Tag: watercolor painting

Love for Peru

I have a deep love for Peru due to the experiences my husband and I shared while there. Being fortunate enough to paint atop Machu Picchu was an unbelievable experience. My sketchbook and watercolor set go with me wherever I travel and remembering this trip with small paintings to look back on has been amazing.

Llama from Peru/Karen Hilliard Art/Machu Picchu/Llama — PRIVATE COLLECTION

Our honeymoon was spent exploring in Peru. My husband and I both wanted to travel to Machu Picchu and actually talked about this on our first hike together in Nevada. Luckily, after we said I do, we started planning this magical trip. We booked a hike through a travel agency which he and I had never tried before and it was quite enjoyable on all accounts. We came across many plants, animals, and adventures as we walked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

Karen Hilliard Art Blog | Machu Picchu — SOLD

When we arrived at this wonderful place among the clouds, we decided to hike around and see everything we could in the time allotted. We found a spot to rest and look at the ancient Inca ruins. I took out my watercolor sketchbook and a llama decided to come say hello. The creature was very curious about my paint set and lowered its head to sniff what I was doing. My husband took a picture of this lovely animal a little bit later as it was chewing some grass. I decided this would be my first painting for the Tiny Painting series of Peru. I just love how happy the animal seemed.

Exotic Flower. Peru Series Number 2 — AVAILABLE CLICK HERE

The second painting in the series was from the hike to the ruins. Our group stopped at a lovely restaurant in the mountains with hammocks and a river to entice the senses. The owners of the place were wonderful and shared amazing food with us. As my husband and I walked around the building we saw many flowers. Luckily, one had this large grasshopper and I loved the bright colors of the flower and the insect. I was so pleased we were able to capture this on camera and later share with the world through watercolor.

This was one of my most exciting trips I have ever been on and with my best person to travel with. We had so much fun, ate wonderful food, had many laughs, and saw so much of a wondrous place. To say we are grateful would be an understatement. The people in Peru are very kind and a true joy to be around. I hope one day everyone can experience this, just not all at once! If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Thank you all for reading and have a Wonderful Wednesday!

-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.

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Karen Hilliard Art | Blog | Support for the Artist | Art Support — 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 🙂

Tags New Blog, Peru, watercolor painting

Obsession with Trees

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 create 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.

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. Have a Marvelous Monday!!

Have a great day!

-Karen Hilliard

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 🙂

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I am very thankful for my friend @jcloud gifting me the book The Hidden Life of Trees. It is one of my must reads if any of you are looking for an excellent book on trees. The author is Peter Wohlleben.

Tags New Blog, watercolor painting

Sunflower Series One

The Sunflower Painting Series is complete. 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 my art journey. If you have any comments or stories you would like to share with me, please send me an email, or leave them in the comments below. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

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Tags New Blog, watercolor painting

Sunflowers and Bees

Waking up every morning to the sound of buzzing bees is amazing. These creatures tirelessly do their job of pollinating every ounce of the sunflower. I was lucky enough to get some photographs of them in flight and landing on the flower. They move quickly, so I was very excited to capture such wonderful moments. As I zoomed in on the photographs I could see the fuzziness of the bees. I wanted the first couple of paintings in the Sunflower Series to show this excitement.

Sunflower Series 1 Number 1• Watercolor Tiny Painting • Karen Hilliard Art • 4 x 6 — UPDATE: SOLD

Number 1 in the series is a close up of the bee working and taking care of the plant. The bee dug its head into the shoots and pollinated each one. I love watching them work. I chose to use the same colors in the flower for the bee to show its natural camouflage. The pollen dusted the bee and top part of the flower with a brilliant yellow. I chose Lemon Yellow from Windsor and Newton Professional Watercolors to show the fluffy pollen look. I had so much fun painting this bee and decided the next painting would be an even closer representation of another bee. While working on this series, I sold the first painting and the little creature flew to a new home on the other side of the nation. Our little Nevada bee turned into a Florida bee for eternity. I wonder where the rest of the bee paintings will fly to next? Will they go around the world? Time will tell. For now, here is the next one in the series…still cozy in our Nevada home.

