Art by Niki Hilsabeck

After a long hiatus, I'm trying to get back into a more productive cycle, which means more painting, creating lessons and teaching, and taking my work out of the house to events. It's not that I haven't been busy, but I've gotten sort of sidetracked with fun pursuits like gardening, sewing, and breaking up fights between my children. I did manage to teach my first paint-sip at the beginning of the year (hauling all of the materials in during a rainstorm that dropped an alarming amount of moisture!)  It was a blast, and we did the piece below in about 2 hours:                                                      "Moonlit Valley" Acrylic on Paper (We used canvas instead of paper, so it would be easy to hang at home.) If you're in the North San Diego County or Southwest Riverside County area and would like to do a paint-sip event, please con...

Been working on a night scene for a while... "Luminous Night" 12 x 16 pastel on paper Click here to view on my website "Luminous Night" is a painting of a night view of the Grand Tradition in Fallbrook, California.  The popular event destination features stunning grounds, complete with a small lake.  The gazebo is a popular spot for dancing, especially at the annual Fourth of July celebration. I painted the piece above using wet pastel sticks on Canson Canva-Paper, layered with dry pastel for a textured, impressionistic effect.  I've often been inspired by Van Gogh's night Cafe scenes, and enjoyed creating the reflected light using abstract shapes and contrasting lights and shadows brightened with color.  I've learned that although light and shadow are important in painting a night scene, it's the color that really brings it to life in a pastel painting. I've also been busy filling my website and Etsy shop with smaller pastel painting...

After a massive heat wave that ended with a fiercely stormy afternoon, we seem to have finally reached fall weather.  Hooray! "Power Pole" Miniature pastel painting on watercolor-toned card Click here to view details "Stormy Dawn" Miniature pastel painting on textured paper Click here to view details The paintings above feature a couple of scenes from my house--having a dog means that I get to go out early and see the beautiful morning skies, so I'll often snap pictures when I do.  "Stormy Dawn" was inspired by some of the storm clouds passing through our area-- it's been an active hurricane season on the Pacific, so the moisture has been traveling up our way and making for some interesting skies. "Power Pole" was painted on one of the hot days-- too hot to go outside, so I sat in the kitchen and painted the view I could see out one of the windows.  In a funny twist, the power actually went out for a couple of hours as I ...

"Squirrel Snack" 17 x 20 Pastel on Paper Click here to view details 2014 Entry Although the show ended last month, I thought I would share a few of my Art of the Avocado entries over the last few years. Each year, I try to do something a little different for the Art of the Avocado contest that coincides with the Avocado Festival in Fallbrook, California.  This year, I submitted two entries: the painting featured above, and an acrylic piece on canvas that I framed under glass.  You can see both pieces (along with my photobombing cat) in the photo below: The painting on the right is called "Yin-Yang Yum," and features the way avocados usually look at our house: scraped clean and eaten! The inspiration for "Squirrel Snack" came from a photo I took of a freshly snatched avocado, which appeared to have become the victim of hungry ground squirrels.  Anyone who has an avocado grove probably recognizes this view of an avocado! I always find i...

 "Fallbrook Field" 8 x 12 Pastel on Paper Click here to view purchase details This is my 200th post.  I was heartbroken to find out that my absolute favorite art teacher (well, next to my grandma of course), David Musser, passed away in December.  You can see David's art here. I took my first pastel class with David in 2004.  Before then, I didn't even know what soft pastels were, since I'd only used oil pastels.  I struggled at first, and was especially mortified when he pulled a chair up next to mine and said he was going to make me his "special project," and that I'd be able to use pastels with ease in no time.  Fortunately, he was right! I could fill an entire blog with things I learned in David's classes (I continued with pastel, and also took some basic drawing and watercolor classes with him over the years).  He was one of the most entertaining people I've ever met, and he truly enjoyed helping his students create-- he shar...

"Hippie Flowers" 6 x 9 inch pastel on drawing paper Click here to view large or see purchase details December usually isn't the best time for me-- everything seems to hit the fan mid-month, leaving me exhausted (and this time sick) by the time the holidays are over.  These little flowers cheered me up as I worked on them (I called them "Hippie Flowers" because they reminded me of something from the sixties). In spite of that, I've been working for a while on a few pieces to demonstrate one of my favorite elements of painting with pastel: the delicate push-pull between the soft, blended areas and the bolder, harder lines and strokes. One of the most relaxing things I can think of to do is to smear a pastel painting. In my first pastel classes, we learned to block in areas of color and smear the painting as a whole to achieve that soft background effect unique to pastel.  After a layer of fixative (if desired), we would then go back over the piece, a...

