A weekend workshop will be offered to consolidate photos and sketches made on this Escape, please see our Weekend near Edinburgh or Scotland pages.

The exciting possibilities that Iceland can offer have opened up in recent months and so this holiday has been planned by Nicky to appeal to everyone who loves to see nature at its most extreme and awe inspiring. As the departure date is early in the year when the weather is unpredictable, it is not a painting holiday, but can be regarded as an information gathering trip for sketches and photos. You can create your own Icelandic saga, with illustrations! There is no tuition included, but a weekend workshop will be offered as an optional extra once we return home.

The 6 day holiday will start at the Blue Lagoon natural spa where you can soak away life’s stresses in a unique source of geothermal silica enriched seawater that originates in the depths of the earth ( ithe temperature is 38 degrees, so think of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth and you will get the picture!).

We head to the hills to visit the site of the Thingvellir National Park, home to the world’s oldest parliament, the spectacular Gullfoss Waterfall and Geysir, the place which gave its name to every other geyser in the world.

Down to the southern coast then to Vik for two nights where we will be amazed by the black volcanic beach and the oddly shaped rocks that some people say are petrified Trolls who were caught by the dawn. Here we are near the largest ice cap in Europe, Vatnajokull, and you will see the sculptured blocks of ice that float in the glacial lagoon below.

There will be time to shop or catch up on the many museums and art galleries in Reykjavik before flying home.

Iceland’s landscape is peppered with more than 200 volcanoes which have accounted for a third of the earth's total lava flow over last 500 years. The island sits on the mid-Atlantic ridge that is the boundary between the American and Eurasian tectonic plates.

Mythology and folklore play an important part in Icelandic society. Some people like to believe in the existence of elves or small gods of nature and fertility often pictured as tiny women and men of great beauty and youth who live mainly in the forests. Roads and building plans may occasionally be redesigned to avoid disturbing their supposed habitat.

Both elves and trolls are frequent characters in modern fiction, but are also prominent in the medieval Norse sagas that tell of ancient history, the Viking voyages, the settlement of Iceland and family feuds. The old Norse language that was brought over by the Scandinavian settlers has not changed very much since, and people who speak modern Icelandic can easily read the original text of the 13th century sagas.

Modern Iceland, however is a most vibrant place, and its tiny population of 300,000 supports a very creative nation of writers, artists, musicians and bio scientists. Not to forget the many species of birds and millions of puffins which breed in the summer, the Icelandic horses, reindeer and unique indigenous sheepdogs.

Laura is a graduate of Edinburgh College of Art and an experienced artist and teacher who offers regular courses in and around Scotland. This will be Laura’s 9th year taking students to Kefalonia. She has lived and travelled widely in Greece. Now, together with her husband Dimitri, she owns a house in the hills above Fiscardo.

Nicky graduated from Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen and the Slade School of Fine Art, London and has more than 10 years tutoring experience. She lived and worked with her husband Juan in Mexico for several years and is a fluent Spanish speaker, leading our holidays to Andalucia where her family have lived for 4 generations. Nicky is also a qualified Scottish Tourist Guide.