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Just a few more details and the painting is finished!  I am surprised it went so fast, I expected to have to re-paint sections but it wasn’t necessary.  This original painting is titled “Blue Poppy” 18″x24″acrylic on canvas.  Next I send it to the photographer and finally select a frame.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska flower paintings

I’ve begun to intensify the blue color in the painting, and am refining the gradations.  As soon as I’m comfortable that the undulations in the petals and the leaves look soft, I’ll begin details.  Lots more to do first.  The dots are overlapping each other and building layers of beautiful color.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist

As the painting takes shape the dots become dense, I realize that I need to make the whole flower much more blue, an intense, beautiful blue.  It looks washed out at the moment.  Time to layer more dots over the existing dots with combinations of prussian, ultramarine, phthalo, cerulean and azure, some as tints and others as shades, some mixed with the compliment and others used in their purest form, perhaps thinned and applied as washes.  Time to enjoy and revel in the joy of color.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, floral artwork

At this stage I am layering dots to create gradation of color from dark to light on the flower petals.  I am working to define the three dimensional forms of the corolla, rolling undulating, thin, soft hairy leaves.  My Himalayan Blue Poppies thrived during the cool, wet summer last year and easily multiplied.  They need acidic, moist soil with good drainage, and shade.  The garden in front of the porch fits this description perfectly.  Now, if we get a hot, dry summer I may loose them, because I’m not good about daily watering.

The painting is taking shape, it needs a lot more work but is coming along fairly well.  I just need to keep on keeping on with the dots.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Flower paintings

The brown and sienna dots along the edges have been covered with various shades of green, I like the look, it feels more comfortable.  The poppy center is quickly roughed in, mainly to establish color and value to help me finish work on the flower petals.  That will be next.  The painting is about the petals, and they are so incomplete that I’m not sure right now if I can get them to “read” soft and fragile.  It seems a daunting task at the moment.  Right now they look stiff and heavy, like cardboard cut-outs.  I’ve got a lot of work to do, careful and subtle.   Very slight value changes, nothing drastic or hard.  The thin veins and tiny details will be left for the very, very last.  I must get the structure right first, like framing a house.   If the “bones” of the painting are correct, the rest will flow with ease.  We are looking at a lot of broken bones at the moment.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, flower artist

The petals of the Himilayan Blue Poppy are taking shape with the addition of many blue, blue green and blue violet dots.  I think the background is too dark and I’m not satisfied with the brown tinge to the overall color, maybe I’ll cover the brown dots with green ones and see how they look.  I want a softer “feel” to the image.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, pointillism original painting

This is a close-up of the lower right hand corner of the painting   At this stage I am filling in the white spaces around the original dots on the perimeter and adding some brownish orange, and rust colors along with the dark blues.  You can see how the dots begin to overlap each other, soon no white of the canvas will show.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, pointillism art

Now the painting is taking on an extremely pointillistic look, some artists will settle for the wide spacing of dots with white space showing around each one.  I, on the other hand, overlap my dots until they are difficult to see.  Don’t ask me why, it is intuitive.  I keep painting until the image satisfies my eye without regard to technique.  At this phase the image is difficult to discern, especially when working up close, and my brain feels the strain of sorting out the dots.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, pointillism painting

At this stage I begin to add multi-colored blue dots to define the layers of petals.  These dots will change in color and value many, many times before the painting is complete.  I’m working to establish the color dominance of the painting, at this point I’m using analogous hues in the blue family.  I might try to punch the blue up by using the complementary color along the perimeter with shades and hues of orange.  On the other hand, the center of the poppy is orange and that might be enough.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, pointillism painter

At this phase I begin to add pointillism around the perimeter of the flower petals.  I chose dark values to begin but I’m not sure that I will stay with blues and browns, once the blossom is painted I will adjust the background colors.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, flower artist

Time to paint again.  For the next month I will try to squeeze the yard work in between painting sessions.  I need time to stretch while painting, so going into the garden to do a chore or two during the middle of the day for an hour or so works for me.  The first project on the easel is to paint a big close-up of a Himalayan Blue Poppy, one that grew in my garden last summer.  I begin with a loose pencil sketch on a stretched canvas.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska flower artist