niebruggestudio.com

“Kennicott Melt Pool” original painting in pointillism by Gail Niebrugge, original painting sold, limited edition prints sold out a few Artist Proofs are available.

One day while poking around the rubble of the historic copper mine looking for a fresh subject to paint or a new view of the Kennicott, I decided to hike out onto the glacier moraine to see things from a different perspective. Moraine is dirt and gravel on top of glacier ice, and not easy to traverse. I slipped and slid up and down slopes and canyons until I came to the highest ridge in the vicinity. Sounds of rocks falling into water concerned me as I scrambled to the top, I froze when I saw an almost vertical drop of 20-30′ to a bottomless pool of water below! There is no escape from a fall into this chasm. Surviving immediate hypothermia without ice ax, ropes, crampons and pitons, would be all over but for the screaming. With these thoughts on my mind, I circumnavigated the melt pool and found this amazing scene to paint on the opposite side. I chose a longer, safer route back, and it was even longer before my adrenaline to return to normal.  Today this melt pool does not exist.
More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Art of Alaska

“Tall Tales” original acrylic painting in pointillism by Gail Niebrugge, sold.

Back to my series on living and painting in the Wrangell-St. Elias region of Alaska. The telling of tall tales is an annual tradition in McCarthy held on the street in front of the lodge one Sunday each summer. Tourists and locals are entertained by fantastic yarns and silly stories all afternoon, and the tale spinners enhance the experience by dressing in costume. I don’t know if this tradition continues today, but to encourage participation a cash prize is given for the best story. In this painting two of my favorite local characters are performing, both are gone now but this painting remains a testament to a wild life and wild spins in McCarthy. And, to memories of personalities that are missed…..
More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska art

“Showers” original painting in pointillism by Gail Niebrugge, original sold, limited editions sold out, a few Artist Proofs available.

The McCarthy Lodge during fall with the icon old truck. I put the truck in the painting because I think it is an important part of the history of this remote town. I have no idea where the truck is today, I wish someone would clean it up and put it back on main street. This painting was done from research that I obtained while I was serving as the first Artist- in-Residence for the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The residents and park rangers were at a town meeting inside the lodge discussing improvements to the McCarthy Road, I stayed outside to watch the “termination dust” on the mountains and found this great water puddle with a reflection. The mechanics of politics do not interest me, I leave that to others who are emotionally tougher and stronger, I am better at finding the heart and soul of a place and presenting what I see to the world in a painting. Quietly watching, waiting, observing, sketching, photographing, writing in my journal, this is my life as an artist.
More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Art

Tilting Hilton 6″ x 8″ mini original acrylic and watercolor painting in pointillism.

My goal is to have a few miniature originals available at our rapidly approaching Open House, October 20-21. This is a painting of the tippy outhouse that served us while we lived in Caribou Cabin along the Klutina River in Copper Center, Alaska. This building was the subject of much discussion and many jokes. I’ve waited until the last minute to finish these minis, hopefully Bob will have enough time to frame them.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska pointillism artist

Sunflower 36″x48″ acrylic on canvas original pointillism painting.

The finished painting Sunflower. Next, the completed work will be photographed and digitized for my records, once the photography is complete I will apply several coats of Gloss Acrylic Gel to the entire surface. The gel will intensify color and give a nice tough finish to the surface. Since I prefer to use gloss gel I wait until after the painting is photographed before applying the finish coat, because the photo lighting reflects off the glossy surface and creates tiny white sparkles on the painting. When the gel coat is dry I take the painting to the frame shop for framing. Meanwhile I enter the title and vital information into my original painting database and original painting price lists. The image will be submitted for registration with the U.S. Government Copyright Office. The painting should be ready to exhibit at our annual Open House, October 20-21.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Pointillism Artist

I’m beginning to add details to the lower leaves. This is the fun part of painting, details make the whole piece come together!

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Art of Alaska

I’ve made some changes to the composition to keep your eye traveling around inside the painting. In the upside down photo posted a few days ago the strong diagonal lines and highlights on the leaves caused the viewers eye to be drawn off the picture plane in the upper left corner. By darkening the leaves near the upper left corner and darkening the purple/blue spaces between the leaves the composition seems to be working a bit better. I’m still planning to refine the composition as I develop the details. Sometimes the devil is in details, and can throw a very good painting off balance quickly. Constantly checking the painting upside down, sideways, and using a mirror to reverse the image are handy tricks I use to keep the composition flowing.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

I am nearing the finish of the Sunflower original painting and it is time to add details, a part of painting that I enjoy very much! The photo above shows highlights and shadows on the seeds in the center of the sunflower. Next I will complete the detail on the yellow petals, and finally the leaves. Detail is saved for the very last.

