Category: Karen Hilliard Art Blog

This series of paintings started out with an idea to draw forest animals in my sketchbook. The idea slowly evolved into watercolor paintings in my watercolor sketchbook. As I painted, I added wispy strokes of purple to give each animal a winter feel. I wanted the paintings to look as if the animals were in snow on a cool winter day. When I finished this series over the summer I decided to just leave them all in the book. As the holidays are rolling around, people are liking the card series, so I chose to put these animals on cards for everyone in case they wanted them for a Christmas Card set or a gift. I hope you enjoy them!

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The Fox was especially fun to create. He went through many transformations before I found him nuzzling into his tail to be the look I wanted for this composition. I love when our dog curls up on cold nights and covers his nose with his tail. I recreated this experience with the fox and added blue with purple to show the cold wind blowing through his fur. I closed his eyes to show how he was snuggling in for the night to stay warm. Another animal in the series that went through many transformations was the deer.

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The Fawn was drawn and painted several times before I settled on this look for her. She was a beautiful and curious deer. I tried to capture this expression with cool and warm tones in her face. I wanted to show the variations of color in her fur and capture her white spots before her colors change in the winter. The whiskers off her face were an afterthought and I like how the whole painting comes together. Her eyes are big and beautiful to show the look deer give when they first see you and pop their head up. The other 2 animals are a badger and a possum. They luckily flowed out of the paintbrush on their first try!

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I hope these cards bring joy to you or whoever you are gifting them to.

-Karen Hilliard

This beautiful farm in South Carolina is filled with life. A herd of goats and flocks of chickens roam the grounds. Along with the animal life on the farm, there are mushrooms growing out of logs placed up against trees. These logs have spores on them and create a great environment for the growth of certain fungi. For the next painting in the series, the owner wanted a close up of the mushrooms growing out of the bottom of a log, and the side of another log. He cropped the images for these paintings personally and is happy with how they turned out. More of his photography can be found on his Instagram page @freakishy_green.

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Number 7 in the series took a very long time to paint. Over the course of 2 days, I did not even clock the hours. This painting has so many layers of paint, texture work, and many hours of time spent on it. The white mushrooms were brought out by painting the negative space behind them in order to keep their soft texture. I used Cerulean for a light blue shade to emphasize a shadow on the fungi. The Burnt Sienna color at the top of the vertical painting was used to represent the pine needles along the forest floor. Painting these was challenging and exciting so I decided the next painting would be a mushroom piece as well.

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Witchy Acres Series 1 Number 8 is a zoomed in version of mushrooms growing on the side of a log. I love the contrast of color in this piece. To bring out the mushrooms, I used Cerulean, Windsor Blue, Burnt Umber, and the red used was Permanent Alizarin Crimson. I mixed the red and blues to create light violets for shadows as well, and focused on creating the negative space around the mushrooms with darker colors to enhance their white glow, and soft features. Each painting is unique in their own way and both were a joy to create. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did painting them. Thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

Today I picked up a framed print of Arch Rock and dropped it off at Dam Roast House in Boulder City, NV. This sweet coffee shop and bookstore hung up one of my larger prints and has a basket filled with my 5×7 prints by the door. I am very excited for this opportunity and for people to view my artwork while they are having a cup of coffee and conversing with their friends. I am also pleased with the selection of 5×7 prints displayed at the store as well. I chose the large print of Arch Rock to hang in the shop because it is a rock formation from Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.

This Nevada State Park is 45 minutes from Las Vegas and many people who live in the area like to visit this wonderful park. Valley of Fire is filled with sandstone rock formations ranging in color from red to white. Arch Rock is on the park’s map as a stopping point and has a little hike around the arch. It is a great place to take pictures and explore. In the heat of the day, the top of the arch is white washed by the sun and the bottom is shaded which brings out it’s marvelous variations of orange color. I tried to emphasize these color changes in the painting while creating soft clouds in the background of the Arch.

