Art by Niki Hilsabeck

"View from the Jetty" 9 x 12 Chalk Pastel on Paper Click here to purchase I took the photo that inspired this painting last year, on a cold day at the beach.  I didn't get around to painting it until this year, on an extremely hot day at home. Looking around at the finished pieces and works in progress sitting around my kitchen, I realized that every one of them had a common element: water.  Even my landscapes have a bit of water in them.  I thought back to my high school days, when I first really tried to make paintings of my own.  I remembered that they usually had some water or waves in them too. I don't live near water, but it's not too far to drive to the beach.  I'm also happy to paint swimming pools, ponds, and lakes.  I'm not sure what it is about water, but a painting feels much more comfortable to me if it has some in it.  One thing I've learned about painting all these water scenes is the importance of shadow under the light....

"The Road to Fallbrook" 4.5 x 6 in chalk pastel on paper Click here to view large or purchase Another plein aire view from home, this time the familiar view of Mission Road into Fallbrook... This painting was initially done a couple weeks ago, but the hills didn't look quite right, so I went back to it later to reshape them a bit. Sometimes the most familiar scenes are the most difficult to paint, as we know them so well it's hard to let go of the differences between the actual view and the painting. This road is a pretty quiet one, unless you're on it in the commuting hours on a weekday. Morning traffic piles up as cars form a line to cut through Fallbrook to get to the military base in Oceanside. The same crowd returns in the early evening to head back home. Rather than include the cars, I left the road empty to show how it looks on a weekend morning, when the "Friendly Village" gets a break from all of the base traffic. I've always like...

"The Road to Fallbrook" 4.5 x 6 in chalk pastel on paper $30 Click here to view large or purchase Another plein aire view from home, this time the familiar view of Mission Road into Fallbrook... This painting was initially done a couple weeks ago, but the hills didn't look quite right, so I went back to it later to reshape them a bit. Sometimes the most familiar scenes are the most difficult to paint, as we know them so well it's hard to let go of the differences between the actual view and the painting. This road is a pretty quiet one, unless you're on it in the commuting hours on a weekday. Morning traffic piles up as cars form a line to cut through Fallbrook to get to the military base in Oceanside. The same crowd returns in the early evening to head back home. Rather than include the cars, I left the road empty to show how it looks on a weekend morning, when the "Friendly Village" gets a break from all of the base traffic. I've always l...