Plein air painting workshops

Plein-Air Painting at Versailles with Niki Gulley

June 20, 2012

Versailles, 5″ x 7″ pastel by Niki Gulley

Day 5, Afternoon – Art Trek Paris with Niki Gulley and Scott Williams

Thoroughly enjoying the sunshine and this peaceful hidden garden, we scoped out another view and tried to capture more of the sense of being in France in our next sketch. Manicured, organized, and adorned with statues and urns as focal points, this vantage communicated the idea of the French formal garden that I was looking for. At the end of the day, the French groundsman was kind enough to offer us pastel artists fixative for our drawings! That definitely breaks the misconception we have of the French not being friendly! A perfect ending to a perfect day.

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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 impressionistic landscape paintings, please go to my website at NikiGulley.com.

Art Trek Paris with Niki Gulley & Scott Williams – Day 5

June 18, 2012

5″ x 7″ pastel by Niki Gulley

Day 5 – Art Trek Paris with Niki Gulley and Scott Williams

Day 5, we took everyone to the Palace of Versailles, 30 minutes outside of Paris. Decadent and opulent doesn’t begin to describe the castle and grounds where Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI bankrupted the country. It is really something to see! After touring the chateau, we staked out a quiet back corner of the gardens away from the tourist masses, and got out our sketchpads. This massive wisteria, the scale of a medium-szed tree caught our eye, and we had to capture its beautiful violet dripping blooms.

Part of our group in front of the Palace of Versailles.

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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.

Day 3 & 4 – Paris Plein Air Painting / Photography Workshop w/ Niki Gulley and Scott Williams

June 15, 2012

Day 3 and 4 – Art Trek Paris with Niki Gulley and Scott Williams

On day 3 and 4 of our Paris Art Trek, we concentrated more on site seeing, museum hopping, and of course, eating, with just a little painting and shooting in between. We saw everything from the Mona Lisa at the Louvres to an amazing collection of Monet’s at the Marmottan Museum, from Rodin’s sculpture garden to the incredible impressionist exhibit at the Musee d’Orsay. Some of our group toured the Champ Elysees while others visited the catacombs and Napolean’s Tomb. Stopping for an espresso at a corner café, we relaxed and people watched in Paris style. We topped off the day with an amazing dinner where every morsel was lovingly prepared and each course is a work of art on the plate, accompanied by delicious French wine, discussing our adventures from the day.

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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!

***

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

Day 2 – Paris Art Trek with Niki Gulley & Scott Williams

June 11, 2012

Notre Dame • 10″ x 8″ oil painting by Niki Gulley

Day 2 – Art Trek Paris with Niki Gulley & Scott Williams

On day 2 of our plein-air painting and photography workshop in Paris, we led our group to Notre Dame Cathedral, known for its flying buttress and gargoyles overlooking the city. Since our group had never been before, they visited inside the church and hiked up to the clock tower for amazing views of the city, while I kept everyone’s gear down below. I found a nice, quiet bench and had enough time to paint this view of the backside of the cathedral until everyone finished touring. The church is so complex, I focused in on this view of the nave with it’s stained glass windows and the tops of a couple of the flying buttress to simplify the scene for an 8×10 canvas.

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.

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.

“Dancing on Water” textured oil painting

March 30, 2012

36” x 60” textured oil painting

Sunlight sparkles across aqua blue water,

diamonds of purple glitter the pond’s surface;

water lilies lift their faces toward the sun and gently dance across the water.

Golden sunlight filters through the brambles and ferns,

a touch of cardinal red peeks through purple and pink foliage

while azure skies reflect in the water.

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 and Photography Workshops. Registration deadline for Paris is quickly approaching, so don’t wait!

If you’re in the Dallas area this weekend, stop by Arts in the Square to see more of Niki Gulley’s contemporary landscape paintings.

Arts in the Square

Sat. March 31 • 11am – 6pm

Sun. April 1 • 11am – 6pm

Frisco, TX • Frisco Square

Dallas Tollway and Main St.

FriscoSquare.com/AITS

Or, visit NikiGulley.com.

Monet’s Garden painting by Niki Gulley & upcoming Art Trek to Paris

March 28, 2012

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

textured oil painting on wrap around canvas

Just sold! 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.

If you’re in the Dallas area this weekend, stop by Arts in the Square to see more of Niki Gulley’s paintings.

Arts in the Square

Sat. March 31 • 11am – 6pm

Sun. April 1 • 11am – 6pm

Frisco, TX • Frisco Square

Dallas Tollway and Main St.

FriscoSquare.com/AITS

Or, to see more of Niki Gulley’s contemporary textured landscape paintings, visit NikiGulley.com.

Plein Air Painting in Italy with Niki Gulley

March 9, 2012

SOLD • 30″ x 15″ pastel

I was commissioned to paint this vineyard and rolling hills backdrop based on my collectors’ fond memories of Tuscany. So, using some of my plein air sketches, photographs, and personal memories from our trips to the area, I created this pastel. Full of color and movement, I arranged the planted grapevines to lead your eye back to the Tuscan villa and then to the beautiful countryside beyond.

If you would like to come along on one of our upcoming Plein Air Painting / Photography Workshops to Tuscany, Italy in September or Cinque Terre / Lake Como, Italy in September visit nikigulley.com/artreks for more information. We’d love to have you join us!

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E-mail Niki Gulley for more information.

To see more of my paintings from Tuscany, visit my website at NikiGulley.com.

“Blue Tomorrow” textured bluebonnet painting by Niki Gulley

February 28, 2012

36″ x 48″ textured oil on canvas

Just Finished! Inspired by a trip to the hill country, I wanted you feel the warmth and beauty on this perfect spring day while out for a leisurely drive among the bluebonnets and Texas wildflowers. Painted with thick oil paint and palette knives to achieve extreme texture, the resulting image comes to life and is loaded with color and energy.

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

Or, visit NikiGulley.com to see more of her contemporary bluebonnet and Texas landscape paintings.

“Riomaggiore” pastel

January 11, 2012

SOLD • pastel 5″ x 7″

From our trip to the Cinque Terre along Italy’s west coast, Riomaggiore is one of my favorite harbors. I love the colorful buildings and the amazing way they are stair-stepped and stacked one on top of each other along this hilly coastline. The view from up top is amazing, too!

If you’d like to join us in Cinque Terre and Lake Como, Italy this Sept. 8th – 16th for our next Plein-Air Painting / Photography Workshop, e-mail Niki Gulley for more information or visit nikigulley.com/?page_id=1420. Sign up by Jan. 13th and save $500!

To see more of my travel landscapes and Italy paintings visit NikiGulley.com.