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As we face a brand new year, I reflect and give thanks for a very busy and productive 2008.  I am thankful that I am still able to paint.  I thank God for my health and the health of my family.  We all face hardships in life, it is how we handle these challenges that forms our character.  Happy New year to all of you, may 2009 be prosperous and successful and may God bless you and keep you safe in the palm of his hand.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist

Art prices often rise faster than other prices.  Most serious, committed artists who are diligent and productive have witnessed a substantial appreciation in the prices commanded for their works.  Doing the math I was surprised to discover that my originals have increased in price over 2,000% in 30 years. If an artists price is not rising it is usually because too little effort has been made to cultivate a market.

Pricing art work depends on several criteria.  One is the aesthetic and technical merit, second includes recovering costs of production and marketing, and third include the artist’s reputation, supply and demand, and the reputation of the dealer.  For a painting to have any value it must have quality, which translates into aesthetic and technical merit.  Second, recovering costs; professionals calculate this into pricing, Sunday painters or hobbyists rarely do.  And third, supply and demand are key.  Artists who produce work in quantity, paint fast and are prolific soon find supply outstrips the demand and their prices do not rise fast.  Artists who are slow and deliberate, who produce quality work and understand the costs of doing business find that supply is low and demand high, their prices will appreciate.

Gail Niebrugge, pointillism artist

Recovering costs is a tool for setting a price for a work of art.  I’ve seen original paintings for sale in a gallery for as low as $300.00.  I’m shocked that any artist will under price their work.  Some will do it because they believe that they will be guaranteed to make a sale, and feel good about themselves.  But if they sat down and considered the cost of doing business, I guarantee the good feelings won’t last long.  All that is happening is that the artist is subsidizing the gallery and collectors.

Consider the $300.00 original painting scenario.  Most gallery commissions today are 50%, $150.00 to the gallery and $150.00 to the artist.  Out of the artists $150.00 are supplies; the canvas, paint and frame.  Assuming supplies were purchased at a bargain and only $100.00 is invested, does this give a profit of $50.00?  No.  We still have not considered time, time painting and seeking the subject matter.  Artists will often discount time and say they love what they do therefore time doesn’t matter. Another consideration is the cost of overhead (the studio space), brushes, easels, flat files, photographing the work, insurance, vehicle operations, etc., the cost of doing business?  Artists who price their work too low do a disservice to the profession, themselves, and to collectors.

Just about the only time an artist might consider mitigating the recovering of costs is to place work in important public collections.  Many museums have small budgets and cannot acquire all the work they want, they depend on gifts from collectors and artists.  This should be done carefully and judiciously, and done only for a brief time in an artist’s career to help build a reputation.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist

My granddaughter working hard to decorate a gingerbread house.  Actually Bob and I and our grandson all participated in this fun activity and not five minutes after the masterpiece was finished it was eaten!  We wish all of you a joyous and happy holiday, Merry Christmas from Niebrugge Studio in Alaska!

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist

Yesterday I wrote about the practical reasons for using short titles for paintings, but there is more to a title than length.  I have seen more than one painting submitted for a show or sent to a jury and the title is listed on the application form, but the painting can’t be identified when searching among the hundreds of submissions.  Why?  The artist failed to attach the title to the painting.

I write the title, date, copyright symbol, name of artist on the back of the work.  Unfortunately, at first I didn’t realize that when a painting on paper was framed the back got covered with a board and dust cover.  The second thing I didn’t foresee is that many of my works were titled almost the same, for example one series of titles were “One Leaf”, “Orange Leaf,” “Fall Leaf”, “Autumn Leaf”, etc.  I wrote on the back each and sent them all to be framed, when they were ready the backs were covered and I couldn’t remember which painting went with which title.  I had to disassemble the framing to find out.  So, now I instruct the framer to write the title on the back of the dust cover and I include a card with the title with each piece.  Practical, yes.

