Dried Fireweed
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
“Fireweed IV” original watercolor painting by Gail Niebrugge, sold.
Back to my series on living and painting in the wilderness of the Wrangell-St. Elias, Alaska. This looks like fireweed laying on snow, but in reality I plucked some dried branches for decoration and kept them in my studio during the winter. Tidying up one day, I removed the dehydrated weeds from their home in a jar and tossed them temporarily on my drafting table. Turning on the drafting light I became fascinated with the patterns and cast shadows made by the dried plant. Nothing would suffice but to sit down and immediately paint what I saw. At the final stage of fireweed, nothing remains but the withered brown leaves and curled, twisted split pods. Still beautiful. An intriguing wildflower. Hours later I realized that my housecleaning project stalled at dusting the shelf. Cleaning can wait, I have paintings to make!
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, wildflower painter
