Gail Niebrugge's Blog
Here I stand with my pasty white Alaska skin, on the hot sands of Waikiki Beach looking conspicuously like a tourist. The town of Oahu, Honolulu, has grown enormously in the twenty years since we last visited. Previous stays we sought out all the major tourist attractions, so this time we opted to take the [...]
Our friends, Judy Tyke and Billie Lewis, drove two hours from the opposite side of the “big island” to meet our ship and show us around Hilo. We had a fabulous lunch at Pestos in the old town of Hilo, and fun at the Macadamia Nut Factory, but best of all we were able to [...]
After four days a sea we arrive at Hilo, Hawaii, today and meet with long-time friends from Glennallen, Alaska. We’ve been treated like royalty on the cruise ship, and food dominates each day. I especially enjoy the displays of vegetables and fruit carved and placed in decorative arrangements throughout the dining areas. Ice carvings also [...]
This winter has been one of the snowiest I can remember, the good news is that it is beautiful outside, the bad news is that it is a huge job keeping roads, driveways, walkways, patio Bar-B-Q accessible. We plow, snow blow, shovel and clean it up only to find wind drifts covering our work and [...]
A view of Fairbanks from the airplane window at -20 degrees two days ago, today it is snowing hard at my studio in the Matanuska Valley and the temperature has warmed to +38. Wild swings, wild weather, wild Alaska. It has been a most amazing winter. Tons of snow, absolutely gorgeous. Snow plows, snow blowers, [...]
Yesterday I had the pleasure to serve as a juror for the Fairbanks Art Association upcoming show, Patterns of Influence “Symphony of Light,” that opens February 3 in the gallery at the Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts in Pioneer Park, Fairbanks, Alaska. Many artists braved the sub zero temperatures to attend my slide show/lecture [...]
About 40 years ago we brought our family to the historic movie set of Old Tucson, Arizona, John Wayne was still making cowboy movies and we recognized many of the buildings and streets in films. It was exciting. Yesterday we revisited this place of many memories after a drive through the magnificent Saguaro National Park. [...]
While eating dinner at the SaddleBrook Preserve last night and tiny herd of seven deer grazed in the brushy area below the patio. They are so much fun to watch, quiet and quick, first you see them then you don’t. An enjoyable memory of our time in Tucson, Arizona. Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist
When I was young I had Pen Pals, and we wrote letters to each other regularly. I remember running out to the mail box in anticipation of an envelope addressed to me in my Pen Pal’s handwriting. I’d read and re-read each letter over and over enjoying the smell of the stationary and any flaws [...]
Sandy and Sean Parnell We topped off a busy week of travel with our house guests enjoying the down home hospitality of our own community, first attending the Friday Fling in downtown Palmer, later seeing our Governor Sean Parnell and his wife Sandy at the annual picnic at the Palmer Fairgrounds. A generous serving of [...]
Bob and me, Arlene and Bob Shuster Every time we drive the Seward Highway and pass the Summit Lake Lodge I marvel at the beautiful setting along the lake, well-kept grounds, and delightful wood carvings that adorn doors, fences, and the exterior of the log buildings. This year we visited the ice cream shop with [...]
Every year we fish for King Salmon with our favorite guide Jeremy Anderson of Alaska Drift Away Fishing. This time we spent two sunny, warm days drifting down the Kalisof River, Alaska, enjoying excellent scenery, great fishing action, and the type of outstanding service that Jeremy is famous. Not only did everyone catch a King, [...]
It is fun to have house guests from out-of-state, it creates the opportunity to visit places that we ordinarily might skip. We drove to Willow, Alaska, to visit the gorgeous yard of master gardener Les Brake, who has been featured in numerous magazines including Horticulture, Sunset, Country Living, Gardens Illustrated as well as featured in [...]
The second day of meetings with the Alaska State Council on the Arts in Juneau, Alaska, was jam-packed. We met in the beautiful Juneau Arts & Humanities Council building and were surrounded by paintings from a recent juried art show, the Alaska State Teacher of the Year, Lorrie Heagy, gave a moving and inspirational presentation [...]
Art Rotch, director of Perseverance Theater located on Douglas Island, Juneau, Alaska, gives the Alaska State Council on the Arts Board of Directors a tour of the theater and the complex catacombs underground where costumes, props, lighting, and actors work to make Alaska’s largest professional theater come to life. We had a fascinating, interesting presentation [...]
Our sixth day of cruising was spent at sea with frequent viewings of porpoise, whales, and rocky tree-studded islands, a beauty unsurpassed. On the morning of the seventh day we arrived at the magnificent city of Vancouver, BC. After a hectic and rather uncoordinated disembarkment, not the usual standard that we have come to expect [...]
Our last stop on the seven day Alaska cruise was the lush, green city of Ketchikan. Flowers and totem poles abound, but my favorite place is the historic bordello district Creek Street. We enjoyed talking to the staff at Scanlon Gallery, they have been selling my work for more than 20 years and have a [...]
Back to my journal; day four of our seven day Alaska cruise found us basking under sunshine in the capitol city of Alaska, Juneau. We had a busy, fun-filled day touring as much of Juneau as we could cram into our schedule. Pictured above are Bob and I at the fabulous Mendenhall Glacier. We were [...]
Day three found us berthed with three other cruise ships on the docks at the historic gold rush town, Skagway, Alaska. One of my favorite things to do in Skagway is ride the White Pass & Yukon Railroad, the scenery is breathtaking and seeped in history. At this time of the year the summit is [...]
The first two days on our Alaska cruise we toured the Hubbard Glacier at Yakutat, and spent all day motoring through gorgeous Glacier Bay. At this time of the year the temperatures were a bit nippy and the landscape was just beginning to turn green, but the scenery was a spectacular. Photo above; Gail and [...]
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...]