Niki Gulley at Cottonwood Art Festival this Weekend

"Lemon Tree" Tuscany ©2012 Niki Gulley

12" x 9" textured oil painting

Day 4 - Tuscany Art Trek

On Day 4 of our Tuscany painting and photography workshop, we decide to take it easy after a busy day in Siena the day before and paint again at the villa. It was a gorgeous morning with bright puffy clouds and soft golden sunlight hitting the back of our villa. So while we set up our easels just a few feet away from one another, each painter picked a different subject. From the highly textured stone farm house, to this lemon tree that was so lush and tall that I chose for my painting, to a random bed that was on the property, to the terra cotta steps and quintessential Tuscan architectural details, to the ancient well and delicate geraniums, each student's paintings turned out beautifully. After a peaceful morning of painting and photographing, we all reconvened on the patio of the villa for another delicious lunch of locally grown fruits, meats, cheeses and Vino Nobile.

If you'd like to see "Lemon Tree" and more of my travel plein-air paintings, please stop by my booth at the Cottonwood Art Festival this weekend, Oct. 6th and 7th, from 10am - 6pm. Visit cottonwoodartfestival.com for details.

Enjoying a delicious lunch at our villa, overlooking the surrounding rolling hills and distant Tuscan hill towns.

If you'd like to join us for next year's Art Trek to Venice in February, Greece in May, Tuscany in September or Cinque Terre / Lake Como in September, please visit NikiGulley.com/Artreks for more information. Workshops fill up quickly, so please let us know if you are interested. The early deadline and to receive a $500 savings for the Venice workshop is this Saturday!

If you have questions about the Art Treks workshops or are interested in purchasing any of my plein air paintings, please e-mail me at Niki@NikiGulley.com.

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US Classes and Workshops - nikigulley.com/art-classes.

Travel Art Treks and Plein Air Workshops - nikigulley.com/artreks/

Available Paintings - NikiGulley.com

Sold at American Fine Art - Niki Gulley sunflower & poppy series

"Spring's Surprises" series ©2012 Niki Gulley

SOLD • Four 12" x 12" textured oil paintings on wrap around canvas

Just sold at my opening at American Fine Art this weekend, I created this series of sunflowers and poppies with palette knife and extremely thick oil paint, so that the resulting images are full of color, texture, energy and movement.

To see more of my textured sunflower and poppy paintings, visit American Fine Art Gallery in Dallas, americanfineart.com/events_sep_nov.html.

Or, if you're in the Dallas this weekend, please stop by my booth at Richardson's Cottonwood Art Festival where I will be exhibiting.

Cottonwood Art Festival
May 5 • 10am - 8pm
May 6 • 10am - 6pm

Richardson, TX • 

Cottonwood Park • 

on Beltline Rd. just east of Coit

cottonwoodartfestival.com/

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Web - NikiGulley.com • E-mail - Niki Gulley

Niki Gulley at Southlake Art in the Square - Fri. - Sun.

Poppy Passion ©2012 Niki Gulley

18" x 36" • Textured painting on canvas

I absolutely love it when I come across a whole field of wildflowers – there is something about the transformation of a single dainty flower into a dense explosion of color that inspires awe and delights your senses. So in Poppy Passion, I combined memories of places I’ve been with intense saturated colors to convey that joy I feel when I come across a gorgeous field of poppies.

If you'd like more information on my contemporary landscape paintings, e-mail Niki Gulley.

Or if you're in the Dallas / Fort Worth area this weekend, please stop by my booth, #J-5, at Southlake's Art in the Square.

Art in the Square 
Fri. Apr. 27 • 4pm - 9pm 
Sat. Apr. 28 • 10am - 9pm 
Sun. Apr. 29 • 11am - 5pm 
Southlake, TX • Southlake Town Square • 234 State St. 
ArtInTheSquare.com

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NikiGulley.com

New Textured Sunflower oil painting by Niki Gulley

"Sun Drenched II" ©2012 Niki Gulley

30" x 48" • textured oil on cavan

Inspired by our trip to Provence last summer, I was awestruck by these massive fields of sunflowers blooming. Seeing this brilliant carpet of gold, with its sea of faces smiling towards the sun, just made me feel happy and I wanted you to experience that joy, too. In person “Sun Drenched II” practically leaps off the canvas with its vibrant yellow petals and extremely thick three-dimensional oil paint.