Number 2 in the series focuses on a bee with pollen packets on its legs. I was fascinated that the bee could continue to fly and continue its job while being weighed down with pollen. I painted the object larger than it is to show its cute little face. I was able to zoom in on the subject and see all the tiny hairs on its head. Creating the face of this bee was my favorite part of the painting. I also enjoyed making very thin lines with many different colors to show the texture of the petals. I hope you are entertained by the videos I have been posting on Facebook and Instagram showing the paintings as well as a bit of information behind the blogs. Please contact me and let me know your thoughts on the blogs, paintings, or videos. I appreciate you taking a walk with me through my garden and marveling at the bees. Have a wonderful day!

-Karen Hilliard

Tags New Blog, watercolor painting

Multiple Projects

Currently, I am working on commissions, writing blogs, posting content on social media, entering shows, personal paintings, etc. Everything can become overwhelming if the joy is not honored. I have found the most fulfilling inspiration for me is joyous energy. Being a mother is the most important role I have been blessed with. Making sure the energy to be a present mother brings the most joy. Looking back at the Sunflower Series, I remember how happy these made me while creating them. I would love to share them with you all! Number 3 now represents not only new beginnings of life, but new growth of self. I look at this painting a bit different now. How does it resonate with you?

Karen Hilliard Art Blog | Painting Simultaneously | Original Watercolor — AVAILABLE CLICK HERE

There is a lot of uncertainty going on in the world today. I know, if we look into the past, the cycle of life shows similarities to occurrences that have transpired before. There is fear, doubt, pain, and small glimmers of hope as well. Looking at this painting, I am reminded of so many things. The lifecycle of this flower was short. The bees that pollinated the flower and brought that pollen back to there hive had a short life as well. In the moments both were here on this earth, they brought me joy. They had a tenderness and beauty about them. They grew in adversity and the showed strength in a hot climate. During there brief history, they spread love, happiness, and joy. Sometimes, when we don’t know what to do or where to turn…there is always being kind. Spreading love. I am fortunate to be able to smile and laugh with a childlike wonder. I hope my paintings and these stories bring someone peace. Have a beautiful weekend and try to show someone sunshine who may be walking in a shadow. Thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

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Tags New Blog, watercolor painting

Sketching Sunflowers

My husband found several old seed packets in a box when we moved a few years back. He took these seeds and sprinkled them all outside in a small patch of dirt. Among these were sunflower seeds. We started talking about the dreams we had for our garden over breakfast. Afterwards, I went outside, and beautiful flowers had bloomed at the tops of tall stems. I was elated by the bright colors every morning. Inspiration came from these flowers and I decided to take my field sketchbook outside and do some paintings. Here is a sketch from that time in my life and we continue to plant these flowers every year!

Sunflower Sketching Blog | Karen Hilliard Art Blog | Watercolor Paintings

I am happy to share these sketches with you on the journey of one of the sunflowers. As it bloomed it started out green and closed in. A peek of yellow petals met me one morning and the next more yellow petals. The green was a very lovely yellow green with a hint of olive. I felt like I was welcoming this flower into the world by drawing, then painting, its progress. I like to use a regular Bic black pen when I do my initial sketching in a book. Other ink pens are darker, and great when in the field, but I do like my everyday Bic pen for doodling. Adding watercolor at the end of a sketch gives the drawing an extra zest of perception to the viewer.

Thoroughly enjoying the experience from the day before, I wanted to go draw in the garden again the next morning. The subject had changed into a fully bloomed yellow sunflower stretching upward to the sky. The center was still green with dew drops from the early morning. The middle of the flower started bleeding out to lighter green, and transitioning to a yellow orange at the end of the inner circle. The petals were a remarkable golden yellow even in the early light.

The sunflower have always greeted me with some new friends. There are usually bees, butterflies, and sometimes a praying mantis! A buzzing black bee said hello as well one day. I chose to paint a series showing these interactions of life in our garden. I hope you enjoy the preliminary sketches as well as what is to come! Let me know what you think about the photographs, sketches, paintings, and this series idea, by sending me an email from the Contact page. Or, leave a comment below! Have a Wonderful Wednesday and thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

Thank you all for being here and visiting my land of wonderment!

