Author: Karen Hilliard Art

“Fun in the Mud” is one of my favorite pig portraits I have done. She was curious and energetic. I love the composition and the background. This pig loved rolling around in the mud and I tried to show this through the balls of light and brown splashes around and behind her. Yellow was chosen to represent the sunlit mornings when I would go out to visit with her. She always had this cheerful expression and her face was filled with wonder. I wanted to make prints of this painting so I could share her with the world. I also chose her to be part of my farm sticker series and hope to be traveling and see her face on someone’s water bottle someday! She is now available in 8×10 as well as 5×7 sizes for print options. The paper quality is a thick watercolor paper that I love and does my work justice.

The natural color of the paper brings out the details of the originals. Love in the Rolls and Sunset Muddin’ are both paintings of the previous pig’s brother. These two loved spending time together and rough housing. At the end of the day, they loved to snuggle up with one another to keep warm through the evenings. I chose the same balls of light for his background as his sisters to show the mud, as well as the sunlight that warmed them both daily. I tried to capture the sweet and soft expression of his eyes in “Love in the Rolls,” and his whimsical behavior in “Sunset Muddin’.” Anytime we got the hose, his face would light up and contort with excitement. He knew he was going to get to roll around in the mud! He is available in 8×10 print sizes and 5×7’s of him are coming soon! We are still working on the stickers!

One of my favorite prints and stickers is “Piggy in Pink.” This pig is actually a boy! The light pink of his fur gave me the idea for the background and the whole painting took off from there. His nose is my favorite because of the light subtly shining on it. This was painted around the same time as the other three so the background is similar. I was very inspired by floating while balls to represent the sun. He is available in a 12” x 12” Gallery Wrapped Canvas. I love these prints because they are on 1 and a half inch stretcher bars and the paint goes around to the back. Each print comes ready to hang with a sturdy wire. They take 2 weeks to make. Great care and detail are put into each wrapped canvas. They were printed on Glossy Canvas and now will be printed on Matte Canvas. I have two glossy left and am excited for them to go to their new home!

I hope my prints bring others joy in their homes, or as gifts for their loved ones. Each print has the highest quality of materials to last a very long time. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email or the contact page on the website! Have a great weekend!

-Karen Hilliard

Also, if you would like another way to show support, I have a few options. “Buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested. The funds go to supplies and gas to get out to the trails. I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.

Please leave your Social Media handle on the “Buy me a Coffee” page so I can thank you in my Instagram/Facebook Stories! If you would like to 🙂

Thank you again for all of your support!

Woman of the Rock, Here’s Lookin’ at you Faith, and Crash Landing are the three watercolors that started off as a series and became a large body of work. My inspiration for my large detailed pieces comes from rock formations and fallen trees. These three paintings happen to be rock formations. All three originals are not available and there are prints of Woman of the Rock and Crash Landing. Let’s talk about the first one.

Woman of the rock was inspired by a rock formation on the Calico1 trail in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. Walking along the rocky path in the morning light, I came across a beautiful hill of rock. The image appeared to be a woman leaning against a wall with a basket on her head. I thought she looked like she needed a break from her daily chores. This painting is titled “Woman of the Rock” because the woman is immersed in the rock.

The Second painting was inspired by a boulder on Mt. Charleston in Nevada. I was bouldering and at the end of the climb, I saw a face, of course. This face was looking out left towards the trees and the person climbing with me. I came up with the title because of my friend’s name. The rock was looking toward her. The limestone gave off amazing contrasts of light and dark and this painting was a joy to create.

The last painting in the series inspired this style to be my life’s work. Crash Landing is the one I kept. This painting took me 7 months to finish and I could not possibly put a price on this one. I was happy to make prints of the painting so this rock could be shared with the world. It is found on Calico 1 Trail in Red Rock Canyon State Park, Nevada. It looked as if a prehistoric bird had crashed against the rock mid-flight. No one has seen this bird skull. My life’s work has become asking people what they see in my art. “Crash Landing” gives me great inspiration!! What do you see?

Please email me your response. Or, write it in the comments below! I look forward to hearing from you!

-Karen Hilliard

Also, if you would like another way to show support, I have a few options. “Buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested. The funds go to supplies and gas to get out to the trails. I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.

