Art by Niki Hilsabeck

"Breaking the Day" 17 x 23 in. Mixed Media on Paper Another workshop, this time working from digital art-- in this case it was Randy Sprout's "Fortuna on the Spot" (Click here to view Randy Sprout's original piece: http://www.redbubble.com/people/randysprout/art/4863131-fortuna-on-the-spot ) To participate in Sojie 13, I chose to approach Randy about his piece for two reasons: I loved the bold composition of the digital work, and I have a strange need to paint boats on a regular basis. I thought I would approach the piece as an acrylic painting with chalk pastel as a top layer. It turned out to be more of a pastel painting on an acrylic surface, because I ended up covering the entire acrylic painting with the chalk. It started off simple enough, and I liked my original sketch so much I had to convince myself to get started with the paint. It's not that I have such a high opinion of my sketching abilities, but rather that I ...