Remodeling All Done!

NewGranite

The saws, drills, glue, muddy boots, and worker chaos are all gone, instead I have beautiful new granite kitchen counters, stainless steel sink with a fancy faucet.  I love this.  New counters in the master bath as well.  We spent the rest of the day vacuuming, shaking out rugs, cleaning up plaster dust and wood [...]

Installing Granite

Remodel

I’m thinking I’m not going to be able to cook dinner in the kitchen tonight, new counter tops being installed!  Since my studio is in my home, I find it very hard to work while workers are running in and out using big drills, saws, and the like.  Hopefully the job will be finished tomorrow [...]

Light up the Darkness

TreeLights

Alaska comes alive during the holidays with tiny colorful lights everywhere.  Our long days of darkness are enhanced by outdoor lights.  This is a photo of the studio/residence at 9:00AM, December 2, the upstairs studio lights have been on for hours where I am hard at work.  The shortest day (solstice) is a few weeks [...]

Solving Problems

Sometimes it seems that everything I touch is screwed up, and this week is no exception.  Sometimes I feel like a prisoner to recorded telephone messages.  My website shopping cart is down and after two days of work it is not restored.  I’m loosing sales and customers, this is distressing.  I thought I was staying [...]

Experimenting With Concrete Leaf Stepping Stones

BuildBirdbath

Last week when making our mosaic concrete stepping stones we ended up with an excess of wet cement.  Not ones to let a valuable resource go to waste the group gathered some giant rhubarb leaves, placed them on piles of rounded sand and began shoveling cement over them.  Shown above are neighbors Mary Mystrom shoveling [...]

The “Un-Mold and Uncork” Party

UncorkUnmold

Gathered in the hangar waiting to un-mold our fabulous mosaic stepping stone creations, left to right; Bob Niebrugge, Lois Munford, John Mues, Jack Simpson, Dennis & Carol Eby, Joann Collins with visiting brother on her left, me, Sue Mues, taking the photo Mary Mystrom, missing; Sonya Falconer, Kathy and Lindie Sage.  Our first attempts will [...]

Learning to Make Mosaic Stepping Stones

DesignStones

Inspired by the recent garden tours a few of us decided to make mosaic stepping stones to decorate our own gardens.  To begin we researched “How to Make Mosaic Stepping Stones” on the internet where several teaching videos and step-by-step instructions gave us enough confidence to try.  We gathered a bunch of tiles, glass beads, [...]

Staying Productive While I Can’t Paint

My healing shoulder is progressing, I can now lift my arm on its own not quite as high as my shoulder, but it takes a big effort. I continue my physical therapy at home in the studio every day. This is a slow process. Meanwhile I’m staying productive and tackling huge, tedious jobs that have [...]

Inspiration to Paint

RedDawn

While doing physical therapy for my shoulder in the studio one morning I had the pleasure to watch the entire progress of a stunning red dawn, from the first delicate hues of pink to the peak where fire-like crimson dominated the southern horizon covering most of the south/east, south, and south/west sky. Finally, nearly and [...]

Daily Cardio Workouts for Shoulder Rehab

My daily routine during shoulder rehabilitation is shockingly different from the one I’ve followed for over 40 years as a self-employed artist. Before shoulder surgery I used to get up around 6:00AM and go to the gym for 45minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weights, then be at work in my home office by [...]

Patience & Positive Attitude for Healing

I’m not used to being idle, of not being in complete control of my activities and work, and having to depend on others for the simplest of tasks.  I’ve been blessed throughout my life with good health and resourcefulness during periods of injury.  The rotator cuff surgery last week on my dominant arm is testing [...]

Let The Lights Shine

ChristmasLights

After the fresh snowfall Saturday we decorated a few trees in the yard and every time I see them they make me happy.  It is so nice to break up the long dark Alaska nights with sparkling outdoor lights.  I won’t be able to do much more decorating this holiday season and unable to paint [...]

Thanksgiving Cactus Blooms

ThanksgivingCactus

Years ago when I bought this plant it was sold as a Christmas Cactus but it bloomed at Thanksgiving and again at Easter, never at Christmas.  I recently learned it is a Thanksgiving Cactus. It is a gorgeous, showy plant that thrives on neglect.  A perfect plant for me.  I’ve always managed to kill every [...]

Wicked Ice Rain Cripples Alaska Roads

IceRain

I am ever so thankful that we were able to drive home after the show with the loaded cargo trailer before the ice rain paralyzed traffic.  Monday morning I stepped out the door to fetch the newspaper and nearly fell, the driveway surface was as slick as if it had been smoothed with a zamboni.  [...]

Snow Dusts the Art Studio

SnowDust10

After a summer of rain in Alaska’s Matanuska valley we’ve had a beautiful, unseasonably warm fall.  Very few nights have dipped below 32º and daytime temperatures have been in the high 40′s to low 50′s.  The lawns are still green, Trumpeter swan and ducks feed freely along the shoreline of the unfrozen lake, and fishermen [...]

The Drama of Late Light

LateLight

September in Alaska brings crisp nights and warm days with long, gorgeous sunsets.  The cloud cover has hidden our view of the blazing evening sky a high percent of the time last summer, but if you watch patiently sometimes just before dark the clouds will part a bit and reveal the beauty of the very [...]

Busy Artist’s Life

Summer has caught up with me here in Alaska, in a big way.  Not only do we have a full contingency of house guests from the lower 48, but we have a huge amount of travel scheduled.  During this time I continue to make progress on the % for Art commission for the Palmer Courthouse [...]

Bob’s Veggie Pizza, Yum!

VeggiePizza

Bob makes a killer vegetable pizza on the outdoor grill.  Tons of sauteed fresh veges with lots of mozzarella cheese heated to melting on the Bar-B-Que, one of my favorite dinners.  Try it sometime.  Good for you and tastes good too!  A plate almost too pretty to consume. Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist

Watercolor Tools

WCBrushHolder

Years ago another artist gave me this wonderful brush holder, and I’ve been using it ever since for my valuable watercolor brushes.  It is made out of a soft, screen fabric.  The top flap folds down over the brushes and the mesh folder can be rolled up and tied with the red shoe string.  The [...]

Christmas Lights at Niebrugge Studio

treelights

We had fun embroidering the barren lilac tree with multi-colored lights and creating tiny white sparkles on several spruce trees in the front yard at Niebrugge Studio. It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas, stealing a line from a song! There is something wonderful about lighting up the darkness of winter in Alaska [...]

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