Tag: plein air painting Italy

Deadline approaching for “Coloring Outside the Lines” Workshop

October 11, 2012
“Morning Textures II” Tuscany ©2012 Niki Gulley
12″ x 9″ oil

Day 6, morning location – Tuscany Art Trek
On the last morning of our Plein Air Painting and Photography Workshop, we headed into the nearby town and set up our easels to capture the beautiful morning light illuminating every crack and textured surface of the Renaissance architecture. The only tricky part was trying to find a location where we were out of the way of traffic, because no matter how narrow and quiet a street may seem, tiny Italian cars will eventually buzz by you. Once establishing our drawing and focal point, we had to paint quickly to capture the changing light and be out of the nearby trattorias way as they were gearing up for the noon rush. I loved how everyone’s paintings turned out! the resulting paintings were full of spontaneity and energy as we had no time to fuss or overwork our paintings, and merely reacted instinctively to the scene.
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. Registration deadlines for some of the trips are less than a month away!

If you’d like to learn how to paint with more color and freedom, please join me for my upcoming workshop, “Coloring Outside the Lines,” in Fredericksburg, TX, Nov. 2-4. Registration deadline is Oct. 15th. For details, visit nikigulley.com/art-classes.

Niki Gulley helping one of her students with her painting on the last day of our Tuscany Art Trek.



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 [email protected].

Painting in Montepulciano with Niki Gulley

September 28, 2012
12×9 textured oil painting by Niki Gulley

Day 2, Montepulciano – Tuscany Art Trek
With a little more time before our afternoon winery tour, we decided to work on another painting. I chose this view of the tile rooftops below spreading out in front of the valley. I loved the puzzle piece feel of the buildings, zigzagging in all different directions, clinging to the steep drop below with the fields of crops also adding their criss crossing patterns to the jigsaw puzzle.
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 less than a month away.



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 [email protected].

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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

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.

3 Days Left for Tuscany Plein Air Painting & Photograhy Workshop

March 2, 2011

“View from Montepulciano” Tuscany, Italy

SOLD • 14″ x 11″ pastel by Niki Gulley

Join us for our next Plein-Air Painting & Photography Workshop in Tuscany, Sept. 2 -10. In addition to daily painting and/or photography excursions, there will also be day trips into the surrounding hill towns, along with winery tours, museum visits in Florence and plenty of gorgeous Italian countryside. The villa we stay at sits atop a hill with 360 degree panoramic views of the surrounding area, it has all modern convinces, plus wifi and a swimming pool. This truly is La Dolce Vita, so don’t wait until the last minute to sign up.

The early deadline for a $400 discount is just a couple days away!

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information, or visit nikigulley.com/?page_id=13.

 

From our last Tuscany workshop, everyone enjoying a delicious Italian dinner al fresco after a fun-filled day of painting, photographing and sightseeing in the Tuscan countryside.

Painting in Tuscany with Niki Gulley

February 14, 2011

“Spiritual Climb,” Pienza, Italy ©2011 Niki Gulley
Pastel • 12″ x 9″

One of my students painting in Tuscany from one of the amazing hill town overlooks.
If you’d like to join us for our next Plein-Air Painting & Photography Workshop, Sept. 2 -10, e-mail Niki Gulley for more information, or visit nikigulley.com/?page_id=13.

For more details on Scott Williams’ photography, visit Blind-Squirrel.org.

Tuscany Painting / Photo Workshop with Niki Gulley & Scott Williams

February 9, 2011

“Amapola” ©2011 Niki Gulley
SOLD • pastel 11″ x 14″
This pastel was inspired by the beautiful Tuscan countryside.
If you’d like to paint in Tuscany, too, join us for our next Plein-Air Painting & Photography Workshop, Sept. 2 -10. See more details at nikigulley.com/?page_id=13 or e-mail Niki Gulley for more information. We’d love to have you along for this amazing adventure!
For more information on Scott Williams’ photography, visit Blind-Squirrel.org.
January 29, 2010

Venice oil painting • 10″ x 8″ • by Niki Gulley • SOLD

This is one of my favorite paintings I completed during our Venice workshop last spring. I found us the perfect quiet spot to paint with almost no onlookers, however it turned out to be a major thoroughfare for the gondolas. We were serenaded the whole time by various baritone gondolier voices breaking into “Amoré” and curious passengers craning to see what we were painting. It only added to the ambience!
Once I blocked in the background of this piece I started painting the gondola, which was quite a challenge since they didn’t stay still for more than a few seconds. Luckily there was a constant stream of boats so if I waited a little bit, another one would come floating into the scene. Painting moving gondoliers also proved to be difficult, and I was struggling with his hair when right at that moment, a new driver came into view with this great hat and navy scarf wrapped around it. Voilà! Problem solved.
If you’d like to join us for our next painting / photography adventure in Venice this May, e-mail me [email protected]. There are only 2 days left to sign up for this amazing workshop!
Visit nikigulley.com/ng2/?page_id=13 for more information.

Oil Painting Demonstration Tuscany

January 24, 2010
12″ x 12″ oil painting • Tuscany • by Niki Gulley

The NLAPW invited me to demonstrate my technique and approach to oil painting this weekend. With only 30 minutes for the demo, I thought about what I could actually paint that quickly when it usually takes me a lot longer to finish an oil painting in the studio or on location, and often times I have to complete the final layers a couple of days later when the earlier paint has dried. So I thought if I stuck with a small canvas, started with squeezing out more paint that I’d need, premixing my colors, having the underpainting and drawing completed, and stuck with a subject I was familiar with, I could accomplish enough for the group to take away a nugget or two of information.Having visited Tuscany a couple of times and painted numerous scenes plein air and from photos and memories, I chose this Tuscan landscape with the lone clump of cypress. I love the rolling hills, wildflowers in the foreground, and especially that bizarre grouping of trees in the distance. Why are they planted that way? How come they are the only trees for a mile around? The site intrigues me, so I was excited about sharing it with the group. Thank you for having me as your guest, ladies! I hope you enjoyed the demo.

For more information about my paintings from Italy or about upcoming painting/photography workshops in Tuscany and Venice, e-mail me at [email protected].

Details are soon to come on my website, www.nikigulley.com/ng2/?page_id=13.

Venice Painting Workshop – Jan. 30th deadline

January 22, 2010


“Afterglow,” Venice, Italy by Niki Gulley
14″ x 11″ pastel

As we’re approaching the deadline for our plein air painting and photography workshop that my husband and I are teaching in Venice this May, I’m getting more and more excited about the trip. Venice is such a fascinating place with its architecture being 100s of years old, and the only modes of transportation being by foot or boat, that it really feels like you’ve stepped back in time. It’s difficult not to see a painting opportunity around every corner.

In “Afterglow” I wanted to capture the beautiful sunset that night over the main lagoon. The buildings in the background were kind of hazy with the sun setting, and the gondolas in front of me had just finished dropping off then final love-struck passengers and were being put away for the night. I felt like I could be in the middle of one of Claude Monet’s paintings!

If interested in other paintings from Venice or in more information about our upcoming workshops in Italy, e-mail me at [email protected] or visit nikigulley.com/ng2/?page_id=13. Jan. 30th is the cut off for the Venetian workshop, and space is limited to only 12 participants, so sign up today and join us for this amazing opportunity!