Paris paintings

New “Passage of Our Ancestors” Palette Knife Painting by Niki Gulley

November 22, 2023

28″ x 16″ textured mixed media painting on canvas

In “Passage of Our Ancestors,” I was remembering when we visited the catacombs in Paris. Miles of bones all stacked on top of one another had quite the profound overwhelming effect on me. What if there was a way to flip that underground darkness into a celebration of life and death? Hispanic culture embraces the Day of the Dead, so why couldn’t I?see these lives lost in a diffrent light? Sorting through my photos, I was drawn to this section where the heads were arrranged in the shape of the cross. Femurs, tibias, etc. are stacked all around them, which I just hinted at in my painting. Painting the skulls in colorful technicolor starts to flip the narrative to a celebration of these precious souls. But, what I’m really looking forward to is hearing your interpretation.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information on “Passage of Our Ancestors.”

Or, to see more of my textured palette knife paintings, please visit nikigulley.com.

Day 1 – Paris Art Trek w/ Niki Gulley & Scott Williams

June 8, 2012

Eiffel Tower • 10″ x 8″ oil painting by Niki Gulley • SOLD

Day 1 – Art Trek Paris

For the first day of our painting & photography workshop in Paris, we had to visit the Eiffel Tower. After enjoying the panorama view from the tallest building in Europe, we grabbed some lunch at a Parisian café and nourished for the afternoon, set up our easels at this lovely park to paint the Eiffel Tower.

Part of our group at the Eiffel Tower.

While the morning was slightly chilly and overcast, the clouds parted and sun came out just in time to paint and shoot. All of our students agreed, this was the perfect spot to paint the Paris landmark – a little shade, a gentle path leading you to the subject, lush greenery and delicate pink, purple petals from the blooming lilac-like trees, tucked away from the crowds.

Some of our painters with their travel easels, painting the Eiffel Tower.

If you would like to come along on one of our upcoming Plein Air Painting / Photography Workshops to

Santa Fe, NM Aug. 12 – 18 (see nikigulley.com/art-classes) or

Tuscany, Italy Aug. 31 – Sept. 8 (visit nikigulley.com/artreks),

please e-mail Niki Gulley for more information. Registration deadlines are quickly approaching. We’d love to have you join us!

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To see more of my contemporary landscape paintings, please go to my website at NikiGulley.com.

Painting Monet’s Garden

November 18, 2011

12” x 24” textured oil on wrap around canvas

Early morning light washes over Monet’s water lily garden in his beloved home at Giverny, France. Quiet, tranquil colors rim the pond, reflected in the glassy surface, waters casting back sky and foliage in a radiance of hues. Iris leaves front the pond, lilies break its surface, willows brush the water’s edge – everything just as Monet would have seen, now in a fresh, contemporary new work of art.

I’ll have several of my paintings from Paris along with my landscapes closer to home this weekend at the Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas. This is my last art show for 2011, so hope you can stop by. For more details on the show, click here dallasculture.org/bathhouseculturecenter/calendarDetail.asp?id=7770.

Or, if you would like to join us in May for our next ArtTrek to Paris, France, and paint Monet’s Gardens in person, visit nikigulley.com/?page_id=1420, which goes into detail about our upcoming Plein Air Painting & Photography Workshops. Registration deadline for Paris is today!

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E-mail me at Niki@NikiGulley.comfor more information. Visit my website at NikiGulley.com to see more of my contemporary landscape paintings.

Art Treks – Paris – deadline this Friday

November 16, 2011

Three 48″ x 30″ canvases to form a 48″ x 90″ triptych

textured mixed media on wrap around canvas

I decided it would be a fun challenge to create an extremely large painting, and I wanted the final piece to be very uplifting, colorful and full of energy. Opting for warm colors and working with extremely thick oil paint and palette knives, I chose this lily pond reference from our visit to Monet’s Gardens in Giverny, France. The grounds were breathtaking and I could actually see his paintings come to life. I was drawn to the energetic flow and yet calming serenity in this view, and I positioned the water lilies and my paint strokes in a circular pattern to add to that mood. The morning light peeking through the distant foliage added to a sense of mystery and promise that I wanted to capture in paint, and share with you that feeling of hope.

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E-mail me at Niki@NikiGulley.comfor more information. Visit my website at NikiGulley.com to see more of my contemporary landscape paintings.