Art by Niki Hilsabeck

Now that I've gotten a little better handle on gardening (or at least not killing my plants), I find myself doing "plant checks" throughout the day.  I check first to see what's been munched on by the gophers, squirrels, bunnies, hornworms, or whatever else helps itself to my plants.  I also check to see what needs to be deadheaded, what's sprouted, and what needs water.  Sometimes I just like to pull up a gardening mat to sit on and observe the plants.  This is especially fun when new things are sprouting-- if we're not in the middle of a heatwave or a cold snap (rare here in Fallbrook), I usually have new seeds going somewhere. This morning was wet and foggy, so I also got to go out early and look for unique spiderwebs.  I haven't tried painting one yet, but having grown up a fan of Charlotte's Web , I take pictures of the more intricate ones.  The kids and I also do a "wellness check" on our current crop of entertaining bugs and reptiles...

I paint flowers, I'm trying to grow flowers, I take pictures of flowers... I guess it's a healthier habit than collecting kittens that turn into full-grown, demanding cats ( which was my previous habit). "Dusky Marigolds" 17 x 23 Pastel on Paper View on Daily Paintworks Flowers were a favorite subject for my late grandmother, who was my first art teacher.  All the women on my mother's side had prolific green thumbs.  My dad loves to grow flowers too.  I didn't inherit the green thumb, but I've been working diligently on growing my own flowers.  It started as a fun project with my daughter, and now it's become an obsessive hobby.  Maybe in twenty years I'll actually have a decent garden. "Sprig" 9 x 12 Pastel on Paper View on Daily Paintworks Like painting, I'm learning that gardening is intuitive.  I spend a lot of time observing and experimenting, figuring out what works and what doesn't for the soil we have (and all ...

"Bromeliads!" 12 x 18 Chalk Pastel on Paper While out with my sister, I spotted a peculiar looking bunch of plants. My sister had to identify them for me: bromeliads! I thought it was a funny name to go with a funny-looking flower, and took several photos for a future painting. These particular bromeliads were orange, and stood out among all the green surroundings. When deciding on colors for the painting, I was in the middle of a green, purple, and orange streak (also known as "secondary colors"), and began blocking in the shapes on orange-toned Canson Mi-Teintes paper. I always run into the struggle between color and value, and emphasizing one or the other. For this piece, I stuck to the original color inspiration, which slightly flattens the image. I particularly enjoyed highlighting the pottery, and felt that the color scheme gave it a twist on a typical floral painting. Click here to view additional works for sale: http://artbynikihilsabeck.blog...