Please leave your Social Media handle on the “Buy me a Coffee” page so I can thank you in my Instagram/Facebook Stories! If you would like to 🙂

Thank you again for all of your support!

Bags, stickers, greeting cards, and more! It brings me such joy to see my paintings on products that bring others happiness. Having customers hang an original or a print on the wall is an amazing experience for me. I love hearing what people see in my artwork, or how it spoke to them, and made them feel an emotion. It is a blessing to be able to reproduce certain paintings onto greeting cards so others can share memories with their families and friends. I pick and choose the images for cards very carefully and try to use part of a painting and not all of it, so the original still holds it’s special appeal.

Along with greeting cards, I recently have made stickers from my acrylic farm paintings and cactus flowers from “Persistence.” Seeing one of my stickers on someone’s water bottle or any other gear brings me such excitement. Emails, text messages, and direct messages on social media platforms are very interesting to read what people would like to purchase products of. Another item I revisited from long ago is placing my paintings on Canvas Tote Bags.

Large canvas bags are very fun to take with me everywhere I go. I never know what I am going to need to carry. Coming from my background as an art student at San Francisco State, I had to walk a very long way to class from wherever I found parking. Having a bag in my trunk that I could fill with any item from sketchbook to paint materials was very handy! The hope for these bags is to bring the buyer functionality and enjoyment. A lot of thought goes into every item and painting I choose to have produced. All photographs of the images are taken by myself, produced by myself on the computer, and take several hours to get perfect for their new home!

I love putting so much time and thought into these products that may be a beautiful gift for someone’s special people in their lives. Making meaningful art is a treasured gift that I am thankful for everyday. Getting to place meaningful art onto an item that will become sentimental for others is simply lovely. Thank you for having my artwork become a piece of your life, a treasured memory, or something you share with a loved one. These moments, interactions, and stories you share, mean so much to me.

-Karen Hilliard

Also, if you would like another way to show support, I have a few options. “Buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested. The funds go to supplies and gas to get out to the trails. I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.

Please leave your Social Media handle on the “Buy me a Coffee” page so I can thank you in my Instagram/Facebook Stories! If you would like to 🙂

Thank you again for all of your support!

Alpha was painted in 2012 as part of a series of wolf paintings for First Friday in Las Vegas, Nevada. I chose to keep the original and not sell it. I created this face many times and each one was different. I focused on colors and highlights of the hair and wanted each canvas to be unique. All the wolves sold and I was happy I saved Alpha for myself. Now, after many years, I decided to make prints of this wolf and share it with the world. 

I chose to keep this one because the red in the background also softened into the fur. The light purple contrasted with the cream lines and texture and the eyes of this wolf seemed like he was the alpha of his pack. His eyes are calm and wise. The print was created on a wrapped canvas with a matte finish and holds the reds and pinks which show softness against the cream colors. The light in the eyes gives off a slight reflection. Each wolf painting focuses on the eyes to draw the viewer in.

Looking back at the photos from First Friday when I started out in 2012 was interesting. All the paintings on the metal grate sold and I am very thankful for that. The wolves were painted simultaneously with other animals such as owls. These pictures help me remember how much fun painting with acrylics was. The blue green wolf at the top, next to the eagle, drew people in because of its smile. 

The light green wolf was one of my favorites because of its gentle disposition and yellow eyes. The wolf with all the different hues of blue was intriguing because of the calm arctic feel it created in my mind. This wolf felt like a wolf spirit carved in ice. The purple wolf was definitely the most unique because it was created to look like a wolf at twilight under a starry sky. All the other wolves came to me in my dreams and I chose to emphasize the white highlights in their fur.

I hope you all enjoy these paintings and people will enjoy “Alpha” in their homes in the future. Please contact me with any stories you have about wolves.

-Karen Hilliard

Also, if you would like another way to show support, I have a few options. “Buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested. The funds go to supplies and gas to get out to the trails. I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.

Please leave your Social Media handle on the “Buy me a Coffee” page so I can thank you in my Instagram/Facebook Stories! If you would like to 🙂

Thank you again for all of your support!

