“Running Red III” ©2021 Niki Gulley
30″ x 48″ Textured Mixed Media on Canvas
“Running Red III” ©2021 Niki Gulley
30″ x 48″ Textured Mixed Media on Canvas
As my garden kept evolving this spring, I was treated every day to a new blossoming surprise! After my irises were complete, I was greeted by the most gorgeous roses I’ve seen since I planted them 5 years ago. So, of course I had to go out and capture those beauties before they disappeared.
Wanting to create pieces that are full of joy, energy, texture and light, I painted the blooms large to add to that feeling of hope and exuberance. Choosing to leave the background airy and working with thick layers of white on white paint, multi-colored roses dance across the canvas with spontaneity and freedom. I hope these paintings bring the beauty of nature inside and fill your spirit with light and cheer.
Here you can see the next step in my painting process. I’ve started adding thick layers of paint to bring my purple irises to life. My garden was so beautiful and prolific this year that I felt compelled to capture that beauty on canvas. Taking the ideas that I started in this new series from inside my studio to outside in my backyard, I wanted to create pieces that are full of joy, energy, texture and light.
Painting the blossoms larger than life add to that feeling of hope and exuberance. Choosing to leave the background airy and working with thick layers of white on white paint, ribbons of brightly colored blooms dance across the canvas with spontaneity and freedom. With room to roam, I hope these paintings bring the beauty of nature inside and fill your spirit with light and cheer.
My irises this year were so beautiful and prolific and added so much joy after the year that we had, that I felt compelled to capture that feeling on canvas. Taking the ideas that I started in this new series from inside my studio to outside in my garden, my goal was to create pieces that are full of joy, energy, texture and light.
Here you can see the first step in my painting process, my charcoal sketch of the irises showing them larger than life. Next I will begin to add layers and layers of paint to build up texture and color so that the cheerful blooms come to life and dance across the canvas.
Taking the ideas that I started in this new series from inside my studio to outside in my garden, my goal was to create pieces that are full of joy, energy, texture and light. My irises this year were so beautiful and prolific and added so much joy after the year that we had, that I felt compelled to capture their symbols of optimism.
Painting the yellow blossoms larger than life add to that feeling of hope and exuberance. Choosing to leave the background airy and working with thick layers of white on white paint, ribbons of brightly colored blooms dance across the canvas with spontaneity and freedom. With room to roam, I hope these paintings bring the beauty of nature inside and fill your spirit with light and cheer.
“Running Red II” ©2021 Niki Gulley
30″ x 48″ Textured Mixed Media on Canvas
On a visit to New Mexico, we were greeted to cheerful wildflowers blossoming, adding pops of joy and sunshine to the desert scenery. Repeating patterns and waves of color create a harmony within the painting, while rendering the blooms and their surroundings abstractly plays with taking a traditional subject matter and showing it in a contemporary way.
I love being immersed in nature. After living in a city surrounded by concrete and noise, I find being surrounded by mother nature to be extremely cathartic, peaceful and rejuvenating. In Rhythm Reflections, I became fascinated with the mirror reflection on the aspen trees in the water below the horizon line. With the lake surface slightly blurring the individual leaves, patterns started emerging that created a sort of rhythm that I found mesmerizing. Working first with thin drippy paint, and then building up thick layers of oil paint with palette knives to achieve extreme dimension, this painting is loaded with movement, energy and color. Leaving the composition slightly abstracted gives you a chance to form your own contemplative narrative with nature.
To see more of my palette knife contemporary landscape paintings, check out nikigulley.com.