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When I was finished dropping this print off at the coffee shop, I drove home, and had to relax for several hours. Then, I started working on the Tiny Painting Series from Witchy Acres Farm. Number 7 in the series will be a painting of mushrooms growing from the logs shown in the Number 2 painting with the cat. The mushrooms are growing at the base of the log with pine needles at the bottom. The mushrooms are being shaded with Burnt Umber and Windsor Blue and will be highlighted with Cerulean to produce a light blue effect. I am excited to finish this painting and will post it in my next blog. It was an interesting day for my creativity because I had to shift my mind from the sandstone of the desert to the damp forest floor of South Carolina. A very fun day indeed. Thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

Oreo the goat was very fun to paint. I really tried to emphasize his goatee and the light wispiness of the hair on top of his head. I added light around the goatee to show color variation from his fur to bring out the chin hair. I started this painting with the goat’s left eye and did a time lapse video of half of the face. This painting took 2 days to complete because I needed to allot for drying time in order to add many layers to create the appearance of black. I used brown and blue paint mixed together to create the dark features. I chose to put the goat on hay for the background and added a blue sky.

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Number 6 in the series is a wonderful Wyandotte chicken possibly silver laced. I chose this chicken because of it’s feather color and pattern. I loved that I would be able to use the blue and brown mixture to create an ink like painting and then add color later for texture. I also started with this animal’s left eye and worked the rest of the painting from there. The regal look of the chicken impressed me and I chose to take the owner’s horizontal photograph and crop it into a vertical version focusing on the bird’s posture. I love how she looks out at the audience and sparks the imagination.

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Each brown and black stroke of paint was mixed differently and can be seen, on the original, when closely looked at. I added cerulean to bring a light blue shade into the whites of the feathers to show movement and contrast. The background of the photograph had grass, leaves, and dirt. I chose to simplify this to small grass patches and dirt with particles. I love that a painting can be an interpretation of a photograph and each is a capture of a moment in time. I am very grateful for this opportunity to paint Witchy Acres Farm. It is very nice to paint Tiny again. Each of these paintings took 2 days and a lot of layering. I hope you enjoy them!

-Karen Hilliard

Two goats on the 12 acre farm in South Carolina are named Napoleon and Oreo. Napoleon is a brown and white young goat with a great personality. In the photo he is looking through the fence, smelling, and being quite curious. I started this painting with his nose to have it be the main reference and worked the rest of the piece from there. The nose has many colors such as Winsor Blue, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Alizarin Crimson and a violet mixture. I used a pointillism technique and 4 layers of color to bring out the details of texture in his nose.

Number 4 from the Witchy Acres small works series was a joy to create. I loved focusing on the goat’s eyes and trying to get the whites perfect to show his curious demeanor. He ended up looking a little sad in the painting but animals do look a little confused when they are trying to understand something. The whites in his neck were left and later filled in with a watered down burnt umber to show the muscle definition. The lower background is filled with hay using Yellow Ochre. I decided to use green for the background at the top of the painting under the wood fence because the photo had a little green behind Napoleon’s head.

Number 5 in the series will be a painting of Oreo because the owner of the farm really loves the goat’s fur on top of his head as well as the goatee. I have not decided whether or not I will do a side profile or a frontal painting of the goat’s face. A side profile may be better to fully show his amazing hairdo. This goat is black and white and the colors will be darker and more rich than Number 4 and Napoleon. I am told this goat is very bold and in charge so the palette will fit perfectly to his personality. We shall see how he turns out!

Thank you for reading. 10% of all profits on this small works series goes back to Witchy Acres Farm in South Carolina. If you have any questions you can contact me from the website. If you are interested in any of the paintings, they can be purchased right from the website! Have a great evening.

-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.

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

Thank you again for all of your support!

