Aurora Borealis Rayed Band Formation
“Night Light” original acrylic painting in pointillism by Gail Niebrugge. Original painting sold, limited edition prints available.
My goal is to paint the northern lights in a unique way to show how truly awesome they are. I want my paintings to stand out from the usual colored-sky-silhouette-tree approach that are quickly banged out on gold pans by the thousands for tourists.
As I searched through my photo reference material I found that most of my photos of northern lights all look the same; blurry shapes of light in the sky and very dark, almost black foreground. My experience living in the wilderness of the Wrangell-St. Elias taught me that the aurora can really light up the darkness, as the lights reflect on the white snow the landscape becomes clearly visible. A skilled photographer can capture this using a tripod and long exposures, but my hand-held photos don’t. So, without good photo reference I imagined this whole scene; a beautiful landscape with the rayed band formation mirrored in water. As the painting progressed, I still wasn’t satisfied. It needed another element, something subtle, not just the typical tree and cabin that everyone paints. I called the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and asked about the habits of the trumpeter swan and found that they migrate at night just before freeze-up. Perfect! My aurora borealis gave light for their flight that night. As an artist I can create my own world where fantasy and reality are the same.
More tomorrow,
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Art
