sunflowers – Karen Hilliard Art

Spring is a beautiful time of year. The pollinators are hard at work on flowers to get a taste of their nectar. Here in the desert the bees work tirelessly on pollinating the cactus flowers on beaver tails and this leaves behind new opportunities for cactus pears. These are delicious morsels and very colorful to behold. In our garden right outside our kitchen door, we have lovely sunflowers that chase the rays of the sun all day. The bees also pollinate these and the flower goes to seed for the many birds who frequent our backyard. The desert tortoises are also out eating anything they can find and loving the water in the cactus. This is what goes on in our tiny spot on the planet, what blooms where you live?

Valley of Fire Flowers Series 1 #9 • Tiny Painting • Karen Hilliard Art

Valley Of Fire Series Greetings Cards • Watercolor Painting • Karen Hilliard Art

In other parts of the country roses, wildflowers, and tulips abound. Color is booming and blooming everywhere. Yellow tulips are one of my favorite flowers and I have yet to paint them. I have longed to get a bouquet of them with a variety of colors. Fields of tulips in another country would be an ideal painting situation for me, or a vast area of lavender fields. Where is somewhere you would love to travel to for the pure experience of flowers? I think France would be an ideal place for lavender and Japan for the cherry blossoms on trees. While in Tuscany I had the pleasure of traveling by train and viewing fields of sunflowers. They were everywhere and I was eternally happy. This was in the summertime and may be put in my next blog on Friday. Roses are one of my husband’s favorite flowers. What are some of yours?

Sunflower Series 2 Number 1 | Karen Hilliard Art | Watercolor | Tiny Paintings

Mine would be sunflowers and tulips. Another friend from Barcelona mentioned the exact flowers that bring me joy are the ones that bring them happiness. I wonder how a painting of tulips and sunflowers would look and what I would place as a filler? Do you have any thoughts on this? For now, desert bound, I paint my surroundings. Luckily, I am inspired anywhere I go and wherever my eyes gaze. The pure enjoyment of being an artist and feeling motivation from all of nature is my deepest passion. I feel truly blessed. So, in conclusion, Spring brings so many wonderful feelings to the surface. The color and fragrance alone are amazing and the season also brings new hope with possibilities. Have a happy Wednesday, and thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

I am pleased to announce I sold my first print of “Let Your Light Shine” yesterday. I am so happy a print of this painting will be hanging in someone’s home bringing them joy. After painting each original, I take several photographs of the piece. Then, I watermark one of the pictures using the GIMP program, and finally put the image on my website. With each moment of the editing and computer process, I think about my hopes of the painting bringing a smile to someone’s face. I am only able to afford prints of some originals so I have to be selective in the paintings I choose to have printed. “Let Your Light Shine” was chosen for many reasons.

The brand new original watercolor was created from 4 different photographs. I started this piece by sketching out my concept of the composition. I created videos, took photographs, and looked at them many times before starting this painting. I used a wet on wet technique for the girl in the sketch and wet on dry for the bees. I decided that the 15” x 20” would be painted with a wet on dry technique using my detailed style of watercolor with Windsor and Newton Professional Watercoulors. There is no pencil work and this was created with paint only directly on to the paper. She took many hours to complete.

The reference person is a dear friend who shines her light on others. I chose to have this painting printed because she is wonderfully kind to everyone she knows and will put a smile on anyone’s face who is around her. The hope of this print is that it will bring happiness, light, and joy into anyone’s home. As for the person, she currently lives in Colorado and is working on building her community while empowering others. She created a website where women share their creativity and businesses. She is a yoga instructor as well. Click here to see her amazing website! Celebratingthewheeloflife.com

I decided to add a perspective of light from my life into the painting. The bees and sunflowers are references from our garden in Nevada. My husband and I loved watching them pollinate the sunflowers last year. We were always fascinated by what attracted the bees. They often landed on our shiny tea mugs. In the painting, I placed a bee in her hair showing it’s attraction to the glass bead she wears in her dreadlocks. The image of the person is looking down at the bee in pure delight. The Sunflower near her head is meant to represent the sun and is painted lighter and more faded than the bottom flower. I wanted to show the white light and brightness of the sun as well as the subject’s character.

CLICK HERE->https://khilliardart.com/product/let-your-light-shine-print/

Prints are available under the prints section on my website. Please contact me if you are interested in buying the original at https://khilliardart.com/contact/

-Karen Hilliard