contemporary landscape painting

Day 4 of Plein Air Painting & Photo Workshop in Santa Fe w/ Niki Gulley & Scott Williams

August 24, 2011

9×12 textured oil by Niki Gullley

Plein Air Painting & Photography Workshop in Santa Fe, NM

Day 4, morning location: Rio Chama

On Day 4 of our Santa Fe workshop, we headed out early for our most complex location, a striking scenic overlook of the Rio Chama. Being perched along the rim of a cliff, our group was a little nervous, but once they adjusted to the height, they could really appreciate the beauty of the scene for their paintings. With so much going on below and only a half day to capture the landscape, we had to majorly simplify the canyon into basic shapes and colors. The river not only served as a perfect focal point, but also created a soft flowing line to lead the viewer’s eye through our paintings. The rocky mountains provided a contrasting craggy texture and the green foliage added some life and color to the desert landscape.

Choosing to paint with palette knife today, I had a lot of fun playing with textures and mixing colors, which ended up adding to a feeling of spontaneity in the final painting, filled with energy and movement. While outside their comfort zone, my students’ also produced some of their best paintings from the trip!

Painting along the Rio Chama.

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If you’d like more information on our upcoming

Plein-Air Painting & Photography Workshops, please e-mail me at Niki Gulley,

or visit my website at nikigulley.com/?page_id=13.

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To see more of my contemporary impressionistic landscape paintings, go to https://www.nikigulley.com/?page_id=33,

or to purchase this plein air study from Santa Fe, e-mail me at Niki Gulley.

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August 22, 2011

6×12 acrylic demo by Niki Gullley

Plein Air Painting & Photography Workshop in Santa Fe, NM

Day 3, location: Ghost Ranch

On Day 3 of our Santa Fe workshop, we headed to Georgia O’Keefe’s home and painted at the gorgeous Ghost Ranch. Between the striking rock formations, the beauty and uniqueness of the stark desert landscape, the perfectly formed white puffy clouds, and the pure quality of the light on everything in sight, it was challenging to narrow down a subject. But, I promised my acrylic painters that I’d do an acrylic demo for them, so I quickly chose this mountainside with the morning light creating brilliant peach and adobe colored highlights, contrasted against a turquoise-blue sky. The landscape was so wide and open, a panorama format seemed to work best for this scene.

While working with the acrylics were tricky due to their quick drying time, it was also far easier to avoid colors getting muddy from overworking the paint in oils. I just had to squeeze out less paint and more often than I do with oils. Establishing the major shapes and colors, then blocking in the darks, and lastly the highlights, I quickly sketched the scene for the group. Working with my largest brushes first for speed and continuity, and then moving into smaller ones for details. The left side of the scene needed something for balance, so I demonstrated how to paint this snarly cactus. With another half hour, I could have completed the scene but I wanted to get our group started on their paintings before the soft morning light was gone.

And, look at the results! Some of our students and their wonderful paintings at Ghost Ranch.

•

If you’d like more information on our upcoming

Plein-Air Painting & Photography Workshops, please e-mail me at Niki Gulley,

or visit my website at nikigulley.com/?page_id=13.

•

To see more of my contemporary impressionistic landscape paintings, go to nikigulley.com/?page_id=33,

or to purchase this plein air study from Santa Fe, e-mail me at Niki Gulley.

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Day 2, Chimayo – Painting / Photo workshop with Niki Gulley & Scott Williams

August 20, 2011

7×5 oil by Niki Gullley

Plein Air Painting & Photography Workshop in Santa Fe, NM

Day 2, afternoon location: Chimayo

After our lovely morning location in downtown Santa Fe, we headed north into the hills to photograph and paint Chimayo. While the church seemed like a simple subject for us to paint, the large number of angles and lack of straight lines on the adobe structure proved to be quite a challenge! Everyone did great, and we treated ourselves to sangria and the best meal of the trip at Rancho de Chimayo afterwards.

Part of our group, and our mascot “Shiloh,” painting and enjoying the shade at Chimayo.

Jeanette Korab adding the final touch to her beautiful painting.

If you’d like more information on our upcoming

Plein-Air Painting & Photography Workshops, please e-mail me at Niki Gulley,

or visit my website at nikigulley.com/?page_id=13.

To see more of my contemporary impressionistic landscape paintings, go to nikigulley.com/?page_id=33,

or to purchase this plein air study from Santa Fe, e-mail me at Niki Gulley.

Day 2 – Santa Fe Painting / Photo Workshop with Niki Gulley & Scott Williams

August 17, 2011

12×9 pastel by Niki Gullley

Plein Air Painting & Photography Workshop in Santa Fe, NM

Day 2, morning location: downtown Santa Fe

Day two of our Santa Fe workshop, we headed to a quiet street in downtown Santa Fe. It was a beautiful morning, with temperatures around 70 to 80 degrees and plenty of shade. We were all drawn to the unique adobe architecture typical in Santa Fe, the soft morning light, and the vibrant color accents on each home. I chose this periwinkle doorway for my quick demo in pastels, both for the striking contrast against the orange pueblo and also because the russian sage everywhere was so beautiful, and added some balance on the left hand side of the composition. We all thoroughly enjoyed the morning, even if a passing homeowner or two were disappointed that we hadn’t picked their doorways to paint!