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 🙂

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Tags New Blog, watercolor painting

Yucca Plants

Karen Hilliard Art | Blog | Inspired by Red Rock Canyon

While on an educational trip to learn how to teach my fourth and fifth graders about the plants in the desert, I learned about Yuccas. These plants captivated me and I decided to add them at the end of my watercolor collection for Red Rock Canyon. The Ten Tiny Paintings focusing on Red Rock Canyon are now available on my website! In this post, I will be writing about Paintings Number 9 and 10. They are both zoomed in versions of the Yucca plants in the desert. Native Americans used these plants for many things. One use of the plants were the fibers in the leaves. For the last 2 paintings I focused on the white fibers historically used to mend and make clothing for native tribes. Each painting has no pencil sketch prior to the paint application so they are very different. While hiking with my daughter recently I shared this knowledge with her and she felt the texture of the fibers.

Karen Hilliard Art | Blog | Day Hike — AVAILABLE CLICK HERE

Number 9 was painted using blue and brown mixed together to make a dark shadow color resembling black. I left the white fiber hairs very carefully while covering the surface with the darker colors. I started to add olive and brighter green layers to emphasize the leaf sections of the plant. The goal of these two paintings is to show the movement and growth of these wonderful plants. I hope you enjoy this one. Let me know what you see in the painting, I am excited to know!

Red Rock Canyon Series 1 Number 10 | Karen Hilliard Art | Watercolor | Tiny Paintings | 4x6 | Original — AVAILABLE CLICK HERE

Number 10 is the final piece in the series and I used a similar concept from Number 9. I left the fiber strands white and worked around them with brown and black. In this painting I decided to work the green in each leaf simultaneously with the darker colors. This painting has a lot of layers with three different types of green paint. I also used burnt sienna, and yellow ochre for highlights. These colors created the variants I was hoping for to show the difference in the leaves of the plant. Each painting expresses the different lighting that happens while out in the desert depending on time of day. I hope you enjoy this painting. Let me know if you see anything in this one as well!

For more paintings or more information about my newer works, I have links to my Instagram and Facebook pages on the top left of my website. There are painting videos on both so everyone can view them. Thank you for reading and have a Marvelous Monday!

-Karen Hilliard

THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING HERE! MY LITTLE FAMILY AND I APPRECIATE IT 🙂

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Tags New Blog, red rock canyon, watercolor painting

Inside Pinecones

My husband and I love walking around the desert searching for pine cones. While we hunt, he looks for cones filled with pine nuts, however, does not find them. Scattered on the ground are older and younger cones that have fallen off their tree at different times. I love to see the different ages of the pinecones. Once in a while, we find one by itself along the trail probably blown by the wind. I decided Number 7 in the series would be one of these treasures.

Pinecone | Karen Hilliard Art Blog | Watercolor | Tiny Paintings | Original Watercolor | 4 x 6 — AVAILABLE CLICK HERE

Pinecones Blog | Karen Hilliard Art Blog | Watercolor | Original | Tiny Paintings | 4x6 — AVAILABLE CLICK HERE

I painted from the center outward and the paintbrush took on a life of its own. The painting ended up being a zoomed in version of the object. I used blues, browns, and a bit of yellow ochre for highlights. I left the whites with my paintbrush by painting the space around them. The light areas are to represent sand and debris that flew, and stuck into the cone. This painting took quite a long time and I had to keep telling myself to stick with it. When I finally completed it, I loved the perspective, and decided to do another.

Red Rock Canyon Series 1 Number 8|Pine Cone|Karen Hilliard Art|Watercolor|4x6|Original — AVAILABLE CLICK HERE

Number 8 was going to be a farther away version and it ended up being even closer than the first. I don’t draw a pencil sketch before I start so some paintings are enlarged more than others. In this piece I used more brown and blue and very little burnt sienna for the center of the painting. I am very pleased that I decided to make two of these because I really like how they look together. My husband and I get very excited when we see pinecones on trails and then spend time reminiscing about our very special day.

