Blog Posts - JEAN KIEGERL - ARTIST

JEAN KIEGERL - ARTIST

When more is not better :(

18/1/2026

(I kept painting on the "Kwoiek Peak" but it is not matching my mental image of how I want the picture to look. What is happening?
- No value sketch first and "my mental notes are not worth the paper they are not written on."
- forgetting to look at the photo reference often as I work
- losing the strong lights and darks by over-blending

Moving on (when it is dry enough):
- thin bluish-white veil over the background mountains and sky to push them back.
- shadow glaze over most of the cliff
- detail the foreground vegetation and highlights.

Art Show Progress Report

18/1/2026

Show Title - __________________
Show Location - Nicola Valley Arts Gallery, 2051 Voght St, Merritt BC
Show Reception - April 10, 2026
Show Curator - Shannon Dunn
Show Sponsors -
NVCAC Sponsors - BC Arts Council, City of Merritt
Artist's Support - Yvonne Reddick, Creative Company, NVCAC, ...

Paintings ready to show: Online Gallery
Paintings left to finish:

Butterfly Meadow
Nicola Vally from Overpass
Kwoiek Mountain
Nicola Lake (commission)

Paintings still to start:

Hello Morning (sunflower)
Kentucky Blues

To-Do List - endless!

varnishing
framing
wiring for hanging
other preparation for show time

Inspiration plus focus

12/1/2026

All this and it is still early afternoon! Time to "step away from the picture" and go for a walk.

Colours: Ultramarine Blue Light, Prussian Blue, Transparent Red Oxide, Atrament Black, Titanium White.

Progress at last!

11/1/2026

A few days' break to catch up with life, and now back in the studio! Yesterday:
- I corrected the butterflies in the meadow, and will do the last details when it dries.
- I painted a thin veil over the distant hills in the Nicola Lake painting and brightened the mid-ground. Today I will touch up the foreground trees and maybe some animals will wander into sight.
- I sketched a vertical mountain scene on a 12x36" canvas that was prepped with oil primer. It is a photo I took years ago (pre-digital) while hiking in the Nahatlach Valley across the Fraser River.
I am looking forward to even more creative work today :)

Layer by layer

3/1/2026

Lighting problem fixed - maybe. Eight bulbs in the long ceiling fixture now have alternating bluish and yellowish LED bulbs. The result is a more neutral colour of light.

Today I continued to paint down the Nicola Lake canvas middle to bottom today. My paint colours are titanium white, mars black, sap green, naples yellow light, naples yellow dark, nickle quinachrodone gold, ultramarine blue light. The medium is Liquin Original. I am satisfied with it for now, but looking forward to adding details - maybe cows and definitely deer.

I still have the Butterfly Meadow (formerly Monarch Migration) to detail and the Nicola Valley from Millcreek Overpass grisaille to glaze. A 12x12" canvas is ready for a sunflower. Then I can tackle the 24x36" canvas that has a wonderful big frame - as soon as I think of an image for it. So many choices!

"Atomic Habits" in action

29/12/2025

lastAtomic Habits by James Clear (2018) is my new go-to book for getting things done. Today I clicked through a list organized according to his suggestions and I accomplished so much without stress. Amazing to me! Exercise, cleaning, and even painting!
I painted differently today, not sure why. I had a thin rough-in of the Nicola Lake view instead of the grisaille I ususally do. Today I just started painting from the top and continued down - sky, hills, lake, shoreline, trees. It seems to be working, but I can't say I love this technique. I am missing the magic of layering transparents. However, I will continue with it and see what happens.
Before and after today's painting. The sky is actually a beautiful pale blue gradation. I will try taking a daylight photo in the morning to get rid of the yellow colour shift from the studio lights. It's time to find a solution to that issue.

Maybe the problem is the photographer. With daylight, I have the blue but lost the yellow ochre.
Solved, or at least one problem identified - I was trying to make the whole image correct even though I had only repainted the top half. So the last photo of the top half is close to reality.

Christmas is over, back to work!

28/12/2025

So nice to have a brush in my hand again. I was starting to lose my confidence. So starting with the easy stuff...

First, lighten the grisaille of the View from Mill Creek Overpass so the colours have somewhere to show off. Done, let it dry!
Next, touch up a 12x24" canvas print of Caribou Migration to see if the dullness of the print surface could be revived with some acrylic overpainting. Yes, it can, though the difference from an untouched print is not obvious in the comparison photo. The retouched version looks noticeably better when both are next to the 24x48" acrylic original though.

Tomorrow - work on the "Nicola Lake commission."

Sunday Painter :)

14/12/2025

Sunday painting today :)

White Daisy, finished and signed. Next wait for it to dry and THEN varnish it.
Butterfly Meadow - paint the butterflies, BC endangered species
- What to do with that giant orange one? It could be closer to viewer but that would need something to show depth of field - a foreground shrub instead of the pond? But I really like the pond.
- Detail the blue one, quin gold on the yellow one, devalue the Orange Tip, correct error in water flow.

Later this week:

Brooks commission of Nicola Lake landscape - next layer
revisit the very dark grisaille of Nicola Valley/Mill Creek view to find the lights and whites

Short time = quick painting

12/12/2025

A half hour between tasks and Nancy to tell me what to do :)

Warm it up, shade the background, blur the background flowers, sharpen the main flower. Stop.

Step by step

9/12/2025

One more step, with Nancy's supervision - detailing the grasses and pond, then adding the flowers to tempt the butterflies.
When this layer dries, I have the joy of making the butterflies the stars of this meadow.

The Yellow Daisy is finished, varnished and wired. Same with the Moonshot #1, #2 amd #3, but #4 needs a little fix. The Moonshots #5 and #6 have been destroyed by the artist as unsalvageable because of varnish problems.
I might try a few more Moonshots as they are fun to do, and I have learned my lesson about varnish - use the right kind!