Niki Gulley

I love painting aspen trees and I usually work with a bold color palette, but in this painting, I wanted to convey a quieter, more peaceful mood. Opting for more pastel shades, and incorporating calming blues and greens, Muted Hues reminds me of the serenity I feel while walking through the forest on a cool autumn day, being totally immersed in nature, not a care in the world. I hope you are transported, too!

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Painted with extremely thick oil paint and palette knives so that this canvas is loaded with texture and bursting with color, flickering autumn leaves seem to almost dance in a gentle breeze. I wanted this scene to be filled with movement and energy, so I incorporated a lot of diagonal and curving shapes in the design to suggest that feeling. Combining short staccato strokes along with long sweeping passes with my palette knives, also increase that sense of motion. I hope you, too, can feel the excitement of walking through the woods on a beautiful fall day, letting your cares slip away and your spirit being invigorated.

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Painted with extremely thick oil paint and palette knives so that this canvas is loaded with texture and bursting with color, flickering autumn leaves seem to almost dance in a gentle breeze. I wanted this scene to be filled with movement and energy, so I incorporated a lot of diagonal and curving shapes in the design to suggest that feeling. While combining short staccato strokes along with long sweeping passes with my palette knives also increase that sense of motion. I hope you, too, can feel the excitement of walking through the woods on a beautiful fall day, letting your cares slip away and your spirit being invigorated.

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Scrolling bark peels back like white washed parchment revealing secrets in the deeply textured wood below. A painting of grace and beauty, it’s verticality offset by embracing branches wound round as a sheltering arm. Each stroke is crisp, vivid, defined by thick textured oil, rich colors strike a reververberating chord – purple and the compliment of gold create a visual vibration that resonates in an optical song.

To see more of my aspen and birch tree oil paintings, please visit my website at nikigulley.com/?page_id=1343.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information.

Niki's Blog aspen tree oil painting, aspens art, Colorado landscape, contemporary landscape painting birch, fall foliage, Niki Gulley paintings, Texas artist Niki Gulley, textured oil painting trees

Scrolling bark peels back like white washed parchment revealing secrets in the deeply textured wood below. A painting of grace and beauty, it’s verticality offset by embracing branches wound round as a sheltering arm. Each stroke is crisp, vivid, defined by thick textured oil, rich colors strike a reververberating chord – purple and the compliment of gold create a visual vibration that resonates in an optical song.

To see more of my aspen and birch tree oil paintings, please stop by my booth at the Broad Ripple Art Fair in Indianapolis, IN this weekend. Visit indplsartcenter.org/braf/ for details.

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Shimmering colors of autumn: Aspen trees quiver, their light graceful leaves tremble and quake, silver and gold, silver and gold with each light breeze. There is the quiet energy of change coming and vibrant color charges the woods. Crisp fall mountain air, clean bright skies overhead, a band of slender straight trunks cut bright strokes of white against a dazzling tumble of green, crimson and gold.

You may see this painting and more of my textured oil paintings at my booth this weekend at Art in the Square, Booth #J5, in Southlake, TX. Visit artinthesquare.com/default.aspx for details.

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I wanted this painting to be about the power and energy in nature to invigorate your spirit more so than an exact replica of the forest, so I chose to use warm vivid colors and thick staccato strokes to add to that feeling. I placed the foliage in diagonal sweeping shapes to create a sense of movement, so that you can feel the wind gently rustling the leaves and causing them to dance.

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