The 12 acre farm in South Carolina is filled with forest, mushrooms, and many loved creatures. I am enjoying the opportunity to paint these large white mushrooms because each one has a different range of color. Most of the mushrooms are white and large oyster with hints of yellow, shades of purple, brown, and blue. The vast experimentation with my color palette is very exciting. The first mushroom painting I chose to do had a cool blue and light purple mix for the gills.

Number 3 in the Witchy Acres series had yellow hints of color touched by the sunlight reaching through the trees. The mushroom log resting on the tree had shades of purple, blue, brown, black, grey, and specs of yellow throughout the bark. The mushroom was blown up on the tiny painting space of a 4” x 6” piece of mixed media paper. I chose to zoom in on the mushroom to show the contrast of its softness compared to the log and tree.

Another aspect of the farm I am really looking forward to painting are the goats. Two goats specifically on the list are Napoleon and Oreo. Napoleon is a brown and white young goat and Oreo is black and white and very assertive. I look forward to painting farm animals again and am reminded of the goat paintings from my previous series of Four Mile Farmstead. Goats are very fun to paint because their eyes are never what or where you expect them to be. 

Number 1 and Number 2 in the series of Four Mile Farmstead show a mother and kid snuggling and a single goat with wandering eyes. I love how these animals can steal my heart with their sweet and kind dispositions. They also have very different personalities. I was lucky to have met the goats on the farm at Four Mile Farmstead. I am told that the goats on Witchy Acres have unique personalities and great character as well. Thank you for reading this blog and stay tuned for the animals of Witchy Acres.

-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!

Painting these mushrooms and animals has been quite enjoyable. I met the owner of the farm over Instagram due to a mutual obsession with mushrooms. I asked him if I could paint some of his mushroom pictures, and here we are, with a new Tiny Painting series. The title of this series is Witchy Acres because that is the name of his farm. He is a super awesome human excited about life and sustainable living. 

Number 1 in this series is a close up representation of mushrooms layered together. I chose blue and red to make a light purple shadow on the white fungi. I love the layers of gills under the mushroom caps created with violet and light blue hues. A fascination came with each intricate line and details with shadows. This painting kept me very intrigued and just flowed. I listened to classical study music while creating it and the mushroom just came into existence while focusing on the negative space.

There are also amazing animals on this farm I will be painting. Number 2 in the series is a wonderful black cat walking around in the woods. Behind this mammal are logs placed diagonally against trees. These logs will be used for growing the mushrooms. The owner of the farm asked for the green plant by the cat to be taken out of the painting and I really like how it turned out. I used the same technique on the foreground as the California Redwood series to show the needles the trees dropped. Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, and Windsor Blue paint were mixed together to create this forest floor.

I am excited for Number 3 and looking forward to painting more mushrooms as well as goats from this magical Witchy Acres Farm. Thankful for this opportunity! If you have any comments or questions about the paintings or farm, please send me a message at https://khilliardart.com/contact/

Any questions about the farm will be forwarded to the owner. 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!

Two of my favorite places to hike in Las Vegas are Red Rock Canyon and Mt. Charleston. As I hike, fallen trees align the paths of the desert terrain. The trees in the park of Red Rock Canyon blend in with the sandstone. The particles of sand get blown by the wind into the crevices of the wood and soften the sharp edges of the bark. The erosion of the trees creates colors of yellow, blue, and orange comparative to the desert surroundings. 

The tree I am working on is a root system from Red Rock Canyon Middle Creek Trail. I saw many faces in this formation and sketching my ideas created even more images for me. I love hearing what other people see in my paintings because I see entirely different intricacies. In this piece, I see a fish and very subtle square lines in the wood. There are so many different wonders to see in the desert.

Another place in the desert filled with trees is Mt. Charleston. This magical place sits at a different elevation than Red Rock Canyon and the trees are warped with wind, rain, and snow. Bristlecone Pines are formed into smooth sculptures and have a beautiful yellow, blue, and grey palette. Ponderosa Pines vary from brown, black, to orange, and tan. Along the trails of the mountain, limestone and sandstone riddle the path. 

