Gail Niebrugge's Blog
“Teklanika Bears” 18.5″ x 35.5″ acrylic on masonite panel ©Gail Niebrugge I made all the adjustments discussed in the last post, added detail to the hills behind the spruce trees, worked on the rocks and darkened the reflection in the water. At this point I’m satisfied. Two Grizzly Bears walking along the Teklanika riverbed with [...]
At this step I’ve darkened the lower half of the painting, but I think the water and reflection are still too pale. Some detail is painted in the distant mountains and the riverbed but needs more. The hills behind the dark trees need definition and detail yet. More tomorrow. Gail Niebrugge, painting Alaska
This is a fairly large painting and it was important to walk a distance away from time to time to observe the progress. At this point all the spaces are blocked in, but very little detail is painted. I thought the row of bushes behind the bears was too bright, the gravel too blue, and [...]
My research for this painting consisted of photos I’d taken of bears in various places in Denali National Park, none were at this location. My photos of the mountain range did not include this part of the river, so I pulled my ideas together from many different photos and my memory. What intrigued me the [...]
I’ve had a gesso prepared masonite panel stored in my studio since 1976 when I arrived in Alaska. Bob carefully built more than 20 of these panels when we lived in California to take to Alaska. The original plan was to paint all summer, go back home and have an “Alaska” show. Well…..we never went [...]
“Moose One” acrylic on canvas 8″ x 10″ original pointillism painting. To purchase call for price and availability. To finish this miniature I layered more dots on the foreground foliage and finally developed the detail and form of the central figure. These mini’s are studies, an up-close look at subject matter that may be included [...]
I’m struggling to stay with the pointillism on the tiny flower shape on this miniature canvas painting. Working with red is wonderful, I love all the values of red that can be mixed with my limited palette of cadmium orange light and napthol crimson. I’ve added burnt sienna, or pthalo blue, or ultramarine blue, titanium [...]
The background is nearly finished at this phase and I’ve begun to add the light and dark values to the flower shape. Gail Niebrugge, flower artist
Began another miniature, 5″ x 7″ canvas, of a red rosebud. Even though these are a new batch of canvases the same paint adhesion problem exists. To solve this I coated the entire surface with acrylic gel, it is transparent and allows the drawing to be seen. After the gel coat the acrylic paint worked [...]
“Proud Mamma” original acrylic on canvas 9″ x 12″ ©Gail Niebrugge. To purchase call for price and availability. I love these little Mallard ducks, the feather coloring around the eyes and the shape of the beak makes them look like they are smiling. We have a pair of Mallards nesting along the shore in the [...]
At this stage I painted the reflections of the ducks and ripples in the foreground water. Next I began began developing the Mallard duck figures starting with the darkest values. This canvas is quite a bit larger than the previous ones and allows enough room to create a more complex composition in pointillism. Gail Niebrugge, [...]
On this 9″ x 12″ canvas I sketched the figures of a female Mallard duck and her brood of six chicks in pencil then laid thin wash of acrylic over the sketch, wet on wet as if working in watercolor. The next step is to begin applying acrylic paint in small colorful dots. I started [...]
“Puffin” acrylic on canvas 5″ x 7″ ©Gail Niebrugge. To purchase call for price and availability. I made the adjustments to the composition that were discussed in the last post and the image is comfortable, and deemed finished. This little study might be used someday as part of a major, larger work. Gail Niebrugge, waterfowl [...]
As I continued layering dots on this tiny canvas I realized that the composition was a little askew. I’ll need to adjust it using values, darken the area to the right of the puffin head and perhaps lighten the dark background in the center of the canvas to the left of the puffin chest. One [...]
On this little 5″ x 7″ canvas I’ve sketched a puffin and started painting dots with acrylic. These unusual looking birds can be found nesting in rocky rookeries along the Alaska coastline during July. This particular rocky island was festooned with beautiful wildflowers, a lovely place to explore. We spent an afternoon climbing around the [...]
“Common Loon” acrylic on canvas 5″ x 7″ study. Original painting SOLD. It was a challenge to isolate the dot pattern on this striking bird using the technique of pointillism. I’m satisfied with this little study. Someday this bird may appear as a part of a larger painting. Gail Niebrugge, waterfowl artist
At this stage of the miniature painting I’m going buggy trying to delineate the dot pattern on the loon image with pointillism. There are entirely too many dots for the eye to make sense of the image. My only recourse is to put the canvas on the easel and stand way back, 20 to 30 [...]
We’ve lived on the lake for six years, after months of research and observation I’m feeling comfortable in my knowledge painting some of the summer inhabitants. One of my favorite waterfowl is the Common Loon, these magnificent flashy birds rule the lake. Slowly cruising the surface periodically diving for food, other ducks and birds cut [...]
“Squirrel” acrylic on canvas 5″ x 7″ ©Gail Niebrugge. To purchase call for price and availability. I’m enjoying creating these studies of what I call Big Alaskan Boy’s in Miniature. These mini’s are studies, an up-close look at subject matter that may be included in a larger composition some day. Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist painting [...]
This canvas is moving along nicely, the smooth acrylic gel under coat is a pleasure to work with. I’ve began painting dots of color around the background of the squirrel figure. The figure itself has been glazed with mixture of yellow ochre, titanium white, burnt umber with just a touch of ultramarine blue. Gail Niebrugge, [...]
Gail Niebrugge (Knee-brew-ghe) born and raised in California has pursued art since childhood, winning a poster contest on the Johnny Jet television show at the age of twelve. Gail began her career as an illustrator for the US Navy and Marines in San Diego, and later established the Instructional Media Center for the Grossmont High School District in La Mesa, California. The Niebrugge family fell in love with Alaska while on vacation in 1976 and never returned home, instead they established a residence and studio in the remote interior settlement of Copper Center where the artist painted … [Read More...]
Wikipedia defines pointillism as; "a style of painting in which small distinct points of primary colors create the impression of a wide selection of secondary and intermediate colors." It goes on to say that the mind and the eye mix the color spots into a full range of tones and that it is closely related to Divisionism. Divisionism was practiced by Georges Seurat during the Neo-Impressionism period. He broke his color into basic elements and painted very small and regular dots. His dots are carefully placed as to not touch each other, so the white under painted canvas shows around all of the dots. I call my painting technique pointillism, but technically it is incorrect according to Wikipedia. The difference between my technique and true pointillism is that I use … [Read More...]