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

Or, to see more of her work, stop by her booth at Artscape this weekend.
Fri. March 16th • 9am – 5pm
 Sat. March 17th • 9am – 5pm
 Sun. March 18th • 9am – 5pm
 Dallas Arboretum • 8617 Garland Rd.
http://www.dallasarboretum.org/artscape

If you would like to join us in May for our next ArtTrek to Paris, France, or to Tuscany in September and see Italy's sunflowers in person, visit nikigulley.com/artreks, which goes into detail about our upcoming Plein Air Painting and Photography Workshops. We'd love to have you join us!

NikiGulley.com

Copper Tree commissioned oil painting by Niki Gulley

“Copper Tree" ©2012 Niki Gulley

SOLD • 48" x 36" textured oil on canvas

Just shipped last week! This commission was for a couple of my collectors who had seen this gorgeous copper tree on a trip to Alaska. The bark actually sparkled in the sunlight like a copper penny, and they asked me to recreate that shimmer in my sculptural oil technique from a child's like perspective of looking up into the treetops. The final painting is full of texture, color and whimsy, and looks great in the pictures they shared with me of it hung in their beautiful Colorado home.

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

Or, to see her work in person this weekend, stop by Artscape at the Dallas Arboretum.
Fri. March 16th • 9am – 5pm
 Sat. March 17th • 9am – 5pm
 Sun. March 18th • 9am – 5pm
 Dallas Arboretum • 8617 Garland Rd.
http://www.dallasarboretum.org/artscape

Visit NikiGulley.com find out more.

Texas Bluebonnets & Wildflowers oil paintings by Niki Gulley

"Texas Treats IV" ©2011 Niki Gulley

12" x 12" oil painting on canvas

I painted these Texas bluebonnets & Indian Blanket with extremely thick oil paint and palette knives to achieve extreme texture so that the image comes to life and leaps off the canvas! In this wildflower painting series, I've painted the scene around the edges of the canvas on 1 1/2" deep stretcher bars so that the paintings can be hung without a frame for a unique sculptural effect.

To see companion pieces for "Texas Treats IV," visit NikiGulley.com /?page_id=229, or please stop by my booth at Cottonwood Art Festival this weekend.

Cottonwood Art Festival

Saturday May 7 from 9 am to 6 pm and Sunday May 8 from 9 am to 6 pm.

Richardson, TX, Cottonwood Park is at the corner of Coit and Beltline.

Visit CottonwoodArtFestival.com for details.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information on her bluebonnets and Texas landscape oil paintings.

NikiGulley.com

Texas Bluebonnets & Indian Paintbrush painting by Niki Gulley

“Rhapsody in Blue” ©2011 Niki Gulley

Oil on canvas • 30” x 40”

When I was a teenager my grandparents moved to Texas and I loved coming down from Chicago to visit them. I remember the first time I saw a massive field of bluebonnets and I was awestruck by the expanse of color. It was amazing that such tiny flowers when planted in mass could form a solid sea of blue. I wanted to relive those fond family memories by recreating those exciting bluebonnet and Indian Paintbrush displays I remember seeing for the first time in "Rhapsody in Blue." Using this interesting weathered farm house in Marble Falls and painting it engulfed in one of our prolific bluebonnet and Indian Paintbrush displays perfectly captures those memories.

To see more of my Texas wildflower paintings, stop by my booth at Artscape, an outdoor art show at the Dallas Arboretum this weekend http://www.dallasarboretum.org/artscape/index.htm.

To see more of my textured oil paintings, visit my website at NikiGulley.com or

e-mail Niki Gulley for more information.

Reflections in Time oil painting by Niki Gulley

“Reflections in Time” ©2010 Niki Gulley

Oil on canvas • 24” x 36”

This painting is inspired by one of my favorite spots just ten minutes from our home in Dallas. It was a perfect autumn day – about 70° with a slight breeze and the peaking autumn colors were more vibrant than usual. With such a gentle wind, the vivid foliage and gorgeous fluffy clouds were reflected fairly clearly in the water and yet at the same time, I chose to create fluid moving strokes to suggest the peaceful energy in that moment.

To see this painting in person, visit my booth at the Cottonwood Art Festival in Richardson, TX this weekend, CottonwoodArtFestival.com.

Or, e-mail me at Niki@NikiGulley.com for more information.

My website - NikiGulley.com