The contrast of color on the mountain is magnificent. The fallen trees are cradled in green forests and vines as well as sitting lonely at the top of trails. Mary Jane falls has many pine trees and switchbacks of shaded areas to rest. Fletcher Canyon Trail is lined with green undergrowth and limestone rocks. This trail also has various plants and trees along the path to the canyon. The painting I am currently working on in my sketchbook is from Fletcher Canyon. I was fascinated with the differences in the light and darks of the photograph. The wood set in a bed of green amazed me.

Thank you for reading, I would love to hear what you see in the wood. Please send an email or contact me at https://khilliardart.com/contact/

Have a great day!

-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!

Social Media is an amazing way to share my art with the world. I recently have been working on my Instagram account @khilliardart and have grown awesome followers in a very short timespan. I am super thankful for all the wonderful people following my page and artists for their support. Giveaways are a great way to say thank you and show appreciation to others who are “liking” and “following” your page. I teamed up with a friend to make our giveaway even more exciting and offer our wonderful fans more items when they win! Her links are below.

My friend is offering a really lovely bar of soap which looks like Frankenstein @reikinaturesway. She is a Reiki Healer and creates reiki infused bath products. The Pumpkin Spice Bubble Bath Scoop produces many awesome bubbles and rich lather. Both products are scented and magical. She and I have posted on both of our Instagram and Facebook pages to give as many people as possible the opportunity to have some treats this holiday season. 

My gift to our followers are two 5” x 7” prints of original watercolor paintings. The print of  “Greg’s Rock Chicken” is on thick Watercolor Paper. The original painting is of a rock formation from Zion National Park in Utah. The other print is on a thinner Enhanced Matte paper and is from the Bristlecone Pine series #6. The painting was inspired by the images I see in the trees on Mt. Charleston in Nevada. I thought these two prints would be perfect for Halloween and the Fall time of year.

In order to win these gifts, we ask our followers to tag a friend in the comments on either page. We then reply with, “you are entered, thank you!” This lets each person know whose name will be placed into the drawing to win the prizes. Giveaways are super fun and we love to show our fans we appreciate them. Reiki Natures Way and I love giving back to all of the people who are so wonderful to us! Thank you again!

If you have any questions, feel free to email me or send a message on social media. I am happy to help. I am also on Facebook at Karen Hilliard Art.

-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!

There were 12 paintings that I had printed in Colorado and thought they were lost forever. I am pleased to have retrieved all these works of art. My printer here in Las Vegas was able to help me make new prints of these older paintings and I could not be happier. Gentle Breeze is one of my favorite paintings. The person portrayed in the portrait is very kind, and gentle. The breeze blowing the day of this photo was frigid so she needed to cover her face with my sarong due to the chill. This was titled “Gentle Breeze,” because of her spirit and the light wind blowing hair around her face.

Another painting saved was “Arch Rock” from Valley of Fire in Nevada. The morning light hit the top of this rock and the color appeared washed out atop the arch. The color underneath was shadowed with a beautiful orange almost like a sunset. I love the lines in this piece and the whimsical clouds placed through the arch. The original has been sold and there are prints available in four different sizes on the website for everyone’s enjoyment.

The third painting I have put on the website today is “My Mother’s Robin,” from 2009. This is also a painting inspired by Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. Mouse’s Tank Trails is filled with gorgeous sandstone sculpted rocks and the valley is filled with sandy paths. Walking along these structures, I noticed one rock in the shape of a bird’s head. Some people have seen it as a chicken or a sparrow. I saw a robin which immediately made me think of my mother. When I was little, her and I would watch the birds land in our front yard from the window. She loved to look at the robins and this is titled after her. There are also prints of this painting on the website in four different sizes. 

I hope you enjoy these paintings on the website and in your homes! If you have any questions or would like to send me your thoughts, feel free to contact me via email. The contact page on my website is also linked to my email. Have a great day!

-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!