Art by Niki Hilsabeck

It's been quite a summer! I'm now cataract-free and adjusting to the changes in my vision-- it was only one cataract, which caused a few months of cloudy vision, but it definitely had an effect on my attitude toward life and painting. "His Love Endures Forever" 9 x 12 pastel on paper Click here to view on my website We've had a strange summer this year: extremely hot June, a strong rainstorm in July, and a mild August so far.  Being unable to see meant that I spent a lot of time home, which suited me fine as the traffic here seems to get worse every time I leave the house.  The children were of course bored and bickering much of the time, but they seem to do that whether we're home or not.  The summer definitely had its share of annoying occurrences. As we read Psalm 136 in church last week, I couldn't help thinking of this view of the ocean.  I love being at the beach and seeing when the light peeks through the clouds and glitters on the water.  I

After a long hiatus, I'm trying to get back into a more productive cycle, which means more painting, creating lessons and teaching, and taking my work out of the house to events. It's not that I haven't been busy, but I've gotten sort of sidetracked with fun pursuits like gardening, sewing, and breaking up fights between my children. I did manage to teach my first paint-sip at the beginning of the year (hauling all of the materials in during a rainstorm that dropped an alarming amount of moisture!)  It was a blast, and we did the piece below in about 2 hours:                                                      "Moonlit Valley" Acrylic on Paper (We used canvas instead of paper, so it would be easy to hang at home.) If you're in the North San Diego County or Southwest Riverside County area and would like to do a paint-sip event, please contact me for samples and prices at nicolehilsabeck@yahoo.com. Since it's now April, it's a busy mont