Visions of Iceland – A Blog Post by Ellen Maidman-Tanner
Ellen Maidman-Tanner, "Skogafoss", 10 x 10 in, Oil on Canvas, 2021
“What happens when an artist confronts staggering natural beauty that upends her studio practice?… read more”
I had been a conceptual artist and an installation artist. When I re-opened my studio in 2018, due to Iceland, I became a landscape artist.
The paintings in this exhibit reflect my love of the stark, dramatic vistas of Iceland. I first fell in love with this island nation in 2014, making subsequent trips there in 2017 and 2021. With little human habitation, much of the land is pristine and geologically ‘uncooked’, with many volcanoes and hot springs, along with vast fields of black lava in many places covered by spongy, rolling, multicolored moss, the first life that takes hold on that jagged rock.
Ellen Maidman-Tanner — "Icelandic Clouds and Moss" Photograph
Depicting these dramatic scenes became a passion for me, one that enables me to document the beauty of a place on our planet when there is little human intervention.
My paintings begin with my photography – I literally compose photographic images for the studio - and then translate that scene into oil.
Ellen Maidman-Tanner — "Waterfall in a Basalt Gorge" Photograph
Back home in the studio, I allow my brushwork and emphasis on the found rhythms of the scene to activate the final composition. My works frequently feature dynamic angles and typically have a sense of motion – rushing water, clouds passing, etc. At the same time, I try to capture a solemn monumentality in the compositions, as seen in ‘Fjord Outside Reykjavik’, and ‘Rushing Water and Basalt Boulders’
— Ellen Maidman-Tanner
Ellen Maidman-Tanner, "Icelandic Glacier and Icebergs,” 30 x 24 in, Oil on Canvas, 2019
Ellen Maidman-Tanner, "White Water and Basalt Boulders,” 40 x 30 in, Oil on Canvas, 2019