Eyjafjallajoekull - lovely glacier

Here's an etching on a monotype of the peaceful smallish glacier with the long name: Eyjafjallajoekull. It happens to sit on top a fissure that erupted so forcefully, and darkened the skies over most of Europe.

from the volcanism blog: Just a few things Eyjafjallajoekull has screwed up

Just some of the things Eyjafjallajökull has screwed up 23 April 2010

Posted by admin in Eyjafjöll, Iceland, eruptions, volcano culture.

Tags: Eyjafjallajökull, Eyjafjöll, Iceland, volcanic eruptions, volcanoes in the media

trackback

(In addition to grounding European aviation for days on end and exhausting headline-writers’ supplies of volcano puns.)

The UK General Election … betting on 2010 temperatures … Southern California music festival … UK schoolgirls’ geography field trip … the Norwegian Government (iPad to the rescue) … touring wrestlers … Boston Marathon runners … the London Book Fair … health of pets … football, ice hockey and running … Premier League referees … the gilded progresses of celebs and pop stars … John Cleese’s trip home … football, cycling and running … Polish state funeral … transport of wounded soldiers … Dubai luxury hotel opening … Morocco golf tournaments … exams, exotic foods and surgery … yet more celebs (Hollywood ‘paralized’, no less) … Japan MotoGP … the international oil market … and even more celebs … European stocks and shares … Kenyan flower growers … Kenyan vegetable growers … movie premieres … BMW production in South Carolina … and still more celebs (superstar forced to take Irish Sea ferry) … youth boxing … equestrianism … football (also boxing, running, tennis, motorcyle racing) … organ transplants … Ghana farming, war crimes trials, rose growing, car making, flowers for New York weddings … travel plans of dogs, horses, snakes, geckos, turtles … classical concerts in San Diego … classical concerts in Salt Lake City … classical concerts in New York … Tribeca Film Festival … Metallica tour (kings of heavy metal fight back, take bus) … supplies of sea urchins, monkfish livers and scallops to British restaurants … art shipments … weddings … weddings … computer gaming events … airline emissions regulation … Indian TV host’s IPL contract (seems rather unfair) … Italian guitar players … supply chain resilience, whatever that is … college admissions … scareware cyberscams

The Volcanism blog is a interesting read. Check it out.

The timely return of Carol Jacobson and the ArMac Madrigal singers from Verona. The visit of my cousins from Finland.

Two new shorescapes. Celebrating the Foggy Moonstone Beach

Iceland Volcanic Eruption. Painting of glacial lake: Gigjoekull lagoon

Eyjafjallajoekull continues to be on my mind. At the lowest point this icecap forms a glacial tongue that slides down into a lagoon, where it breaks off into floating icebergs. Or did when I was there and the volcano under the glacier was dormant. Here is my monotype painting of this glacial lake.

Iceland Volcanic Eruption. The braided glacial river Krossa drains Eyjafjallajoekull

The river Krossa must now be a raging torrent, destroying roads and bridges. We traversed it both coming and going in a huge multi- wheel- drive vehicle. On our return in the late afternoon we were bumped and jostled, as the meltwater made the streams wider and deeper.

Eyjafjallajökull, exiting discovery of my own plain air sketch of it.

Just looked up the location of the erupting volcano on Google Earth - erupting right under a large glacier (jökull means glacier in Icelandic) and realized that my sister Sanna and I spent a day hiking, taking pictures and painting within view of it, in the Thorsmörk wilderness. I actually have a plain air rendition of it for you to see.

We also crossed the river Krosso, in a huge many wheel drive vehicle both coming and going. A huge challenge on the late afternoon return when the river was up from the glacial melt. At the end of the day we ran into a wedding party all mounted on the beautiful small Icelandic horses.

Two mixed media pieces of the Eyjafjalljokull erupting volcano in Iceland

"Many airports were expected to remain closed at least until Saturday, and officials warned of an unprecedented bottleneck in global air traffic. Scientists, unable to estimate when the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano might end, predicted that it could take hours, days or far longer for European skies to clear of the ash particles that experts say could choke jet engines enough to shut them down." from the Washington Post

Hopefully my cousins from Finland, who are planning to fly here on Monday the 19th of April can make it. Alternative route would be to catch a boat ; -) to Iceland and take a plane from Reykjavik airport - which ironically as of this morning was open. The ash is all blowing southeast.

Here are two paintings - digitally manipulated monotypes - that I just created to mark this event.

It is a beautiful and powerful spectacle. But what a disaster for Iceland, Eyjafjallajokull is a huge glacier and the volcanic eruption is causing it to melt with the result of great flooding, wrecked highways and bridges; I also feel sorry for all the stranded travelers, and the already economically stressed airlines. Our local ArMac Orchestra members and chaperones, with maestra Carol Jacobson are stuck in Verona.

Blue Dots, new monotype, WATERS' EDGE SERIES

Photos from LA trip, Rodeo Drive, LACMA, Bamboo Grafitti