Art by Niki Hilsabeck

There are times when I want to paint a little more realistically, or I have a definite image or concept in my mind that I want to explore. And then there are times (like last night) where I'm so tired, I don't know what it is I want to paint. Add to that my personal need to vary my subject matter and approach every few days, and it makes for some frustrating late night decision-making. I knew I wanted to stay away from focusing on a single object (or pair of objects). I thought I might try a place, only I didn't have a clear idea of what I would like to represent in my painting. Then, I sat down in front of my pastels-- the extra soft chalk ones-- and noticed all the beautiful greens. I don't get around to painting much with green, having somewhat of an addiction to blues and purples. I remembered a photo I had taken of a small forest in Germany, which was almost entirely green. I decided I would try it with the oil and chalk combination, and began blocking in grass and...

My first month in Germany provided me with a lot of opportunities for culture shock-- I think one of the strongest impressions I still remember was my first glimpse of what was once an East German town, but had become part of the newly reunified Germany. I've been to L.A. many times, and I've never seen air as dirty as what the people in that town were breathing. Everything had a grayish-brown tint to it, and the dominating figure in the town was a factory with a tall smokestack. The tower in this painting was on the outskirts of the town, and I took a picture to remind me of the up-close view. To create the abandoned look in this picture, I colored the tower in first with the orange-peach tone (oil pastel). I then blocked in some of the blues and darks (again with oil pastel). Once I had the basic shapes and values in, I went over the picture with chalk pastel, smearing it in as I went. For this piece, I did a lot of layering and scratching-- the underlayer of oil pastel allo...