Fall Foliage in the Smoky Mountains by Palette Knife Painter Niki Gulley

 

Sadly, our Fall Foliage Freedom Tour has reached its end. What an amazing 6 week adventure!!! Fortunately, we might have saved the best for last, visiting Asheville, NC in all of its peak autumn glory the last week of October. I had to squeeze in one last painting opportunity at our gorgeous campsite. 

Of course, one of the challenges of plein-air painting is you never know what is going to change in the scene you are capturing. For instance, our neighbors chose to park their black sedan right here in the middle of our picturesque view. Oh, well! The scenery beyond was still beautiful and I was able to take some photos on my camera to finish this one up at home. It also gave us a good excuse to take a scooter ride on that beautiful 70 degree day and check out the picturesque nature trails in the North Carolina Arboretum. Not a bad way to finish up our immersive autumn trip!

 

•••

For more information on my textured palette knife paintings, please e-mail me at Niki Gulley.

Or, please visit my website at  NikiGulley.com to see more of my contemporary landscape paintings.

Experience Asheville's Gorgeous Fall Foliage in Niki Gulley's Paintings

Just WOW!!! Our timing in Asheville was perfect. Gorgeous peak color and ideal 70 degree days. The view from our campsite was spectacular and I had to capture those autumn hues before they were gone. Especially since the leaves were falling into my paint as soon as I mixed the next color. I hope you can feel pure joy and energy in this one! And, there may be a little extra real leaf texture as a bonus.

To see a video about this painting, check out https://www.instagram.com/p/CzBw2bNOy_9/.

 

20" x 30" textured acrylic painting on canvas

(Retail value - $2,900 unframed)

• Fall Foliage Freedom Tour special - $2,000 unframed includes shipping

To purchase, go to https://www.nikigulley.com/fall-folage-freedom-tour.

 

Shipments won't go out until November when we are back home in Dallas. Thank you for your patience.

Please follow along on our Fall Foliage Freedom Tour at: 

 

•••

For more information on my textured palette knife paintings, please e-mail me at Niki Gulley.

Or, please visit my website at  NikiGulley.com to see more of my contemporary landscape paintings.

"Looking Skyward" Uplifting Treetop Painting by Niki Gulley

  

   

"Looking Skyward" ©2023 Niki Gulley

30" x 40"" textured mixed media on canvas

In this painting, I wanted you to you to experience the joy of looking up into the treetops – just like you did when you were a kid. Lying on the ground, not a care in the world, you gaze in wonderment. Choosing electric yellows and reds and flinging paint in multiple swirling layers add to that playful, childlike whimsy. I hope you are transported back to a happy, carefree time and place!

If interested in purchasing or for more details on "Looking Skyward," please visit the Statton Gallery in Eureka Springs, AR:

The Statton Gallery

137 Spring Street

Eureka Springs, AR 72632

stattongallery.com

•••

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information on my aspen and birch paintings.

To see more of my contemporary landscape paintings, visit nikigulley.com.

 

"Woodland Adventure" Palette Knife Aspen Tree Painting by Niki Gulley

  

  

"Woodland Adventure" ©2022 Niki Gulley

 18" x 24"" textured oil painting on board

I find being immersed in nature can have such an uplifting effect, and I wanted to share that feeling with you in Woodland Adventure. I chose pure, intense reds and yellows contrasted against autumn greens to create a fall forest that vibrates with color and energy.  I placed the vivid foliage in diagonal sweeping shapes to create a sense of movement, so that you can feel the wind gently rustling the leaves and causing them to dance on a beautiful fall day.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information on my aspen and birch paintings.

To see more of my contemporary landscape paintings, visit nikigulley.com.

 

New "Looking Skyward" Uplifting Treetop Painting by Niki Gulley

 

   

"Looking Skyward" ©2022 Niki Gulley

30" x 40"" textured mixed media on canvas

In this painting, I wanted you to you to experience the joy of looking up into the treetops – just like you did when you were a kid. Lying on the ground, not a care in the world, you gaze in wonderment. Choosing electric yellows and reds and flinging paint in multiple swirling layers add to that playful, childlike whimsy. I hope you are transported back to a happy, carefree time and place!