Titles also serve as a tool to give extra information to the viewer.  My series of 36 paintings of Alaska wildflowers the titles represent the species; “Bluebells”, “Chocolate Lily”, “Narcissus Flowered Anemone”, “Wild Iris” and so forth. It can be a difficult task to honor a work with a title, give yourself enough time to make your individual decisions slowly.  Sometimes I’ve used the Dictionary, a Thesaurus, and the Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms for suggestions, and other times the perfect name will just come to me.

Gail Niebrugge, professional artist

Every piece of art should have a title.  Why?  Titles make business transactions easier, and they’re practical.  When I first started painting I used long esoteric titles and for some reason I thought it was very artsy and sophisticated.  I remember one painting vividly, it depicted caribou in the winter surrounded by a lovely snow covered landscape with mountains in the background. But more importantly to me, the caribou were from a certain heard in the Wrangells and were walking along a significant place near a little known road….  Duh?  So I titled the painting “Nomadic Mentastans at Jack Creek”  Right!  Which was all well and good, but when the gallery displayed the painting they asked me to shorten the title because it wouldn’t fit on the small identifying card.  Such an insult, I thought.  Sometimes I’m a slow learner.

The next painting was subsequently titled; “Blackburn Through the Notch”, Blackburn for the mountain in the distance and the notch for a secret known only by local pilots that was an escape route for small aircraft through the mountains in the event of low clouds or flying VFR (visual flight regulations) in IFR (instrument flight regulations) conditions (illegal and dangerous).  Something anyone who saw the painting would want to know.  Right?

Several years later I changed my tune and the word “practical” became my mantra for titles.  It all began when the image “Blackburn Through the Notch” went into print.  This was a very small sized print in an edition of 950 and left little room for my signature, the numbering and the title.  Try as I might, I couldn’t fit all of the information on the front of the image without defacing the artwork.  So, as a practical matter, this print was re-titled for the edition as simply “Blackburn”.

Gail Niebrugge, painter of “Blackburn”

As a general rule the creator of the work (artist) is the initial owner of the copyrights of the work.  Owning your rights is a powerful and lucrative tool for future revenue.  The original painting can be sold, but the rights are retained by the artist to sell, and license, and use again and again for whatever the cause for as long as the artists’ life, and by law these rights are passed on to heirs after death.  But, there are two exceptions to the general rule; one is if you are an employee the employer retains all the rights to works prepared within the scope of the job unless agreed otherwise, and second commissioned works where the person commissioning requests the work be created under a “work for hire” agreement.

Read the fine print in contracts, and do your homework.  What does the clause work for hire mean to you, and to your future as an artist?  The law allows that exclusive rights in a work can be divided as well as subdivided, consequently each can be separately owned, exercised, transferred, and enforced.  As owner of these rights you can sell one kind of right to one person, and another to someone else.  Rights are valuable.

The work for hire clause or relinquishing all rights to a work is the reason you will not see any images of mine used on a number of very popular annual posters, or entered into some very well-known national contests.   Many well-known organizations insert wording into the fine print of the application, and end up owning all rights to an image that the artist submitted for a one-time use.  For an organization to ask for all rights to a work or use the work for hire clause in a contract to gain all rights places an unnecessary hardship on the artist.  Beware, and read the fine print!  If additional uses of a specific work are needed they can be granted and defined by use of an agreement, subject to a use fee.  If an organization absolutely must own all rights to a work, they had best be prepared to pay a huge sum equal to the many unknown uses for a work throughout the life of the artist and his/her heirs.

There is so much for an artist to know and understand about copyright and ownership of rights that I will address different issues as I understand them from time to time in future posts on this blog.

Gail Niebrugge, the Business of Art

Wikipedia defines pointillism as; “a style of painting in which small distinct points of primary colors create the impression of a wide selection of secondary and intermediate colors.”  It goes on to say that the mind and the eye mix the color spots into a full range of tones and that it is closely related to Divisionism.  Divisionism was practiced by Georges Seurat during the Neo-Impressionism period.  He broke his color into basic elements and painted very small and regular dots.  His dots are carefully placed as to not touch each other, so the white under painted canvas shows around all of the dots.

