Artists Of Texas Contemporary Paintings and Art

“Breaking Through," Tuscany ©2013 Niki Gulley SOLD • 24" x 12" textured mixed media on wrap around canvas Just Sold at the Good Art Company!   Inspired by our travels to Italy, cypress trees rise out of the vast open landscape signaling that you have arrived in Tuscany! Working from my oil sketch that I painted during our Plein Air Painting / Photography Workshop last year, I created this larger version back in my studio, including more of the dramatic clouds swirling above the cypress trees for a tall vertical panorama and added energy. If you'd like to join us in Tuscany next year for our Plein Air Painting / Photography Art Trek , Sept. 5th - 13th, please let me know.   This is one of our most popular workshops and space is going quickly. For more details, visit nikigulley.com/artreks. Also, several of my contemporary impressionistic landscapes are on display at the Good Art Company Gallery in Fredericksburg, TX. For more informat...

10" x 8" textured oil painting by Niki Gulley Day 4, afternoon:   TUSCANY ART TREK Plein Air Painting and Photography Workshop with Niki Gulley and Scott Williams After we were fortified from a delicious lunch, we headed to La Foce, a beautiful Italian villa and formal gardens set in the middle of the rolling Tuscan hills. The perfectly planted cypress are so unique to Tuscany that we chose them for our subject today set against a bright blue sky and peaceful sweeping clouds. For dinner that night, we treated ourselves to the "truffle tasting menu," melted pecorino and honey, Florentine steak and a little vino nobile and vin santo to wash them down. Delicious food and great company with new friends! Our photographers getting into shooting one of the cypress lined roads in Tuscany! If you'd like to join us in Tuscany for our next Plein Air Painting and Photography Workshop Sept. 5th-13th, please let me know. Early registration...

"Peaceful Harbor," Lake Como, Italy ©2013 Niki Gulley SOLD • oil on canvas • 24" x 36" Lake Como, Italy is probably my favorite spot from all of our travels. The vistas are simply breathtaking with the alps in the background, the gorgeous blue of the lake, the brightly colored unique buildings and the lush foliage dotting the magnificent gardens. I love this little laid back town of Varenna, which is so peaceful that all of your cares just melt away.  Now we can't wait to share the Italian experience with other painters, photographers and anyone interested in traveling, so we are leading an Art Trek to Lake Como and Cinque Terre this September. If you’d also like to experience the beauty, history and culture of Italy, join me and travel photographer, Scott Williams, for our P lein Air Painting and Photography Workshop  to Cinque Terre and Lake Como from Sept. 6th - Sept. 14th . Our unique Art Treks afford you the option to cho...

“Dreamlike Journey,” Venice, Italy ©2012 Niki Gulley 12” x 9” pastel I created this pastel during a workshop my husband and I taught in Venice. We love the city, and there is so much inspiration there between the art, architecture, canals and magical light that it's really hard to narrow down what to paint! On this day, we decided to stick with a classic view of the canals. I like the way light peeks through the narrow passageway and leads your eye from building to building, and the gondola that happened into the scene created the perfect finishing detail. If you’d also like to experience the beauty, history and culture of Venice, join me and my husband / travel photographer, Scott Williams, for our P lein Air Painting and Photography Art Trek  to Venice during Carnivalé, Feb. 2-9 . Our unique Art Treks afford you the option to choose which aspects interest you, whether it is painting, photography, both or neither, thereby giving you an opportunity to make the...

“A Pause in Time” Venice, Italy ©2012 Niki Gulley 18” x 24” pastel This piece was selected to exhibit at the Southwest Pastel Society's Juried Show and  will be on display at the Eisemann Center in Richardson, TX through November 2012. Mysterious, enchanted, dreamlike – Venice is a fairytale at night. Evening has drawn its starry cloak over the city, the crowds and pigeons are gone and three women enjoy the evening at a café in Piazza San Marco. This changeling city, this artist’s muse now is unhurried, relaxed and romantic and this one perfect moment in time is held in artful pastels, satiated colors–rich velvet textures capture ebony/violet chairs that Peggy, Pollock or Cole Porter may have sat in, paintings of angels from old Venice and three modern women of today complete this delicate balance in a point of time. If you’d also like to experience the beauty, history and culture of Venice, join me and my husband / travel photographer, Scott Williams, for our ...

"Autumn Harvest," ©2012 Niki Gulley 24x36" pastel Day 2, afternoon, Vineyard tours and Wine Tasting - Tuscany Art Trek On the second day of our Tuscany Art Trek, we took a tour in the countryside of 2 local wineries, seeing their cellars and production process while learning more about Italian wines. Then, the best part of all - sampling some of those delicious wines with the locally grown meats and cheeses! One of the wineries has been in the same family for 300 years, and the care and pride they take in making their wines really shows through. A great end to a fun-filled day! If you'd like to see "Autumn Harvest" and more of my impressionist landscape 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. Touring the cellar of one of the wineries that's been in business for over 300 years. If you'd like to jo...

"House on a Hill, Tuscany" ©2012 Niki Gulley SOLD • 18" x 36" oil painting This house on a hill painting was inspired by our first trip to Tuscany, where I fell in love with everything about the region. Medieval towns, cypress tree-lined roads and glorious sun drenched splendor of the rolling hills are just some of the allure of Tuscany.  Imagine the inspiration derived from strolling the narrow cobble streets or taking in the panoramic views as the sun sweeps across the landscape spread out before you. Start your own renaissance by standing in the shadows where the masters once painted, all while experiencing the grandeur of Tuscany first hand. Capture the rich fall colors offset against cobalt blue skies, the rows of earth-hued vines, ripe with their succulent grape harvest, all while being warmed, literally, under a Tuscan sun. Tuscany’s warmth is in more than the countryside, it’s within its people as you will discover while sampling the region’s ...

"Bellagio," Lake Como, Italy ©2012 Niki Gulley SOLD • pastel 8" x 10" Lake Como, Italy is probably my favorite spot from all of our travels. The vistas are simply breathtaking with the alps in the background, the gorgeous blue of the lake, the brightly painted buildings and the lush foliage dotting the magnificent gardens. I liked how the flowers framing this view of Bellagio mimicked the hues of the town's architecture and added a colorful contrast to the blues of the lake and distant mountains. 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.  If you sign up by Jan. 13th, you'll save $500 off the cost of the trip! To see more of my paintings from Italy visit  NikiGulley.com .

“Evening Stroll” © 2010 Niki Gulley Pastel 25” x 19” Sadly our Tuscany workshop has come to an end. Everyone had a wonderful time, and I thank you guys for making this such a memorable trip! From the amazing Tuscan vistas dotted with cypress, wildflowers and grape-vines, to the cobbled medieval hill towns, to the world-class museums & history-filled architecture, to the mouth-watering pastas, cheeses, meats & of course, wines, we will treasure the memories forever. Plein Air Painting & Photography Workshop Tuscany, Italy – September 2010 & 2011 Athens & Santorini, Greece – May 2011 Led by Niki Gulley & Scott Williams Our trip to Tuscany for this year is full, but please join us next September in Tuscany or May 2011 in Greece. Visit nikigulley.com/ng2/?page_id=13 for more details. E-mail me at Niki@NikiGulley.com NikiGulley.com