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The beautiful scenery continues to amaze me. It was great to continue to explore the natural environment and learn more about the Icelandic people. It was so interestering to meet Pall Guomundsson. It was inspiring to see how he uses the natural environment around him to create his art work and make the musical instruments. He seemed to be a humble man who created art for his own enjoyment, which is why it was such a privilege to meet such a talented man and get an insight into his life.

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What awesome and delightful force which you wish us to see
A shower of boiling water from mother earth to the sky
And from sky to mother earth again water and steam
Not so cooled by air but enough for me to purify
In the land of ice and cold, you have vaporised, to steam
Thank you mother earth, fire within, air and water omnipresent
As ice, water and steam, then steam, water and ice in nature
You make me and all you know, smile and laugh and joyful🌋🙂

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Today we travelled to Husafell and Fossatun, enroute we had sun, rain and snow. The infamous three seasons in a day!
Each day the landscape has not ceased to amaze, my senses indulged and stunned by nature’s offerings. We saw beautiful snow topped mountains, majestic glaciers, choppy rivers, the strong ocean crystal clear waterfalls and steaming, hot springs.
Set in a idyllic location on a farm at the foothills of a mountain, lives Pall Guomundsson. By profession he is an astonishingly good musician, artist and sculptor. Not only is he self taught but he makes his instruments from nature, primarily rock and also rhubarb stalks! I kid you not. Additionally he uses unusual techniques like ice printing. The results are breathtaking and magnificent. His instrumentals on his rock xylophone and rhubarb stalk pipes have you glued to the spot and transfixed. His oil prints on ice are stunning, his painted rock art and stone carvings are impressive, his sketches and oil paintings are incredible.
However the emotion he captures in all his pieces is hauntingly moving. You are left feeling like you have ridden an emotional rollercoaster, reaching heights you believed not capable by you.

This humble, contented,traditional man who has achieved contentment & happiness through embracing nature and folklore is truly inspirational.

If I have taken anything from today, it is that if you pursue what you care about your passion will be infectious and others will be inspired to share your knowledge and in turn share their passions.

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Today was another fabulous day. The visit to meet Pall Gudmundsson at his farm/studio in Husafell was incredibly moving for me. His passion for, and love, of art was very inspiring. His life, so quiet, humble and embedded in nature was a life lesson for me to slow down, appreciate the beauty in nature and to find time for what makes me ‘tick’. He makes art for himself, rather than others and making time to nourish yourself artistically and emotionally is very important.

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Day 4

Mountains, rocks, stones, those are among the very few 'things' in life that don't make a peep, that just are there. Today I saw and heard Pàll Guðmundsson turning the existence of stones into music. The stone sounds I could hear were so pure and fragile, passing so quickly that I had to listen closely and carefully. This experience made me realize that this is true to all parts of nature: stones, water, plants, trees, insects, mammals, ... We need to listen to their music and story so we don't miss the gifts of Earth but start acknowledging them.

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We have to thank you today 3 great persons ! Our driver first, very humble, patient and really keen on sharing with us all the mysteries and wealth of his country : thank you Martin for your great experience and your willingness to use it to make us better !

Secondly, the even humble and yet so talentuous artist Pall Gudmundsson, able to play Mozart and to make us discover some folk melodies with schiste stones, to paint really moving portraits (see below), to sculpt nature in a very respectful way, to build his own inspiring paradise. No need to look everywhere for this paradise, not need to travel miles away…He contradicts actually the proverb « the neighbour’s grass is always greener ». What a wisdom, bearing in mind that he doesn’t sell his art pieces, and doesn’t want to ! This man definitely doesn’t want anything in exchange of his talent, except probably a peaceful life. This deserves all our consideration !

Thirdly, a passionate (and very humble too…humility is always combined with talent !) about trolls who wrote and still write about them. The interesting and rare point is that he does not want his books to be only for children but for adults as well : at a time where every product is to be for a precise type and age of person (viva the segmentation and fragmentation of population !), this is such a fresh approach ! And the drawings of his books, presented on the walls of his shop, are so harmonious in the forms and colours…I could’nt help taking a pic of all of them (and I hate strafing !).

The countryside we saw today was a just a constant pleasure for the eyes and the soul. It really gave the impression of being on another planet !

I found a quotation that fits quite well with the landscape we enjoyed today : « There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in ! »

And I found this crack in one particular portrait this morning : this is the photo I chose for today (portrait situated in the middle). It represents a man who was in great love of a young girl, but he wasn’t loved in return. Then, he decided apparently to live secluded in Iceland. So isolated than a TV team decided to make a video of him, but he’d lost the knowledge of his own language, and they had to subtitled the video otherwise nobody would have been able to understand his testimony. Without even knowing this sad story, the portrait made by Pall moved me nearly to tears, and it was not any better after hearing of the solitary man story…

How can someone, in the 20th century, can live alone in a total seclusion ? Icelandic people must be very very strong to cope this way to isolation ! Another lesson today !