I call my painting technique pointillism, but technically it is incorrect according to Wikipedia.  The difference between my technique and true pointillism is that I use all values, hues, tints, and shades of color in my dots, not just primary colors. And, my work is really not divisionism according to the definition in Wikipedia, because my dots are not regular and they overlap each other.  A white under painted canvas is not visible in my work, and if I use an under painting it will be a watercolor wash of many colors.

So, I often refer to my style as a “bastardization” of pointillism.  The reason behind the theory of using primary colors and let the eye do the mixing is that the physical combining of colors supposedly dulls them.  I have not found this to be true.  I think using the “new” paint developed during the last 50 years, fast drying acrylic, helps to keep the dots true to color and does not allow any bleed or smudging as often happens with oil or watercolor paint.

Many people refer to ink drawings made from dots as pointillism, but the correct technical term for ink dots is “stipple” or “stippling.”  The difference between pointillism, divisionism and stippling is that in stipple the dots are all made from the same color, and the other techniques use dots of many colors.  Now, you are experts on pointillism and can help me straighten people out when they ask.

Gail Niebrugge, pointillism artist

Almost every day I receive requests for donations of art to help raise money for worthy causes with the sales pitch that I can use the value of the donation as a deduction on my income tax.  Not true.  Over and over again some organizations seek more than the gift of a print, they ask for an original painting citing the tax deduction incentive and the other overworked expression; great exposure!  If you believe in the charity and want to donate, by all means do so, but don’t do it for the tax deduction or exposure.

First, let’s examine the great exposure angle.  A print placed on a table amid a long line of other merchandise for a silent auction usually without any information about the artist, or held up at an outcry auction with no artist information is not much exposure.  I can not remember a time when a stranger ever told me that they discovered my art and learned about me at a charity fund raiser.

Second, the tax deduction thing.  Yes, by all means take one but don’t be deceived.  You can only deduct the cost of materials used to make the product, nothing else. Argue all you want, but this is the law.  You cannot take the market value and you cannot calculate the labor and use these figures as your tax deduction.  For example let’s use a hypothetical painting with a market value of $6,000.00 that took the artist four weeks of labor to create, all that can be deducted on the IRS Tax forms is the cost of the materials used.  Let’s break down the costs of this hypothetical painting, it was created on a 24″x 30″ canvas at a cost of $24.00, the paint used is estimated at about $35.00, and the cost of the frame is $150.00, the total cost of materials is $164.00.  $164.00 is all that can be deducted!  The next time you are solicited for a donation with the hype of tax deductions and exposure, use this opportunity as a chance to educate.
Gail Niebrugge, fine art paintings

During shows I’m always amazed at some of the comments made by people who visit our booth.  One of the oddest comments was made during a recent show in complete earnest by two folks who spent a great deal of time studying a beautifully framed limited edition print “Night Light”.  It was reproduced from an original painting that was twice the size as the final print, and because the image was reduced so much in size the pointillism dots are very small.

The two folks who were examining “Night Light” finally asked if the print was a pixelated photograph.  After explaining that I was an artist and that these were prints of my pointillism paintings they were astonished.  Not because of the feat of painting an entire work with dots, they were astounded at my stupidity and said as much.  They then proceeded to patiently describe how I could save myself a lot of time if I just took photos and used the pixelate command in Photoshop to create the “look” of pointillism.  There was absolutely no understanding as to why I would want to create a scene different from a photograph and then deliberately choose the labor intense technique of dots.