This painting was inspired by a photograph taken on a hike at Mt. Charleston in Nevada. The acrylic representation of a fallen tree root system is different from one of my watercolor impressions. “Movement of Change” shows how a tree is changing from one lifecycle into the next by focusing on the roots’ journey into decomposition. I enjoyed creating this piece on a 12” x 12” wrapped canvas because the size is the same as a wall calendar’s picture that can be stared at for long periods of time. 

The title of the artwork has a dual meaning for me. I painted it at a time in my life when I was going through a transition. Moving from one place to another is always a time of change in one’s life. My journey took me from Colorado to Nevada and a difference in temperature from cold to heat quite drastically. I used warm and cool colors in this painting to represent the feelings I was going through at the time. The beautiful blue held my memories of blue skies and cool snowy days and the reds held my feelings of heat on my face.

Upon moving back to Las Vegas, my mind drifted to the many hikes taken on Mt. Charleston and the fascination I had with the tree’s root systems. I take many photographs of fallen trees and try to bring them back to life through watercolor. When the change of weather and scenery happened, I decided to get back into painting with acrylics. The movement of the paintbrush seemed to dance on the canvas and the colors worked together forming many interesting shapes. This piece thoroughly entertained me and it was a joy to use acrylics again.

While working on the recent pet portrait, I remembered how much I loved this painting and decided to get prints made of it. Hopefully others can enjoy it as much as I do now. Prints will be ready sometime in October. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! If you live in Las Vegas, the North Loop trail on Mt. Charleston has beautiful trees along the way. I would love to hear about your hiking experiences. You can contact me HERE.

-Karen Hilliard

Also, if you would like another way to show support, I have a few options. “Buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested. The funds go to supplies and gas to get out to the trails. I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.

Please leave your Social Media handle on the “Buy me a Coffee” page so I can thank you in my Instagram/Facebook Stories! If you would like to 🙂

Thank you again for all of your support!

Having a special dog who brought me so much joy regularly was quite wonderful. I did drawings of him all the time, especially as he slept. Other people liked my drawings and asked for portraits of their pets which I happily did. In the past few years, I had not taken many pet commissions due to the passing of my wonderful Red Heeler, Australian Cattle Dog, who was my main sidekick. He inspired me daily and went on every hiking adventure I trekked in the United States and Canada. Most of my outdoor memories are with him. Creating portraits for others was very hard after his passing.

Now, I have a blue heeler, 2 years old. He has helped me bring my focus back slowly by sketching every now and then, and creating canvas paintings again. Being asked to be a part of a person’s memories is an amazing feeling. I try to understand the feeling a person has about their pet and ask certain questions so I can place these emotions into the brush strokes. Getting a color scheme from clients is also an enjoyable part of the experience. I start with the eyes of an animal and focus on their expression or how their person described the pet’s character.

Once the eyes are painted, I develop the nose and mouth with certain details in mind. People message me about what their favorite memories are involving their pet’s mannerisms. Watercolor allows layering and a build up of texture with an emphasis on fur or hair to show expressive traits. I like using soft backgrounds to bring the image of the animal forward. If I choose to add details to the background, I also add highlights to the animal in order to bring the focus back to the subject.

This commissioned subject is someone’s cat and beloved pet. I created this with Winsor Newton Professional Watercolors on Arches Cold Pressed Watercolor Paper. The painting above is on a 4″ x 6″ sheet of watercolor paper. This space allows me to focus solely on certain attributes of the face to ensure each person’s happiness with their animal’s appearance. I was very pleased to work on Emme’s portrait recently because the lovely eyes of the animal fascinated me with such intensity. She is a very special part of her family and I was overjoyed to paint her. Please contact me HERE if you are interested in a commissioned Tiny Painting of your loved one!

I fully understand wanting to capture a loved one’s memories in a portrait that can hang on a wall and bring a smile to one’s heart every time it is seen. When I finish a painting, I hope I brought a moment to life such as how a person’s animal always made a certain face, or a tilt of their head. Reliving a happy memory is a marvelous feeling. Being asked to commemorate someone special to a family member is an honor. I am grateful for being blessed with two magnificent friends and the memories shared with both are timeless. 

-Karen Hilliard

Also, if you would like another way to show support, I have a few options. “Buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested. The funds go to supplies and gas to get out to the trails. I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.