One of my students, Barbara Moore, working in pastels on this adobe doorway.

Nancy Standlee completing her acrylic of this pueblo home. Beautiful!

If you’d like more information on our upcoming

Plein-Air Painting & Photography Workshops, please e-mail me at Niki Gulley,

or visit my website at nikigulley.com/?page_id=13.

To see more of my contemporary impressionistic landscape paintings, go to nikigulley.com/?page_id=33,

or to purchase this plein air study from Santa Fe, e-mail me at Niki Gulley.

Day 1 – Santa Fe Workshop with Niki Gulley & Scott Williams

August 15, 2011

9×12 oil painting by Niki Gullley

Plein Air Painting & Photography Workshop in Santa Fe, NM

Day 1, morning location: Echo Canyon

We just got back from our week long workshop we taught in Santa Fe, NM, and what a beautiful week we had! While near 90 degrees, it sure beat our 100s here in Texas, and we avoided the humidity. We lucked out all week, and it never rained while we were painting. Most everyone in the group was either new to painting or it was their first time to sketch outdoors on location, and they did great! While our group was a little nervous the first day, I started them out with an oil demo so everyone could see how easy it is to jump in and just get something down on their blank canvas.

I chose this close-up view of the cliffs because the rock formations were so unusual, and the light hitting them was beautiful. Working only 9×12 and with a quick half hour demo, I wanted to keep the scene as simple as possible. Blocking in cool, transparent purples and blues for the shadow colors and distant mountains, I then added opaque, warm, thick highlights to the rocks and clouds to capture the soft, glowing morning light.

If you’d like more information on our upcoming

Plein-Air Painting & Photography Workshops, please e-mail me at Niki Gulley,

or visit my website at nikigulley.com/?page_id=13.

To see more of my contemporary impressionistic landscape paintings, go to nikigulley.com,

or to purchase this plein air study from Santa Fe, e-mail me at Niki Gulley.

New Waterfall Oil Painting

August 10, 2011

SOLD • 60″ x 36″ textured oil on canvas

A recently completed commissioned palette knife painting of this tucked away waterfall in Ireland, designed to hang on a a large chocolate-colored living room wall. I love how the flow of the composition turned out with the falls arching downward and the foreground ferns curving upward, how the thick paint strokes suggest the energy in the rushing water, and how the soothing palette is filled with hints of warm tones for unexpected color twists.

If you’d like a painting of a special place or unique memory, contact me at Niki Gulley for more information.

Lincoln Park Art Festival this weekend

July 13, 2011

30” x 48” textured oil on wrap around canvas

Huge sunflowers fill the fields, bright, sunny and cheerful. Warm golden petals glow above purple shadows and shimmer before violet hills, just as the sun begins to set filling the sky with radiant red and gold. Bold strokes capture these sunflowers in thick impasto colors that vibrate across the canvas

To see more of my contemporary landscape paintings, please stop by my booth at the Lincoln Park Arts & Music Festival in Chicago this weekend. Visit chicagoevents.com/event.cfm?eid=189 for details.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information.

NikiGulley.com

“Bursting with Color” oil diptych at Madison’s Art Fair on the Square

July 8, 2011

Two 24” x 24” textured oil paintings on canvas to form a 24” x 48” diptych

I love it when we are driving leisurely through the countryside and we come across a gorgeous field of wildflowers. The sudden burst of color thrills your senses! Playing with color and texture, I feel like this poppy painting radiates with energy and captures the joy you feel on one of the first beautiful days of spring.

With this series, you can purchase either the left or the right painting to hang alone or display both side by side to form a panorama diptych.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information on her textured floral paintings.

Or, to see more of her work, stop by her booth at Art Fair on the Square in Madison, WI this weekend, (July 9 & 10). mmoca.org

“Aqua Dreams” New Textured oil painting

July 6, 2011

36” x 60” textured oil on canvas

When we arrived at this tranquil spot, the early morning light was very cool in color, but as the sun began to rise from the horizon, it shone this beautiful warm light that shimmered on the water’s surface and cast its hope of what was to come from the brand new day. I remember the peacefulness I felt in that moment, and a sense that anything was possible. In Aqua Dreams, by showing the contrast in the cool aqua/blues in the foreground waters against the warm golden glow on the distant pond’s edge, I wanted to share that feeling of hope and promise communicated by nature.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information on her textured oil aspen and birch tree paintings.

Or, to see more of her work, stop by her booth at Art Fair on the Square in Madison, WI next weekend, (July 9 & 10). mmoca.org

“Flowing Light” at Madison Art Fair on the Square

July 4, 2011

36” x 60” textured oil on canvas

You walk down a path sheltered by autumn drenched trees, intrigued by the light flowing through the leaves and branches, casting shadows, colors changing with each gentle breeze, sunlight cascading down your pathway. Peaceful, tranquil, this painting flows around the canvas capturing the memory of autumn: lush crisp colors, crunchy leaves and a walk through the woods Walt Whitman would have envied.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information on her textured oil aspen and birch tree paintings.

Or, to see more of her work, stop by her booth at Art Fair on the Square in Madison, WI next weekend, (July 9 & 10).

mmoca.org