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Above is a close up view of a section of the glacier moraine in the Kennicott painting. At this stage very few dots have been added, what you see is mostly underpainting. (more…)

Above is a close-up section of the Kennicott original painting showing a detail of the ore crushing mill. Because I have been painting this historic site for more than thirty years my paintings have become a part of the contemporary history of the region. This is my first painting of the new roof that was added to the mill building as a result of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park acquiring ownership, and a key to stabilization of the crumbling stuctures. (more…)

The above close-up detail of a section of the Kennicott original painting shows the use of a multitude of colored dots. I chose this example to illustrate how tightly the dots are placed, and I’m not done yet by a long shot. Most artists quit long before this because the work is so tedious. (more…)

If you did not recieve a complementary commemorative poster at the Palmer Inaugural Ball contact the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce. In the excitement of the evening, the poster was not given out at the door.  1,400 copies are prepared and ready as gifts for all attendees. I will be glad to sign yours at any of my upcoming shows or events.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

Bob enjoying a chat with our beautiful new Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, at the black tie Inaugural Ball held in Palmer. The Raven Hall at the Alaska State Fairgrounds was transformed into an elegant ballroom with ice sculptures, fabulous food and music. The commemorative poster that I designed was given to all who attended. A festive and fun evening was shared by over 1,400 attendees, a big first for this small community. Well done, and congratulations Sarah!
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

Above is a close-up detail of the foliage in a small section of the Kennicott original painting. Many colored dots are used to establish highlights, midtones, and shadows. (more…)

An overview of the repainted sky in the Kennicott original painting with six layers of dots. One more layer should bring it together perfectly, but I will wait until I add final details to the entire painting to finish the sky. Right now I need to spend time on the glacier moraine, so far it consists of mostly underpainting. Since it is in the center of the work it will need careful compositional attention. I’m going to incorporate a lot of color and detail, but not so much that it will dominate or distract from the other elements in the composition.
More tomorrow.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

This section shows the repainted sky in the Kennicott original with three layers of dots (more…)

A section of the repainted sky in the Kennicott painting showing three layers of of dots. (more…)

An overview of the progress of repainting the sky in the Kennicott original. At this point three layers of dots have been added. I am still not satisfied. I’m going to make the dots much more dense because too much of the first sky still shows. My job is not done, but I’m excited to see that repainting the sky is accomplishing what I want and is worth the effort.
More tomorrow.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

One layer of dots in the repainting of the sky in the Kennicott original painting. I will not paint Mt. Blackburn until the very end.
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Above is a section of the sky in the Kennicott original painting showing one layer of dots in the repainting using darker values of blue and blue green. (more…)

Above is a section of the Kennicott painting showing the first layer of dots during the repainting of the sky. Many artists stop here, this is the look they want from pointillism. I, on the other hand, take this technique to extremes. My next series of blogs will show the complex application of dots, layer by layer, side by side, overlapping each other, sometimes hiding the dots underneath. It is a technique that has evolved over twenty years of use.

More tomorrow.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaskan Artist

Above is a close up of the Kennicott Mine painting showing Mt. Blackburn and the distant sky. I am planning to repaint the finished sky. Work on the mountain will be saved until the painting is almost complete, what you see is the underpainting.
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Above is a close up section of the sky in the Kennicott Mine original painting. I used multiple dots in many colors layered over each other. Essentially the sky is finished. In contrast the mountains are, for the most part, the untouched roughed-in underpainting. Unfortunately, I do not like the sky, it is not working with the rest of the painting so I am going to repaint it using darker values and more vivid hues. (more…)

To help you gain perspective, here is an overview of a larger section of the Kennicott Copper Mine painting that includes all the small detail sections in the previous six blog entries. At this point I added extensive pointillism to some areas of the underpainting. Dots are used to define many of the red walls and to the green foliage in the foreground. (more…)

Above is the original underpainting of a section of the Kennicott Copper Mine original painting showing the distant mountains. I added pointillism to the the green tree areas of the mountain and I have used extensive overlapping pointillism in the sky. (more…)

Last summer our son Ron asked us to join him on a photo shoot in the Chugach National Park, Alaska, and pose as models. It was fun and easy to do, we rode our bikes on the wonderful trails and posed at gorgeous view points. Ron, on the other hand, worked hard setting up equipment, hauling equipment from one location to another all the while minding the short window of perfect light.  The weather turned out to be phenomenal and here is one of the photos he shot. We are looking at the mountains in Portage Valley, in the area of Moose Flats, and it was a beautiful day. For more of Ron’s photos check out his web site at Wild Nature Images.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

Above is the original underpainting of a section of the Kennicott Copper Mine showing roof tops and part of the glacial moraine in the background. At this stage I began to add a small amount of pointillism to the moraine and to the shadows on the red walls. (more…)

Above is the original underpainting of a section of the Kennicott Copper Mine painting showing roof tops. I added pointillism to some of the red walls and the orange roof. (more…)