If interested in purchasing or for more details on "Looking Skyward," please visit the Statton Gallery in Eureka Springs, AR:

The Statton Gallery

137 Spring Street

Eureka Springs, AR 72632

stattongallery.com

•••

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information on my aspen and birch paintings.

To see more of my contemporary landscape paintings, visit nikigulley.com.

 

"Golden Moment" pastel by Contemporary Impressionist Niki Gulley

"Golden Moment" ©2012 Niki Gulley

12" x 24" pastel

I painted this pastel at the Dallas Arboretum last fall to capture the gorgeous fall colors, and the mysterious long shadows cast by the sun as it was nearing sunset. I loved the vivid reds and oranges of the foliage, and the way the sun was causing those colors to glow along with the highlights on the path.

For more information on "Golden Moment," please e-mail Niki Gulley.

Or, visit NikiGulley.com to see more of my contemporary impressionistic landscape paintings and pastels.

"Curves Ahead" Palette Knife oil painting by Niki Gulley

“Curves Ahead” ©2014 Niki Gulley

30" x 40” textured oil painting on wrap around canvas

On this trip, it felt like we were flying up and down these curvy mountain roads almost like we were on an adult roller coaster. So I wanted to have a little fun in my painting and capture that sense of movement and playful excitement. Choosing bright vivid colors an curving my strokes almost in a fish-eye composition, add to the youthful energy and thrill of adventure that I wanted to communicate.

To see more of my palette knife contemporary landscape paintings, visit nikigulley.com or if you are in Chicago, IL this weekend, please stop by my booth at the Wells Street Art Festival.

Wells Street Art Fair
June 14th & 15th • 10am – 8pm
Chicago, IL • on N. Wells St.,
between North Ave. and Division
chicagoevents.com/event.cfm?eid=141 

***

E-mail - Niki Gulley

"Cascading Rhythms" Palette Knife Oil Painting by Niki Gulley

“Cascading Rhythms” ©2014 Niki Gulley

12” x 24” textured oil on canvas

Water pounds its way down the falls: cascading, rushing, charging into the riverbed -- flowing over rocks, swiftly moving forward. Untamed, the surge finds its way over, under, around the boulder-strewn river. Tumbling waters drive up mists above the falls, the rhythmic sounds create a soothing harmony below. Autumn’s low light casts long lines through the Aspen trees and glowing verge.

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

Please visit NikiGulley.com.

"Curves Ahead" New Textured Palette Knife oil painting by Niki Gulley

“Curves Ahead” ©2013 Niki Gulley

30" x 40” textured oil painting on wrap around canvas

On this trip, it felt like we were flying up and down these curvy mountain roads almost like we were on an adult roller coaster. So I wanted to have a little fun in my painting and capture that sense of movement and playful excitement. Choosing bright vivid colors an curving my strokes almost in a fish-eye composition, add to the youthful energy and thrill of adventure that I wanted to communicate.

For more information on my textured palette knife oil paintings, please e-mail me at Niki Gulley.

Or, please visit my website at NikiGulley.com to see more of my contemporary landscape paintings.

Just delivered, Commissioned Painting "Passage of Illumination," by Niki Gulley

“Passage of Illumination II” ©2013 Niki Gulley

SOLD • 36” x 48” textured oil on canvas

Just delivered this commissioned painting, "Passage of Illumination." Wander down this path that beckons you and lift your eyes heavenward to that cobalt vault lined by a rainbow of vivid greens and golds and gleaming crimson, purposely choosing these warm vibrant colors to suggest a hopeful future. Like an ancient chorus these joyful trees sing with dazzling colors, a call and respond to each other across the enticing path that traces verses of light and dark, hue and color, an alluring siren song leading you into the depths of this radiant, vanishing horizon. A painting rich in color and light, joy and energy its double bowed composition gently leads gently you into this magical, blissful destination.

