A long-planned, twice-delayed trip is complete! I was looking for an adventure, around Iceland by ship, and I got it — but the details? Well, I’ll need to work on those. Turns out, a cruise, even a luxury, smaller-boat version, is not for me. Too much structure, not enough serendipity. And 2/3 of our travel party getting Covid? We really did see Iceland only from the ship.

But I’ve got loads (I mean, LOADS!) of photos, and I can surely do something with them. So, here’s what I’m working with. This was a Lindblad cruise from Bergen, Norway, to Reykjavik, with ports of call that included:

• Orkneys, UK
• Shetlands, UK
• Faroes, Denmark
• SE, N, NW, and S Iceland

Dreamy, right? I took so many shots of skies, waterscapes, distant mountains, closeup cliffs… Now I need to disentangle them from each other — was that the Isle of Noss or the Icelandic bird cliffs?? Why did I take so many skies, when I can’t tell where I was?? Well, perhaps that’s the point, if I’m trying to abstract the landscape, after all. I’ve played a bit with the photos, created a few textures, and assembled a few layered pieces as a trial. Here are a few initial tests of what I saw.

But, as much as I’d love to have them all done for you, it will take some time. It’s been a while since I’ve taken the camera out for such extended use, and I want to work the imagery back into my compositions in less direct ways. I’m thinking about how to use the horizon lines of the various cliffs, mountains, and islands: as masks for printing? In collage? As small, square sketches? Stay tuned. For now, some selected pieces are available on my Redbubble print-on-demand site.

And if you’re off on your own adventures — stay safe out there!