Please leave your Social Media handle on the “Buy me a Coffee” page so I can thank you in my Instagram/Facebook Stories! If you would like to 🙂

Thank you again for all of your support!

The Sunflower painting series is completed. I decided the final 3 paintings would be on bees in flight over the sunflowers. I loved to watch these pollinators in action. Number 8 in the series was interesting to paint, and the main focus was on the bee. The dusting of pollen on the backside was an especially fun addition. At first I left white spots where I wanted the pollen dust and then painted yellow over them. One of the final touches of the painting was to add more yellow dots to emphasize the specs of pollen.

I created a time-lapse of this painting and posted it on Instagram and Youtube. Click on the words and the link will take you to the videos! It is nice to watch hours of work finished in 28 seconds. I hope everyone is enjoying the videos because they are fun to make. After finishing this video, I realized the wings of the bee were not painted on. The photograph I used for my reference did not show the wings because the bee was in flight over the center of the flower. The wings were added at the end of the painting by using a mixture of brown and blue color with a light wash of water to give them a transparent look. I am entranced by the evolution of the wings in this series.

Number 9 shows a different perspective of a bee from another side of the flower. I used the knowledge and style from the previous painting to recreate the transparent look of flight. The dusting of the pollen on the backside was used in the last two paintings to show how hard the bees were working. The photograph I used as a reference for Number 10 had two bees flying over a sunflower and I had to paint them closer together than the photograph in order to have them fit on this Tiny Painting. I am pleased with how these turned out.

I hope you enjoyed reading the blogs on this Sunflower Series and the bees as the subject for the last few paintings. Thank you for taking a walk through my garden with me, studying our pollinators, and reading about the art journey. If you have any comments or stories you would like to share with me, please send me an email. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

My weekend will be spent trying to figure out what to paint next out of the many photos I have taken in my lifetime. 

-Karen Hilliard

Also, if you would like another way to show support, I have a few options. “Buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested. The funds go to supplies and gas to get out to the trails. I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.

Please leave your Social Media handle on the “Buy me a Coffee” page so I can thank you in my Instagram/Facebook Stories! If you would like to 🙂

Thank you again for all of your support!

Taking a moment to write about sketching ideas out just for pure enjoyment as well as planning a composition. Usually I don’t plan out compositions and they just come as I am painting. Sometimes I try to draw out a concept of what I want the painting to look like or a direction I want to go, but for the most part, I just go for it on painting days. Sketching for me is more for enjoyment and making sure I remember ideas. My mind is constantly drawing, painting, and creating as I walk, run, hike, even dream. I like to draw as much as possible so I can remember all the interesting images my mind creates.

I recently have found amazing sketchbooks from an artist who was on ETSY that I love. She creates the covers from dying paper with natural products from her garden. The range of paper she uses is what I am finding the most exciting. I bought one hot press paper book because I had never used this before, and I love how the paint bleeds easily and the color stays vibrant. I have not painted in the other small book I chose, but I am looking forward to it. The larger one is going to be the home of my tree sketches and intricate images of what I see in the bark.

Another field sketchbook I truly like is this tiny 4” x 4” book. I can take it anywhere in my backpack and it does not get damaged by the rough terrain or weather. The paper inside is different throughout the book and the comments on the item stated this as a problem. I see the fact that the paper is not similar and the texture causes the paint to dry in strange ways, more of a challenge, however, I love this book! It is fun and small and I really like painting tiny with fine details. I often use this book as a guide for future compositions on my tiny paintings or larger works.

I have recently found paper quality to be a great challenge with paint and what I want to do with my color spectrum. I had been working on a large piece for my October Newsletter and the paper quality was brilliant. The paint needed many layers and kept drying very light. This painting was one of the most demanding of my time and attention from the large works of art collection. Hence, I needed a few days to decompress and sketch painting is my favorite outlet from any frustration or setback. This is the main way that I relax and reset. What do you find enjoyable when you need a moment to yourself? Feel free to send me an answer via my Contact Page.

-Karen Hilliard

Also, if you would like another way to show support, I have a few options. “Buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested. The funds go to supplies and gas to get out to the trails. I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.