PIne cone | Karen Hilliard Art Blog | Colored Pencil

As I worked on these paintings, my mind drifted to the months before our wedding day and the wedding itself. We chose to have pine cones in our wedding bouquets and boutonnières. This painting reminded me of all the happy moments of drawing ideas out with my dearest friend Andrew, hunting for pine cones, and the smile on my husband’s face while we were making wedding decorations with his family. I am thankful that my mind can drift while I paint and I am able to add my emotions into each piece of art. I hope you enjoyed these paintings, and getting to know me a little bit more. If you would like to share any special memories you have, please email me. I would love to hear about them!

-Karen Hilliard

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Tags New Blog, red rock canyon, watercolor painting

Barrel Cactus Flowers

Red Rock Canyon pops with color throughout the year depending upon rainfall. This summer we were blessed with many storms in July. The barrel cactuses had a second blooming season and the desert was glowing with color. These cactuses have gorgeous yellow flowers and it is fun to watch the bees and bugs pollinate them. In this small work series I decided to paint some close up perspectives of the delicate color variations of these flowers. They are subtle yet beautiful. I love to sit among the desert life and feel tranquility.

Red Rock Canyon Series 1 #5 | Karen Hilliard Art|Watercolor|Tiny Paintings|4x6 — AVAILABLE CLICK HERE

Number 6 in the series is also a close up of the flowers inside a barrel cactus. I used red and blue to create the depth of shadows with a wet on wet technique. I chose to let these colors dry completely before I added the yellow color of the flower. This was a different choice than the other piece of work. As I added the yellow and orange I decided to let it dry, sit, and then layered more orange on top. I used red to detail in the lines of the cactus spines. I tried to recreate the flow of the first painting to leave a feeling of peacefulness. I am pleased to have put my emotions that I felt in the desert into these pieces.

I hope you enjoyed a close up and personal view of these flowers and next time you stop to experience any flower with a closer look. I would love to hear from you about your thoughts on these paintings. My email, Facebook, and Instagram are all on the website at the top. I also have a Contact page and it goes straight to my email. I look forward to hearing from you!

-Karen Hilliard

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Tags New Blog, red rock canyon, watercolor painting

Flora of Red Rock Canyon

I am fascinated by desert plants and their amazing persistence to survive. On my hikes I have seen plants and trees growing out of crevices on rock walls. The tiniest amount of water can sustain a desert plant. Barrel Cactuses are unique with beautiful yellow flowers on top. In my last blog I wrote about the First Red Rock Canyon small works series. I decided for the third painting in the series to create a detailed perspective of a Barrel Cactus flower.

Red Rock Canyon/Karen Hilliard Art/Blog — AVAILABLE CLICK HERE

I went through many versions in my mind of how I wanted this painting to look. I thought the landscape of the cactus with a yucca behind it would be gorgeous for texture contrast. As I looked through the photos on my phone, I kept zooming in and saving screenshots. I settled on the top of the barrel cactus and its flowers for the composition of this Tiny Painting. The red, yellow, and green combination along with light and dark variants were pleasing to paint.

Barrel Cactuses are beautiful and intertwined. The flowers are embedded in the needles and then bloom upward. Another plant I find interesting are the Juniper Trees. Number 4 in the series is a darker version of a different Juniper Tree than Number 2. This Juniper had more reddish and purple cones than the other painting. I enjoy painting the different perspectives of each tree and changed my color palette for the second painting. I focused on brown and blue for the shadows and then used a layer of green over the darkness.

It is a true joy to talk, or write, about these paintings and my process. I am happy to share my love of the desert and the environment with all of you. I would love to know what you think about the paintings. Just click on the link and you will be able to review them on the website, or you can send me an email! You can also send me an email about a favorite hike you like to venture on, or where you wish to travel to next. Thank you for reading this blog, I hope you enjoyed our walk through Red Rock Canyon, Nevada.

-Karen Hilliard

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Tags New Blog, red rock canyon, watercolor painting