To see more of my contemporary landscape paintings, visit NikiGulley.com.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information on her textured palette knife paintings or for more information on commissioning your own unique painting.

"Destination Unknown" New Palette Knife Aspen painting by Niki Gulley

“Destination Unknown” ©2013 Niki Gulley

36" x 48” textured oil painting on wrap around canvas

On one of our plein air painting trips we led, we happened upon this gorgeous aspen grove. Enjoying the melodic tinkling of the aspen leaves rustling in the breeze, the trickling sounds of the babbling brook at our backs, and the beauty of fall ablaze with color, I felt invigorated as I began painting. The setting was so peaceful and rejuvenating that I wanted to communicate that joyful feeling of discovery in this piece. Filling the canvas with energetic staccato strokes and bold colors, in addition to gently arching the tree trunks towards the sky add to that uplifting feeling. And then just a sliver of the trail cutting through the forest, suggests the excitement of the journey that is to come.

For more information on my textured palette knife birch and aspen tree oil paintings, please e-mail Niki Gulley.

Or, visit NikiGulley.com to see more of my contemporary landscape paintings.

Fall Foliage pastel by Niki Gulley

"Golden Moment" ©2012 Niki Gulley

12" x 24" pastel

I painted this pastel at the Dallas Arboretum last fall to capture the gorgeous fall colors, and the mysterious long shadows cast by the sun as it was nearing sunset. I loved the vivid reds and oranges of the foliage, and the way the sun was causing those colors to glow along with the highlights on the path.

This pastel along with several others will be available at our "Adopt - a - Art" party on Dec. 7th and 8th. As some of you may know, we are planning to move to a larger studio space and while we would love to take all of our precious friends with us, we would rather not move everything and start with a clean studio space. Consequently, we are going to do something this year that we have never done before and may never do again, we are going to have an adoption weekend. There will be nominal fees associated with some of these to cover the care and feeding of them over the years and all of our little friends will be available for viewing, ready to go to new homes. We hope that you can make it!

Adopt – a – Art

One time only art sale and auction of Niki Gulley’s pastels/paintings and Scott Williams’ photographs

Fri. Dec. 7th 7pm – 9pm 

Sat. Dec. 8th 1pm – 4pm

Gulley / Williams Studio - Dallas, TX

RSVP Niki Gulley for address and directions

NikiGulley.com

Golden Transitions textured aspen tree painting by Niki Gullley

"Golden Transitions" ©2012 Niki Gulley

textured oil on canvas • 36" x 60"

In "Golden Transitions," I wanted you to feel like you were deep in the middle of the woods surrounded by nature in all of its beautiful autumn glory. I painted these aspen trees with extremely thick oil paint so that the texture and colors leap off the canvas.

If you are in Ann Arbor, MI this weekend, please stop by my booth at the largest art show in the country to see more of my textured birch and aspen tree paintings.

State Street Area Art Fair
Wed. July 18 • 10 am – 9pm
Thurs. July 19 • 10am – 9pm
Fri. July 20 • 10am – 9pm
Sat. July 21 • 10am – 6pm
Ann Arbor, MI • Liberty & State St.

Booth #B212 on N. University between Thayer & State
a2statestreetartfair.com

***

Or, to see more of my contemporary landscape paintings, visit my website at NikiGulley.com.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information.

"Blazing Transitions III" textured birch painting by Niki Gulley

"Blazing Transitions III" ©2012 Niki Gulley

36" x 60" textured painting on canvas

Shimmering colors of autumn: Aspen and Oak trees quiver, their light graceful leaves tremble and quake, silver and gold, scarlet and tangerine, with each light breeze. There is the quiet energy of change coming and vibrant color charges the woods. Crisp fall mountain air, a band of slender straight trunks cut bright strokes of white against a dazzling tumble of amber and crimson. Staccato strokes and shimmering hues add to the feeling of change in the air and suggest the wind whistling through the foliage.

