Email nicolehilsabeck@yahoo.com to inquire about individual paintings or upcoming classes and events!

August 2018 Newsletter: A Great Way to Beat the Summer Doldrums

by Niki Hilsabeck in Recent Posts
     

It’s summer…again.  Every year it seems to get here quicker and drag on longer—although I admit that it may have something to do with fall in Southern California basically being a sequel to summer.  If it were a movie, it might be called Summer Part 2: Fire and Wind!

 
 
Is it Halloween yet?
“The Old Black Cat” 5.5 x 9 pastel on drawing paper

Today I stumbled on a little trick to combat the summer doldrums.  Instead of thinking about how hot and bored everyone is (or at least how hot and bored they tell me they are, and by “they” I mean my children), I looked back at the week and thought about the new things I had experienced.

 
I got to ship this one to Austin this week– pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve sent a painting there!
“Prickly Paradise” Pastel on paper Click here to view prints and products
 

It started with my son, who asked if he could have some items from the mess I was cleaning out of my art cabinet to make a “work of art.”  Holding a bottle of glue, he began to collect things and assemble his first real collage.  I took a break from my own organizing to watch him as he delighted in assembling and gluing things together.  Instead of looking at it as another mess I would have to clean up (which I’ll admit was my first thought), I began to admire his enjoyment of creating art in a new way.  I began to think of some of the other new things that I’d experienced this week: my daughter and I tried making “Molasses in snow” from the Little House on the Prairie Cookbook, and my sister had gotten me to finally try kombucha, which I loved.  I experimented with a bigger acrylic skins painting, which is now finished and waiting to be photographed.  So even though it was a hot, seemingly monotonous week of summer, there were actually many new experiences to sit back and appreciate.  My daughter was disappointed to discover that the molasses candy tasted too much like (you guessed it) molasses, but the experience was certainly worth the effort.

What new things have you experienced this summer?  What did you learn from those new experiences?  Even if they’re small events, new experiences can be a great way to get past those summer doldrums.

 Another great way to experience something new is to create art!  If you’d like to try any of my Skillshare classes, here are free links to each course:
 
Create a Mixed Media Butterfly with Acrylic and Pastel A unique way to create a textured painting, following a step-by-step demo 
 
Create an Easy Ocean Pastel Painting A basic, step-by-step demo lesson on creating a simple ocean scene with soft pastels
 
3 Ways to Play with Soft Pastels A great class for people who want to explore the various ways your soft pastels can be used– dry, wet, and with other media!
 
Please feel free to share these links if you know someone who would like to take online art classes! 
 
Is there something you’d like to see in an online art class?  Email me and let me know! 
 
If you’re in the Fallbrook area, I’ll be teaching a Paint-Sip at the library this August.  Click here to go to the Fallbrook Library website. 
 
Here’s to many new experiences for the rest of summer!

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