Thank goodness for collectors and those who understand art and respect the creative effort it takes to make a good painting and who honor the time consuming application of pointillism.  With the continuing practice of eliminating art from education, I wonder how art will evolve during the next few decades.  Will it become extinct?  Will computer generated images replace hand-painted art, and all the skill and practice needed to make good works?
Gail Niebrugge, pointillism painter

A pesky moose found my garden compost piles hidden under the snow, and had a gourmet lunch!  I’m sure he will be back.  Now I’m in for trouble, moose have an uncanny memory and now know the location of my summer garden.  Last summer we were spared garden devastation by these hungry ungulates, but I’m not so sure we will be safe anymore!  It might be wise to put up a fence.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska wildlife artist

The view from my studio after a fresh snowfall.  I’m guessing these were children on a school field trip.  What a great way to wear-out kids!  I love the long, low, colorful light of the winter sunset in Alaska.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist

As with many families today, they are on the move and travel a lot.  Time to be together with family is cherished and often unconventional.  Our family is no exception.  Today we celebrate the holiday of Christmas with our son and daughter-in-law on the eve of their departure on a three-month journey to photograph the landscape in the lower 48 states.  We are blessed to have this opportunity to be together.  We will celebrate Christmas with the rest of our family during a more traditional time, but equally as un-traditional.  I’m not sure yet, but perhaps we will be near the ski slopes of Alyeska, in Girdwood, Alaska.  Staying flexible with our schedules and a willingness to forgo tradition works well for this talented and active family.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska painter

The Niebrugge Studio residence took a different approach this year and decided to honor the tiniest trees in the yard with Christmas lights.  One tree is so small that even one string of lights was too much.  All in all there are seven little trees under four feet tall, and a six foot double tree bearing lights. A bunch of itty bitty trees sparkling with lights surrounded by big trees bare but for a beautiful layer of snow makes an unusual display, and for some fun as well.  Hail to the baby tree may it grow to be tall and stately, towering protectively over smaller offshoots, providing a windbreak and shelter during storms, a summer residence for birds and squirrels, and always a thing of beauty.

Gail Niebrugge, artist

An edition of identical prints, numbered sequentially and individually signed by the  artist, having a stated limit to the quantity in the edition.  This is verified by the artist signature and a numerical listing (ie; 1/100) usually found toward to bottom on the front of the print.  The numerical listing denotes two things; the top number designates the place in the sequence that the print exists, and the lower number is the total prints in the edition.  In the example of 1/100, the number 1 means that this is the first print in the edition and the number 100 means that the edition contains 100 prints.

Artists generally use a non-reproducible pen or pencil to sign and number prints, silver or gold are often the choice.  This protects the print from unauthorized duplication that can be easily detected on close examination, and better exposed when compared to the original signature.

Is a limited edition better than a signed un-numbered edition?  This question can only be answered by the motives and needs of each individual collector.  Some will only purchase limited prints, although a limited edition in the ten’s of thousands is questionable as to its’ exclusivity.  Others do not care.  My advice is that each piece of art that you purchase should speak to your heart, and that alone should be the only criteria for ownership.

Gail Niebrugge, Artist

The process of offset lithography is the standard printing method for most media today.  Magazines, newspapers, flyers, brochures, calendars, and until ink jet printing, it was the method most commonly used for limited edition prints.  The majority of prints that we offer at Niebrugge Studio are manufactured using the offset lithograph.  The difference between our fine art prints and a magazine or calendar are twofold; one is the paper, ours is acid free, and two the ink, we require fade resistant inks.  Most commercial printing houses are not set-up to totally clean up the presses and change out the inks for a small press run of fine art prints.  Years ago when we began publishing limited edition fine art prints, no one in Alaska was set-up to handle this requirement, we found Arizona Lithographers, a commercial fine art printer in Tucson, Arizona, and have been with them for nearly two decades.