"Bowing Oak" 9 x 12 inch Chalk pastel on flat canvas Click here to view large or purchase There are many sights that inspire artists here in Fallbrook.  Live Oak Park is both a wonderful location for families and a great place to take in the play of light and shadow on the trees. As a child, I remember enjoying the twists and turns of the park and the large, shady areas to run wild with other kids.  As an adult who likes to paint trees, I have a whole new appreciation for the park.  The tree in the painting above inspired me both from an artist's and a child's point of view.  It reminded me of the dryads in one of my favorite childhood book series, The Chronicles of Narnia .  Although I enjoy the Narnia movies, my memories of the books are much stronger, and one of the scenes I often think of when I see such lifelike trees is when Susan and Lucy happened upon the Dryads dancing in the moonlight. "Bowing Oak" was created with my favorite ...

"Herbst" 9 x 12 Chalk Pastel on Paper Click here to view large or purchase original "Herbst" is the German word for fall.  It seemed to fit this picture better than the English word for some reason. The bird is a bit large for a dove, but it was a dove that inspired this painting.  I took a quick photo of this bird relaxing in my driveway as the sun was heading for the horizon a few weeks ago, on a rare day where it had cooled off somewhat. Fall is usually my favorite season. The days have been so hot these last two months, it's been difficult to remember that summer's been over for a while.  The best part of the day for me this year is when the brutal sun sets, and the air takes on a mild chill.  We have a variety of birds who visit our property and seem to enjoy the evening cooling as well. It was nice to sit down and make a spontaneous painting that didn't turn into hours of hesitating and overthinking e...

"Almond Blossoms" 9 x 12 Chalk Pastel on Paper Click here to view large or purchase There are times when it's hard to work in the face of a mess.  When faithfully making daily paintings, I had a little monthly ritual that consisted of collecting all of the works I'd completed for the month and packing them away.  It gave me a chance to clear my mind and start fresh. These days, I have to work in small spurts on several projects at a time.  When my energy is low (which is most of the time, as I have a baby due next month), the task of cleaning everything up and putting it away each time I work becomes a little daunting.  So, I've decided that it's ok to leave the painting messes out for a while until a piece is finished.  This means having several stations to work, with materials ready and works in progress displayed where I can see them throughout the day.  The pieces I'm sharing today took longer than planned to complete, as I kept gett...

"Plein Air Cactus" 9 x 12 Chalk Pastel on Paper Click here to view print choices: http://www.redbubble.com/people/nikihilsabeck/art/7997949-plein-air-cactus-pastel The cactus plant: a common sight in Southern California, it means different things to different people. For some, it's ugly (I have a friend who hates succulents in general). For baby squirrels, it's a safe home. For random strangers at the end of my street, it's apparently dinner. You think I'm joking? There's often quite a crowd out there with their plastic bags and knives, helping themselves. For me, it's something that's always available to paint, but I only do so after careful deliberation-- painting cactus is like working on a puzzle. In this case, it was the play of light and shadow on the plant that inspired me to work. I really had to get into right brain mode, though, because my left brain was screaming "It looks like a hand! A hand with fat wide finger...

"Along the Canal" 20 x 20 Acrylic on Box Canvas (Original donated to S.A.F.E. Temecula for auction) A couple of totally different painting experiences, both at home: one so relaxing I could barely keep my eyes open, the other so frustrating I had to take frequent time-outs. I firmly believe that it is to my benefit as an artist to be able to drop everything and work on a painting or drawing, no matter where I am. Gone are the days where the combination of timing, inspiration, and availability of materials all had to come together in order for me to spend some time making art. I now know that waiting for those moments to come would mean never getting any work done at all, so I took a strategy from my writing days instead: be prepared to paint at any free moment, and put some time in each day. Painting at home should give me plenty of opportunity for this, right? Well, there's definitely opportunity...it just takes a cool head and a persistent hand to make the most ...

I have work in three shows this month. What happens in Fallbrook...happens all at once! "Avocado on the Side" (12 x 18 pastel on paper) at Pinnell Gallery at 124 N. Main Ave in Fallbrook CA (part of the "Art of the Avocado" exhibit) April 17th through May 2nd Click here to buy print: http://www.redbubble.com/people/nikihilsabeck/art/6955621-avocado-on-the-side-pastel "Vogel-Figured" (pastel) "Egyptian Girl" Mixed Media on paper (on display at the Bob Burton Performing Arts Center at Fallbrook High School, part of the Fallbrook Art Association display) Click here to buy print of "Vogel-Figured": http://www.redbubble.com/people/nikihilsabeck/art/6941167-vogel-figured-pastel Click here to buy print of "Egyptian Girl": http://www.redbubble.com/people/nikihilsabeck/art/5631471-egyptian-girl Included in Fallbrook Art Association's Spring Show (juried show, runs through April 24th) at the Fallbrook Art Center: 103 S. Main Ave in...