Art by Niki Hilsabeck

"Homeward Bound" 6 x 12 Pastel on Paper Original sold Click here to buy print: http://www.redbubble.com/people/nikihilsabeck/art/5989191-1-homeward-bound-pastel I was sure I would experience more bad karma with this paper... I bought the paper at a large creative supplies store, which shall not be named here. I was irritated because they no longer have the plain old block of cheap Strathmore art paper, so I bought some extra large pieces of toned paper for pasteling (Canson). When I got to the register, the cashier started to roll up the paper, and I snapped at her to leave it flat. Normally I try not to snap at anyone doing his or her job, so I felt guilty-- and the bad karma from that incident has been following this paper. It's taken a beating with some wrinkles and water drips, and has narrowly missed several cat and child-related mishaps. I promised myself I wouldn't snap at a cashier aga...

I was beginning to suspect that blue was becoming my go-to color in all of my work-- I tend to use a lot of color complements, so if I pick up the blue, that attaches me to orange. It's just that it seems that blue is everywhere I look-- black, gray, even white often looks blue to me. I should have seen this coming; as a child, I colored all of the models' teeth in my mom's magazines blue, because I thought blue teeth looked prettier. I knew there was a problem when I glanced through my Red Bubble favorites a few days ago, and noticed I had selected almost exclusively blue-based pictures. I had also completed a monochromatic painting ("Blue 'Tude") and even joined a Red Bubble group for works strictly done in blue. In the original book The Wizard of Oz , the Emerald City looked green to its inhabitants because everyone had to wear green-tinted glasses. I don't want my choices to to be limited as though I am wearing my own version of tinted glasses. So,...