Niki Gulley Paints at The Dutch Art Gallery - Dec. 10, 6-8 pm

Niki Gulley’s passion for painting began in grade school when she had to draw something as mundane as shoes for art class, and loved every minute of it. Seeing a spark of enthusiasm, her parents signed her up for private art lessons and she has been hooked ever since. Following her childhood in Glenview, Illinois, Niki relocated to Dallas to pursue an art major at Southern Methodist University. Since she disliked the long, chilly Chicago winters, Dallas seemed like the place to stay after completing her degree.
Upon graduating Gulley entered the world of advertising, working as art director for a Dallas magazine. After a few years passed by, Niki felt like something was missing. So she started painting again during nights, weekends and any time she could find a free moment. This is what she had been missing; this satisfied the void and she began to feel fulfilled again. Ten years later she segued from advertising to live her life’s dream of being a full-time artist.
It only makes sense that someone as passionate about her work would find a kindred artistic spirit to share her life with as they explore the world. Niki met her future husband, Scott Williams, when he started working as a photographer with her at the magazine where she was art director. Their friendship blossomed into a romance that eventually became a husband and wife painting/photography team that travels the globe in search of beauty and inspiration. Their mutual experience as teachers, coupled with their traveling adventures has also spawned a unique enterprise where they will start conducting painting/photography workshops in Europe in the near future.
It’s from this search for inspiration that Niki translates onto canvas her emotion for the viewer to share. She seeks to capture the beauty and mysteries of our landscape, utilizing vivid color palettes to convey a particular mood. While working in pastels appeals to the childlike part of her that wants to be messy, painting in oils allows her to have fun smearing around paint and playing with textures. Gulley invites you to reconnect with nature and escape the day-to-day responsibilities along with her in these creations.
Niki Gulley’s artwork not only has a loyal local following, but is also recognized throughout the country. She has participated in juried exhibitions at the Dallas Museum of Art and various museums around Texas, in addition to being represented by galleries from coast to coast, including New York City, Palm Beach, Vail and San Diego. Besides exhibiting in competitive international shows, her award-winning paintings have also been collected by several corporations including Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, Baylor Medical Center in Dallas and Northstar Bank of Texas. Additionally, Gulley is a member of the prestigious Pastel Society of America and Oil Painters of America Society.

Artist Deep in the heART of Texas!

This weekend The Dutch Art Gallery: Fine Art & Custom Framing Presents Artists of Texas. This unique show features 25 artists from around the state of Texas who besides the love and desire to create, also promote themselves and their works through the mode of Blogging.

The following Article, written by Vernita Bridges-Hoyt gives a short history of the Daily Painters of Texas.

"Deep in the heART of Texas can be found a unique blend of artists." The Daily Painters of Texas blog, recently designed by Dallas artist Laurie Justus Pace and managed by WAL artist Vernita Bridges-Hoyt of Spring, will showcase up to 100 Texas artists who paint and blog daily. Currently the membership consists of 41 Texas artists including several from the Dallas area: Nancy Standlee, Barbara Hackney, Kay Wynn, Laurie Pace, Niki Gulley, Susan Moss Cooper, Nancy Medina, Margie Whittington, Maryann Stephens, Karen Foster, Connie Micheal, Cindy Yandell, Elizebeth Mitchell Taylor, Debbie Cannatella, and Judy Mackie.

Surely throughout history, artists have created art on a daily basis; however, it is only with the aid of the internet that daily painting has become an art movement in and of itself. Professor of Art at New York's Broome Community College, Hall Groat II wrote, "The modern day blog, coupled with video sharing technologies has broadened the tradition of painting into a new communicative virtual reality world."

In 2004, American artist Duane Keiser set up a blog to chronicle his daily painting regime. He posted a painting-a-day and offered each painting for sale at a minimal price. The phenomena that followed was unprecedented. As Keiser's paintings sold, other artists followed suit.

In 2006 Micah Condon, artist and computer programmer, designed a multiple artists website (http://www.dailypainters.com/) that would become the first Daily Painters Gallery and a cutting edge site where artists are juried to show and sell their daily paintings. Daily Painting has become viral in its spread to both artists and collectors.

In 2009, the website http://www.artistsoftexas.org/ was designed to complement the Daily Painters of Texas blog. A first gallery show has been organized, Somewhere in Texas: a Painting Begins, for October 17 - November 30 at the Dutch Art Gallery in Dallas. Twenty-four Texas artists will participate. Several of those artists are from The Woodlands/Greater Houston area. The opening Artists' Reception will be October 17, 2:00 - 5:00 pm.

Although many daily painters discipline themselves to complete a painting each day, others understand the term to denote the practice that painting is an integral part of daily life, whether it be sketching, painting, shopping for supplies, or photographing. It all makes up being an artist and painting daily.

Follow the best of Texas Art on the Daily Painters of Texas blog (http://www.dailypaintersoftexas.blogspot.com/) where new paintings are posted daily. Member applications are juried by a panel of professional artists. Instructions are on the blog.