More tomorrow.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Art

At this point in the progress of the Sunflower original painting I evaluate the composition while the canvas is upside down. Compositional flaws will be quite obvious from this perspective. The upside down view shows me that the upper left portion of this painting is too light, and the diagonal lines of the leaves draw your eyes off the canvas at the corner. Otherwise, the rest of the composition is quite comfortable at this point.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Art of Alaska

Close-up of the center of the Sunflower original painting viewed upside down. I am developing the shadows between the seeds in the center of the flower. It is easier to reach this area of the painting by placing it upside down on the easel.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Art of Alaska

More visitors to the studio, this time my cousin and his wife Bob and Netia Manning from Mountain Home Idaho. Cousin Bob and I are standing next to the partially finished sunflower painting. The center seed area requires a lot more work, but the rest of the painting needs only highlights, darks and details. I’ll keep you posted.

Gail Niebrugge, Art of Alaska

Close-up detail of underpainting where several layers of dots have been applied to the leaves in the lower left section of the Sunflower original painting. (more…)

A close-up detail showing pencil lines, underpainting, and first layer of dots on the upper left section of the sunflower original painting. (more…)

This is a fairly large canvas, 36″x48,” with the easel positioned as low as it can go. Tall canvases require a lot of adjusting of the easel up and down in order for me to paint comfortably. I work hard to avoid bending over or raising my arm for long periods of time. The problem is that I have a tendency to be lazy and hate to take the time to move my tabouret, pull the easel out from the wall, unlock the stops and ratchet the easel to a new height then lock the stops, push the easel back and reposition the tabouret. So, I end up limiting my painting to one section of the composition at a time instead of moving freely around the whole canvas. For extremely large canvases I use more than one easel, sometimes I’ve used three easels and the logistics become even more complicated.

What I need is an easel with a pneumatic pump, like the one on my adjustable chair. My drafting table works that way too, but I’ve never seen an easel with one. Anyone know of such a product?
More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

At this stage I concentrated on placing mid-value dots of acrylic paint on the top leaves and begin to develop the petals along the upper portion of the flower in pointillism.

More tomorrow,

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

First I lightly sketch the subject onto a canvas using a pencil, after that I flung paint all over the original sketch from several large brushes and created a random splattering of various colors. When the splatters and drips dried I applied acrylic paint as a transparent wash to fill in large areas with pale color. Next, I begin the time consuming task of layering opaque acrylic dots in mid-values on top of the transparent wash to begin developing the background leaves, petals, and the seed-filled center of the flower. The research for this painting took place several years ago in my back yard where this giant sunflower sprouted from a stray seed from the bird feeder. Fortunatley it landed in a flower bed and was easy to nurture.
More tomorrow.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

The finished original painting “High Country” in pointillism.

This original painting is available as a giclee on canvas and can be ordered on my website. The giclee is slightly smaller (22′x44″) than the original painting, but can be custom ordered larger or smaller. My technique of pointillism is slow and painstaking, but very satisfying. I am very proud of this painting. It is a view north to the Alaska Mountain Range from the Denali Highway in interior Alaska, a place that I spent many, many years exploring when I lived in the rural wilderness of Copper Center.

Thank you for following my Blog.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

Close-up detail showing a section of the original painting “High Country”.

The pointillism on the midground ridges is shown here as shown in my previous Blog entry Painting with Pointillism 11. You can also see the detail in the lake.

More tomorrow.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

Finishing details are added in pointillism to original painting “High Country”.

I’ve been concentrating on the lakes and the ridges directly behind the lakes, adding detail in pointillism. I’ve also added more detail to the distant mountains, the painting is nearly finished.

More tomorrow.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaskan Artist

Partially finished painting in pointillism “High Country”.

At this stage I’m adding detail, more in the immediate foreground and much more to the midground valley. You can see patches of snow in the greyed back valley tundra. The dark ridge in the distance is taking on structure with details of forests of trees creating interesting patterns. Detail and pointillism have been applied to the distant mountains, and more work has been done to the clouds in the sky. The painting is taking shape at this point.

More tomorrow.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist