Art by Niki Hilsabeck

"Oorah!" 9 x 12 Chalk pastel on flat canvas Click here to view large or purchase I got a little carried away with this one, and it's on fairly small canvas-- a painting of a boat that we used to walk by quite often at the harbor in Oceanside, California.   Oceanside Harbor is right next to Camp Pendleton.   If you live anywhere near a military base that houses marines, you know what "Oorah!" means. I began the piece with a blue chalk sketch on a piece of flat canvas, and blended the chalk with water to give it a bit of a watercolor feel.  Water helps stick the chalk to the canvas, eliminating some of that annoying dust and also replacing the potent can of fixative I sometimes break out in case of emergency.  It's best to use a watercolor brush and have a paper towel handy if you want to lift out some extra highlights, and keep the canvas absolutely flat as it dries. I meant to go for a more secondary color scheme with greens, purples, and a bit of ...

"Harbor Alley" 14 x22 Mixed Media on Paper Click here to purchase or view large This piece took a while, as it was a bit of an experiment but turned into quite an exercise. We've had some great weather over the summer down at Oceanside Harbor, so I've been wanting to capture some of those bright days in my artwork.  I started with a palette knife painting using blue acrylic and gesso, laying in the values and basic composition before I broke out the chalk. I ended up layering chalk over acrylic, then more paint over the chalk again to bring back some of those deep blues and bright whites.  The goal of the painting was not to show what the actual boats looked like, but the patterns of horizontal and vertical shapes highlighted by the bright sun and set against the darker water. In the spirit of summer and great beach weather, I also did a pastel painting of my daughter as she looked last year: "Little Chunky Thighs on the Beach" 9 x 12 Chalk p...

"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....

"Last Light" 9 x 12 Chalk Pastel, Water, and Red Wine on Flat Canvas (Original not for sale) Click here to view print choices: http://www.redbubble.com/people/nikihilsabeck/works/8290572-last-light-pastel One of the benefits of painting familiar things is the freedom to strip them down into their basic elements. In these paintings, I chose to focus on forms, as the strong directional shapes were what inspired me to paint them. I am one of those people who finds comfort in familiar surroundings, which means I spend lots of time studying the things I see every day and looking for patterns and characteristics to help me paint with ease. For "Last Light," I used a photo taken on my phone at sunset in Oceanside, California as a loose reference. I often get distant photos of people along the water and use their forms in my paintings. I get lots of sunset photos, because I'm not an early morning person. This translates into paintings that typically have a lot ...