Through July 26 is a group show at Fairweather House and Gallery in Seaside. Artist Nick Brakel has 3 new paintings in the show, just finished up after many nights of painting until sunrise. The first two are a bit bigger than usual, measuring 24″x 30″.
These are all oil paintings with a bit of mixed media and hints of oil-based gold (the rose gold sunset is more than a hint). The artist is obsessed with Klimt, so sue me, you can’t take away my gold paint! Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and a lot of work, and I’m somewhat biased to the Blue Sunflower house painting. –Nick Brakel
My paintings are primarily oil, but they also beautifully incorporate mixed-media elements.
Often, I begin with a small painting in a watercolor sketchbook, striving to capture the scene on-site when possible. These intimate studies are created using highly pigmented artist-quality watercolor crayons and watercolor, allowing me to express the essence of the moment. The combination of these heartfelt small painting studies and several on-site photos deeply informs my larger paintings, reflecting the emotional journey of the experience. –Nick Brakel
For my canvases, I’ve always reveled in tinting the gesso to a color beyond mere white; it sparks my creativity! I embrace pre-stretched and gessoed canvas, then layer it with a delightful wash of tinted acrylic. I dive into the process by boldly blocking out the larger compositional elements with that beautifully tinted gesso, sketching in intricate details with vibrant, highly pigmented watercolor crayons. Then comes the exhilarating part—I begin adding luscious oil paints. I start with water-soluble oils, and as I build up more thickness on the canvas, I seamlessly transition to traditional Gamblin oil paints or other exquisite oils. For the three new paintings created for this show, I enhanced the highlights with iridescent paint, accentuating the beauty with highly pigmented Sennelier Gold Oil Bar and Gamblin Rich Gold oil paint, delicately thinned with lavender spike oil. I dedicated countless 10- to 12-hour days, pouring my heart and soul into these paintings, indulging in all-nighters over several weeks to bring them to life (a thrilling journey, albeit laborious and intense). –Nick Brakel
I had landscape books by Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Edvard Munch, and Vincent Van Gogh sprawled around me, a riot of genius in my studio, as I unleashed these paintings. Their audacious expressionist and post-impressionist mark-making techniques screamed out to me, tempting me into a bold dance of colors. The contrasting color theory blared in these paintings—look at Van Gogh, who wielded it with reckless brilliance! But I have my own game plan, too: I dive deep into the tantalizing theory of adjacent colors, perhaps even more fiercely. This was the playground of Delacroix and Klimt, dissected in my cherished Klimt landscape book. Forget painting just the local color; that’s for the timid! Instead, I blend that color with its audacious neighbors on the color wheel, layering in small post-impressionist strokes. This electrifying technique dares to brighten and amplify the colors beyond the mundane, creating a visual feast rather than just slapping down the color as it’s supposed to be. –-Nich Brakel
Delacroix revolutionized color theory in the 19th century by championing the emotional and optical power of color over strict classical draftsmanship.
He is famously credited with developing a double-triangle diagram—in which primary and secondary colors interlock, placing exact complements directly opposite one another.
Klimt was an Austrian symbolist painter and a founding member of the Vienna Secession movement. He is celebrated for his masterpieces, “ornate, intricate patterns” and striking Symbolism.
Klimt was also an accomplished landscape painter, often capturing the tranquil countryside.
Munch’s works were associated with Symbolism. Symbolist painters believed that art should reflect an emotion or idea rather than represent the natural world in the objective, quasi-scientific manner embodied by Realism and Impressionism.
Egon Schiele was an Austrian painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its rawness. The twisted shapes and the expressive line that characterize Schiele’s paintings and drawings mark the artist as an early exponent of post-expressionism.
Nick Brakel started his BFA at The College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, MN. I left after my foundational studies to focus on landscape painting on the North Shore of Lake Superior and
eventually finished my BFA at the University of Wisconsin.
Upon moving to Portland, I participated in The Print Arts Northwest Emerging Printmakers Residency. I also interned at Atelier Meridian Printmaking Studio for several years. I am continuing to pursue my art full-time. — Nick Brakel.
Fairweather House & Gallery
612 Broadway
In the Historic Gilbert District
Of downtown Seaside, Oregon
Summer hours: Thursday through Saturday, 11-5
Sunday 11- 3
Monday 11-4
Tuesday 11-4
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Fairweather House and Gallery has become one of the historic Gilbert District’s sought-after destinations, offering an ever-changing, amazing visual experience.–Seaside Signal, 2006
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