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Join me at the historic Kennecott, in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, July 17 for a two hour field sketching workshop from 1:15-3:15PM. Art supplies provided. I will be giving a slide presentation showing 30 years of painting the Wrangell-St. Elias July 17, 4:00-5:30PM at the Kennecott Recreation Hall.  Slide presentation July 18, 8:00PM at the Kennecott Glacier Lodge. I don’t think I will be able to post to my blog during my week at the Kennecott, but will catch you up on all the happenings when I return to the studio.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

I’m getting ready to spend some time in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park as the Artist in Residence 2007. Friday, July 13 at 7:00PM I will be presenting a slide show at the Copper River Princess Lodge, showing 30 years of paintings. July 13 at 1:15-3:15PM I host “A Walk through the Eyes of an Artist” with a field sketching workshop at the park Visitor Center. Art supplies are provided. You can find out more about my schedule in the park by going to the Events Calendar on my website.

During my stay in the park I may not be able to update my blog, but will certainly update everything when I return to the studio. From the Copper Center headquarters I will travel to the Kennicott where I will spend the bulk of my time. Hope to see some of you out there, it is one of the most beautiful places in the world!

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

Gail and Karin Marks, owner of the Art Shop Gallery in Homer, relax after a successful show.  Karin, always the perfect hostess, prepared a delicious dinner afterward for the gallery staff, family and friends.  It was a wonderful day.  The weather in Homer was beautiful, sunny but not too hot, just the way I like it!  We drove to Homer after watching the Mt. Marathon Race on the 4th of July in Seward.  Our son, famous photographer Ron, announced the women’s race from a flatbed truck on Main Street.  What a hoot!

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

From left to right; Don Texter from Luxury Limousines in Anchorage, Suzanne Teng the Product Manager for North America and Europe with Abercrombie & Kent the original luxury travel company, myself, and Michele Glass the Senior Account Manager for Entree Alaska Tours a company that specializes in exclusive, extraordinary custom travel in Alaska. During their visit to my studio we discussed adding tours of the studio, field trips exploring the landscape through the eyes of the artist, and other personalized experiences to their Alaska tour offerings next year. Sound interesting? Just give these folks a call and they will take care of your every travel need.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

Bob and I with a pile of cannon balls at the old fort in historic San Juan, Puerto Rico.

After visiting the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, we spent several days exploring Puerto Rico. We enjoyed the El Yunque rainforest and driving along the eastern coastline to Guayama before crossing the island back to San Juan. By now we were well rested, tan, and ready to return to Alaska where the snow would be melting and temperatures in April generally stay above freezing.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

We spent a wonderful day at an all inclusive beach resort at De Palm Island, Aruba, basking in the sun, swiming, and snorkeling. By now my sunburn was turning into a golden tan and I was feeling more comfortable in my ten-year old purple bathing suit, I decided to challenge my rusty swimming skills by snorkeling in the surf. I love watching the tropical fish dart in and out of rocky coves and coral formations. For a fleeting moment I thought it would be fun to paint scenes of tropical fish, but soon realized that I did not have enough knowledge of this underwater world to do it justice.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

One of the best parts of cruising is the food. We were very fortunate to have fun, interesting, fabulous dinner companions at early seating while on our South America/Panama Canal cruise. Every evening was full of great conversation, information, and plain ‘ole silliness. We had so much fun every night that the wait staff nearly kicked us out in order to prepare the tables for late seating. We miss our new friends. From left to right; Dr. Wilber Spaulding, Ann Wacker, me (tan and happy), my husband Bob, Mary Lou Spaulding, and Ron Wacker. Thank you Ron, for the great photo!

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

Even though we have traversed the Panama Canal before, the experience is always facinating and enjoyable. Our ship, the Regal Princess, had very little room to spare in the locks and was just about the biggest vessel that can be accomodated. We enjoyed spending all day in the hot sun during the trip though the canal where I used lots of sun screen, by this time my white body was turning a ripe shade of red, but it felt so good!

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

An artist painting at the ox cart factory in the lovely city of Sarchi, Costa Rica. We were fortunate to have enough time in Costa Rica to travel to the Poas Volcano National Park, and to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens where we saw a butterfly observatory and a humingbird aviary. The vibrant colors of the tropical flowers were fantastic, and I loved the beautiful butterflies. Now I want to paint butterflies! I liked Costa Rica very much.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

Boats are still built by hand in the coastal town of Quito (Manta), Ecuador. The weather was hot and humid, just what our lily white, sun deprived bodies needed. We traveled overland to Montecristi and visited an artisans market and watched women make Panama hats by hand. The living conditions in this region were squalid and sparse, fortunately the climate is warm and shelter from the sun is all that is really needed.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaskan Artist

The Alaska winter was very, very cold this year, and by March a visit to warmer climates was in order.  Bob took this photo of me at the Parque del Amor in Lima, Peru, in the beautiful Miraflores Park above the Pacific Ocean, standing by the famous statue dedicated to love.  We enjoyed artistic pathway walls decorated with mosaics and lush flower gardens at this park near downtown Lima. There are many interesting subjects for an artist to paint in this South American city.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist

The drive to Fairbanks was a pleasure, beautiful, clear and sunny all the way.  The roads were dry and well-maintained.  It always seems strange to pass through the deserted, boarded up village of Denali Park when only a few months ago it was alive with tour busses and people everywhere.  Now the traffic lights are shut down, snow drifts block the streets and not a soul is in sight, even the gas station is closed! (more…)

Last year we won a prize in a drawing at the Alaska State Fair, Palmer, a round trip for two and a tour of the the Alaska Kuparuk Oil Fields, sponsored by Conoco/Phillips. We scheduled our tour for July 2006, during the warmest time of the year in this normally dark frigid region. We began the tour by meeting our guide at 5:30 AM at the Conoco/Phillips check in counter at Ted Steven’s International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska. (more…)

Playing hooky from work this week we took our house guests to Seward, Alaska, for three days of sight seeing, fishing and eating!! Emphasis on eating. We were greeted by the sun on the day we arrived, and found out that this was the first day of sunshine since the 4th of July weekend! Apparently the weather had been cloudy, rainy, foggy, windy and cold during most of July bringing havoc to the charter fishing business with high seas and miserable conditions. Not so for our visit! We were greeted with beautiful sun, warm temperatures, calm seas and endless vistas of beautiful scenery. We were charged and ready to go! (more…)