One main difference between Giclee digital ink jet (see yesterday’s blog post) and offset lithography, is ink jet uses an eight or twelve color process and offset lithography a four color process.  With eight colors the most subtle shades and hues can be duplicated and the color is rich and dense.  Another difference is that most offset presses cannot handle the large size heavy rag papers or canvas, and the professional ink jet printers can.  A third difference, and one that is very important to us, is with offset lithography the entire edition is generally printed at one time.  This creates a major storage issue.  We have over 100 offset lithograph editions and need a room to store them.  Giclee’s can be printed on demand, one at a time.  The only issue with this is additional record keeping to ensure that numbering is consistent and consecutive.  The final difference between the two processes is longevity.  With acid free paper and fade resistant inks offset prints have a life of about 30 years provided they are not placed in the direct sun.  Depending on the combination of substrates (canvas, rag paper, etc.) and pigment inks the life of a Giclee print can range from 70 to 200 years, again provided they are not exposed to direct sunlight.  Pigment inks are more stable, last for generations, and artists can over-paint them without bleeding.
For the consumer the offset lithograph is a high quality, low cost way to obtain an art print.  Giclee’s are more expensive to print and sell at a higher price.  But, for if you are looking for an exquisite, museum quality investment you can’t beat a Giclee.

Gail Niebrugge, partner, Niebrugge Studio

This question is often asked when working with our customers during shows. The simple answer is; a Giclee is a digital print made from an ink jet printer using the eight color process. This relatively new procedure produces the finest quality machine-made art print in the business today. Ink jet machines accommodate printing on heavy rag papers and artist canvas, and when combined with fade resistant ink sets create art prints with the longest life-span in the industry. In some cases the print is so accurate that it is difficult to discern from the original painting.

Why call it a Giclee? This term was coined during the beginning of the ink jet period and is used to differentiate between offset lithographs and ink jet editions. I guess the word sounded more sophisticated, but it is nothing more than a marketing term. During the inception of ink jet printing, very large expensive machines that cost well over $100,000.00 each were used. The first of such printers were made by a company called Iris, thus the first prints were called Iris Giclee’s.

Just as technology has produced better, and better, smaller and cheaper computers, it has done the same with ink jet printers. Today many artists have equipment in their own studios and produce their own prints, at Niebrugge Studio we print all of our smaller giclees. However, for our larger giclees we still rely on our faithful supplier who has been with us since the beginning when the first ones were made on Iris machines.

Hopefully this helps. If you have questions leave them in the comments box and I will share answers with everyone.

Gail Niebrugge, Artist

A funny thing happens to people while shopping in our booth, customers initially come to purchase Christmas presents for others and end up buying something for themselves instead!  Over and over again we’ve watched this happen.  This occurs more frequently when the shopper is accompanied by family or friends, because for some reason they encourage this behavior.  Or, one person will be shopping alone and falls in love with a piece of art, the next day they return with a spouse or friend and together they make the decision to purchase.  The fun of doing these shows is watching people fall in love with art and become owners.  This happened all day during the Christmas Village show at the Dena’ina Center last weekend.  Today there are many new owners of Niebrugge prints and giclee’s, and at Christmas there will be even more!

Gail Niebrugge, Pointillism artist

Here we are again setting up for our final show of the year. It was a messy, slushy drive into town, passing cars sprayed us with road grunge and we used up all of our windshield cleaner. The car and trailer are covered in a fine brown muddy, sandy, salty grime. The weather warmed up and it rained, so the streets are a mess. It is going to be treacherous when the temperature drops below freezing again, the roads will be sheets of ice. Setting up in the Dena’ina Center is a breeze, we can pull the car and trailer inside to unload. It should be a fun, busy show if the weather doesn’t dampen spirits this weekend.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaskan artist

“Juneau’s Glacier” 5×7 note card blank inside

“Sun Raven” 5×7 note card blank inside

Two new images added to our assortment of art cards, not on our website yet, but can be purchased through our distributor Taku Graphics.  Both images are available on our website as prints, click on these links “Juneau’s Glacier” and “Sun Raven”.

Today we are setting up our booth for the Christmas Village show in the Dena’ina Center, Anchorage.  The show is Saturday and Sunday, December 6-7, 2008.

See you there!

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist