. David and I woke up early so I could draw it before clumps of view-obscuring tourists arrived.
I had *drawn this one December a few years ago, so it was fun to revisit and draw it again! See below for earlier drawing.
Oh, man, trying to capture the splendor of that scenery in a little sketchbook seemed futile, but I made what I call little mnemonic devices... images that endlessly reopen to me the moments of being there.
We visited a toy museum at the tiny village we stayed in near Reine, in the Lofoten Islands. I made friends with Dagmar Gylseth, the owner of Sakrisøy rorbuer (fishing cabins and cottages) there and drew this little scene from her marvelous museum. What a moving experience to be surrounded by her collection of hundreds of artifacts of Norwegian childhood. Their stories and their meaning were palpable in the atmosphere there.
While in the Lofotens, David and I had our evening meals at Underhuset, the fabulous restaurant which is owned and run by Dagmar and her son Michael. Fresh seafood was offered in abundance! In fact, I ate seafood and fish three times a day most days throughout the trip. I expect gills, fins, and shells to sprout on my person at any moment! And I'll put my current Omega 3 count up against yours any day!
We went to a lecture on the geology of Svalbard given by a French geologist on board our ship and while I listened, I drew. Geology! Svalbard! Caledonian Orogeny! All my favorite subjects!
Rounding out this miscellany of moments on our Norwegian trip is a sketch I made in Bergen, at one of the city's art museums, during the last days of our visit. Shiny, compelling objects that here, too, arrested my eye and my imagination.
I have several more sketches as well as the accordion sketchbook I made of Caledonian Orogenic outcrops and will share those in the next days. I have begun some studio pieces as well, deriving from the images I lived and breathed and stored in my mind's eye.
Balancing my accordion sketchbook... Laura on the rocks! More to come! Come back soon!!
*Here's the same cod sculpture pictured above, but drawn on an earlier, winter trip.
Thank you, dear Jeffery, for seeing what this meant to me! I loved every minute of this trip! xxoo
Posted by: Laura | July 02, 2018 at 04:13 PM
Oh what a happy boy I am to hear how happy and fruitful this has all been....or should I say fishful and rockful.
Posted by: Jeffery Beam | June 28, 2018 at 04:36 PM
Thank you so much, Robyn! There well might have been one who jumped the bucket! I could only eat about half of them before I had, sadly, to call it a meal! The other night there we had a delicious cod entree, ending with their superb homemade ice cream for dessert. Wow. Thanks for commenting! xxxx
Posted by: Laura | June 27, 2018 at 07:32 AM
Thank you, dear Kate! I am still smiling from the whole experience! It's the kind of heart-stopping (in a good way) experience that reverberates forever in the soul. I feel so grateful. XXXX
Posted by: Laura | June 27, 2018 at 07:27 AM
Laura--how wonderful and exciting this all is. Thrilled to see your journey here. Many lively and expressive sketches--love the bucket of shrimp--are your sure there isn't one in there who missed the cooker and might jump out.
Posted by: Robyn Mixon | June 27, 2018 at 06:57 AM
I am smiling SO BIG right now! LOVE these...
Posted by: Cathy Johnson (Kate) | June 26, 2018 at 09:26 PM