Please leave your Social Media handle on the “Buy me a Coffee” page so I can thank you in my Instagram/Facebook Stories! If you would like to 🙂

Thank you again for all of your support!

I truly love watching these bees work the flowers. They have such a drive and dedication that many can learn from just by studying them. Number 6 in the series is a similar painting to Number 1, however this image represents the flower as it started to get older. You can see the petals behind the bee have curled and do not appear in this painting as they do in the first one of the series. The bee is in a similar position. The painting was inspired by a zoomed in version of a photograph I took of 3 bees on one Sunflower. They were flying around and landing in such a fascinating way for over an hour.

Seeing the pollen get ruffled on the hairs of the bees is a joy to watch. The yellow dust flies in the air and sticks to the scopa and legs of these wonderful creatures. I made a video using time lapse on my phone and later realized the video appears to be at the same speed of a bee as it is working. I was very lucky to capture so many amazing pictures to choose from for my paintings. Even after the photographs were taken, I used the computer to take an even closer look at my subjects for these works of art.

Number 7 in the series is the other side of the flower from Number 6. I chose to paint the other 2 bees on the flower to show how they were working equally as hard as the first bee. The center of the flower’s color palette changed to lighter hues and more water was added to dilute the color. The angle of the flower and perspective of the bees is different from its counterpart. I decided to leave the whites down the backs of the bees to show their shiny reflection of the sun. They were having fun crawling around in the pollen.

Thank you for reading about the bees adventures. The last days of the sunflowers are coming to an end and I am very happy for the ability to document their life through watercolor. I am glad to have added these to the Tiny Paintings category on my website and my small works portfolio. If you have any stories you would like to share about your own garden, or flowers you love, please email me from my Contact page.

I would love to hear from you!

-Karen Hilliard

Also, if you would like another way to show support, I have a few options. “Buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested. The funds go to supplies and gas to get out to the trails. I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.

Please leave your Social Media handle on the “Buy me a Coffee” page so I can thank you in my Instagram/Facebook Stories! If you would like to 🙂

Thank you again for all of your support!

I decided to take a break on the Sunflower Painting Series for a few days while I ran around completing errands. “Persistence” the newest large piece I finished got accepted into the Nevada Watercolor Society Fall Show. Luckily I had just received “I See a Horse” back from its debut in the Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition. This was fortunate because the paintings are both 15” x 20” and I was able to have them changed out and use the same frame for the upcoming show to save money. The blog is titled “Persistence and Entering Shows” because it takes persistence, dedication, and patience when showing part of yourself through your paintings to be judged by others. 

These shows have many people who submit their work and that alone is an intense feeling. I found years ago to enter, then try to not think about the outcome, and just be excited if I got in. After the judging is narrowed down and they decide how the show will flow together, then they send the winners an email. The people who do not get in receive a different email saying “Unfortunately…We regret to inform you…” and this can be hard to read. I wanted to write this blog to say to keep trying. It is okay to not be accepted because that means another show, person, gallery, etc. is just waiting to see your work. 

For example, I had entered “Moon Wizard” into a show and it was rejected, then a year later I entered the same painting into the Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition, and it was accepted. “Rooster in the Wood” has been in 2 shows and just got rejected from the Vermont Watercolor Society’s Fall Show, while another one of my pieces was accepted. The people viewing the work have to decide how the show will flow as an entire entity, altogether, as one. Keep believing in yourself and take the wins when you get them. When I was in school we had a guest speaker who came with a very thick binder. Half of the binder filled with her rejection letters and the other half her acceptance letters. This stuck with me and sticks with me today. I started a binder of my own and it helps me to remember to keep pushing forward. There will always be both rejections and acceptances.

I am grateful that my current painting was accepted and look forward to the show. Thank you for all of the support that I have been reading on Facebook and Instagram about the newest work of art. I really appreciate all of you taking the time to write comments and like/love my posts. I hope you all have an amazing Wednesday. If anyone has any questions please feel free to email me via my Contact page.

-Karen Hilliard

Also, if you would like another way to show support, I have a few options. “Buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested. The funds go to supplies and gas to get out to the trails. I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.

Please leave your Social Media handle on the “Buy me a Coffee” page so I can thank you in my Instagram/Facebook Stories! If you would like to 🙂

Thank you again for all of your support!