To see more of Niki Gulley's textured landscape paintings, check out American Fine Art Gallery in Dallas, americanfineart.com, or the Good Art Company in Fredericksburg, TX, goodartcompany.com/gac/.

***

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

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

Blazing Transitions II - New birch painting by Niki Gulley

Blazing Transitions II ©2012 Niki Gulley

48" x 36" • Textured painting on canvas

I used to love it as a kid when my parents would take me to the forest preserves near our home outside of Chicago. We would spend the whole day bike riding, picnicking and being immersed in nature and I relished this time with my family. In Blazing Transitions II I wanted to recreate those warm memories, choosing reds and yellows of autumn to heighten those happy feelings and using energetic strokes with my paint reminiscent of a carefree, simpler time.

If you'd like more information on my textured aspen and birch tree 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

***
NikiGulley.com

Tuscany Plein Air Painting Workshop with Niki Gulley

"Autumn Harvest," Tuscany ©2012 Niki Gulley

pastel • 24" x 36"

I was inspired to paint this pastel of the beautiful rolling Tuscan hills and vineyards after our last Plein Air Painting / Photography Workshop that my husband and I taught in Tuscany. Not only were the views amazing, but the food and the wine were absolutely delicious, too!

From our last Tuscany workshop, our group during a wine tasting at this 300 year old family vineyard. A perfect afternoon!

***

If you'd like to join us Aug. 31 - Sept. 8 for our next Tuscany Plein-Air Painting and Photography Workshop, e-mail Niki Gulley for more information or visit nikigulley.com/artreks.

Registration Deadline - Feb. 17th.

To see more of my paintings from Italy, visit NikiGulley.com.

"Reflections in Time" - Autumn oil painting by Niki Gulley

“Reflections in Time” ©2011 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.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information on my fall foliage oils.

Or, visit NikiGulley.com to see more of my contemporary landscape paintings.

"Notes a Flutter" New aspen tree oil painting by Niki Gulley

“Notes a Flutter” ©2011 Niki Gulley

24” x 18” traditional oil in Espresso Frame with Inner Gold Trim

Colorado’s celebrated quaking aspen trees stand arrow straight in the valleys and

up and down the hills.

Slim white trunks sing out against the forest background and each leaf provides

a sparkling symphony of notes whispering through the mountains.

Flames of yellow leaves flicker against autumn’s burning reds

and the deep, cool blue mountain streaked with early banks of snow.

This painting captures the breathtaking colors of

Colorado in the fall, the Aspens at their most beautiful, the peaceful snow-banked mountain, the rustling murmur and musical sigh of the fluttering leaves.

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

See NikiGulley.com

Road less Traveled oil painting by Niki Gulley

"Road less Traveled" ©2011 Niki Gulley

oil 11" x 14"

Painted with extremely thick oil paint and palette knives to achieve texture, vibrant color and movement.

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information on this painting or visit my website at:

NikiGulley.com

Afternoon Shadows pastel by Niki Gulley

“Afternoon Shadows” Gilson Park, Chicago, IL ©2010 Niki Gulley

Pastel • 10” x 8”

I used to love going for a Sunday drive with my family when I was a kid. Sometimes we’d head to this park, which ran along Lake Michigan on a perfect autumn afternoon. We’d park and walk along the beach until we got to where the boats were docked, and then we’d wander onto the Bahaii Temple, with its amazing architecture and intricate carved ivory details, before we’d double back. In Afternoon Shadows, I wanted to depict a beautiful autumn day when the leaves are turning, there’s a slight chill in the air, the afternoon sun is casting mysterious long shadows and you can just make out the top of the temple in the distance, all while reminiscing about a simpler time and place.

To see “Afternoon Shadows” in person, stop by my booth at the Oakbrook Fine Art Invitational this weekend in Oakbrook, II. For more information on the show, go to oakbrookcenter.com/events/48th-annual-invitational-fine-art-exhibition.

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

NikiGulley.com