Santa Fe Plein Air Painting Workshop with Niki Gulley

SANTA FE ART TREK:  
Day 1, afternoon location - Echo Canyon
12" x 9" textured oil by Niki Gulley

On Day 1 of our Santa Fe Art Trek, we headed north to Echo Canyon, a natural stone amphitheater with beautiful rugged surroundings. After painting the entire landscape in the morning, we decided to focus in on a vignette in the afternoon and isolate our focal point. Some of my students chose trees, others rocks, and I picked this lone, persistent conifer growing out the top of the sandstone formation. I liked the dramatic shadows, the texture in the rocks, and the strong will of this one scraggly pine tree. The sky was amazing with dynamic clouds sweeping into our view from distant showers, and I had to capture some of that movement and energy in this scene, too. Luckily the storms stayed away and we had a lovely afternoon!

Above: Niki Gulley helping one of her students with her pastels.

Visit nikigulley.com/artreks/ for upcoming Art Treks and Workshops or 

E-mail Niki Gulley for more information.

See NikiGulley.com to see more of her contemporary landscape paintings.

"Villa View," Tuscany Painting Workshop with Niki Gulley

“Villa View,” Tuscany ©2011 Niki Gulley

Oil on canvas • 8” x 24”

When we teach our workshop in Tuscany, the villa and its views are so beautiful that I just had to paint it. The quintessential stone farmhouse is surrounded by these unobstructed amazing 360 degree views of the surrounding valleys and hill towns. I decided to go with a panorama format because it seemed the only way to communicate the expansive landscape around the property, and even that doesn’t begin to do it justice. I chose to work with extremely thick oil paint and palette knives since you don’t see Tuscany painted that way very often and it’s so much fun to play with all of that paint.

Another view from the villa by one of my students. Very talented!

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. The early deadline for a $400 discount is just a week away!

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