Watching a Breeze Set Sail

Sometimes when thinking about my next limited edition screen print, I look to my one of a kind painting collection. When I paint, I have a little bit more freedom to experiment with subjects, compositions, color pallets and design elements. When I do a screen print I want to be confident that I want 50 of them, and that I want to see it and show it in my collection for a couple of years. When I create a painting that I particularly like or that seems like it has promise for a good screen print design I take note! This latest limited edition screen print was based on a small painting I did on paper as part of a little series on late last year. The paintings elements and design came together easily and I thought it might have some potential for a larger piece. I think I was right!

Above is the original small painting, which measures 9” x 15” and is actually still available. I really wanted to capture the serene view of this harbor from across the bay and I thought that view was something I wanted to do a bit more in depth and a bit larger. All of the particular photos from these pieces were taken along an ocean path in Monterey and depict the harbor there and the iconic and ever present cypress trees. The poppies seem to be constantly blooming along this path as well and I loved the pop of oranges with the blues and purples of the piece.

Here is the new screen print! You can see the similarities but also the differences in the two. I wanted to develop the wind element of the piece and create more of the serenity I felt that day by softening the color pallet a little bit. In addition I included a few sailboats to highlight the harbor and bay. There is also an element to the screen printing process that just develops itself. You can’t really go back and change most of the colors and elements once they are printed so it always develops organically on its own and makes itself its own piece in the end.

You can click on either to see more details about them. I hope you enjoy them both!

Baby Goats In the Studio!

Every spring my milk goats have their kids. It’s a fun, and adorable time here on my mini farm! I enjoy the kids and the spring milk and cheese that girls provide.

It’s always a blast for me when I can combine my farm life with my art life. Sharing my baby goats with my customers and art fans has been a really great way to do that over the years. I used to host an event every year with the kids in San Francisco at Secession Art and Design, but since their closure in 2021 I have not had a good space to share them, until my studio here was ready for visitors. In my studio though there is a limit on visitors and parking. This year I sent out invitations via my mailing list and had a day filled with appointments where customers and families were able to come and enjoy the kids. It was a ton of fun and I am sure I will host the baby goats in the studio again next year! If you want to come next year sign up for my mailing list and check out my emails each spring.

I was busy all day passing baby goats around, answering questions about them, and showing off the studio and my art work, but I did take a few photos of the big smiles that everyones faces had.

Mountains Embrace Their Wings - limited edition screen print

This piece really seemed to make itself. I had a vision for the composition initially of a mountain meadow, but as I worked on the photos for it, it would not resolve itself easily until I realized it needed the life force of water in it and when I added some of my most inspirational creatures, the birds, it finally came together and I could start the print.

Below is the image of just the photo stencil that I used to create the composition. Its probably about 6 different photos collaged together to make my perfect scene.

I’ve included some process photos below. I usually do about 10 + layers of printing before I print the photographic stencil and after that is another point where I really play with options for the piece and decide which direction it is going from there. I take the print where it is at and over lay some layers fo clear film and use paints and brushes to mock up color and design elements. I usually do a few different layers of painted film and try out a few versions. This is the mock up that I decide to work from for the next 10 layers of this piece.

I hope you enjoy the new piece with its featured elements and fun different colors that emerged in it. There are more details in the listing HERE

Bird Prints for Birds

As of the release of my latest screen print I have decided to donate $5 from each sale from the screen print editions that feature birds to the Cornell Lab or Ornithology. I am happy to try to give back to the creatures that have inspired me personally and artistically for years now.

I chose the Cornell Lab because of what they have done for my personal love of birds and my education of them. I had been a lover and observer of them for many years already. I think my deeper resonance with them began with the Great Blue Herons and Great White Egrets in my area. as they are large, elegant, and as long as you keep your distance you can observe them for a quite a while even when you don’t have binoculars yet. When I discovered the Merlin bird app, which is run by Cornell Lab, my education began to accelerate. I could identify those birds that I saw and record them, see which ones are most likely in the area where I was, and use their sound recording to help me identify them by ear as well. It was a revelation for me that quickly inspired me to get my own pair of binoculars and set out officially birding. I then took some online classes through their Bird Academy, like “Birding by Ear” and “The Wonderful World of Owls. After gaining some education, I also now use their eBird app when I want to have an engaging and lengthy “bird walk” where I pay attention and record ALL the birds I see. Most importantly, they are also at the forefront of important conservation efforts of habitats and protections of birds in the US and worldwide.

Birding has change my life in the best ways. I often tell people that it has made my world so much bigger. Every where you go there is an opportunity to observe birds! I also find it very relaxing, as it is an activity that asks me to pay close attention to my surroundings and the present moment.

I hope you will enjoy the prints that have been inspired by these creatures and will enjoy that a small part of your purchase of any of these, goes back to them.

Learn more here about The Cornell Lab or Ornithology

These are the 5 limited edition screen prints of mine that are currently in my donation program!

“Mountains Embrace Their Wings”

“Denizens of the Waters Among Us”

“Laguna Royalty”

“Listening for the Silence of Twilight”

“Red Wings Speak for Spring”

Fortitude Founded in Tranquility - limited edition screen print

This piece is my first print of 2025! I love my state of California and its natural landscapes. I think revering and helping in small ways to protect these landscapes and their inhabitants is something I aim to do each day through art and actions. This January amidst the wildfires in Southern California I felt like I wanted to do a little more celebration of some of the things that make this state so beautiful. I went with a couple simple elements to express that. The majestic redwoods and our bright as ever poppies.

The original photo for this piece was taken in Henry Cowell Start Park near Santa Cruz, but most redwood forest that I visit will have similar scenes. The poppies were an inspiration from outside the forest itself. It really feels as if Santa Cruz can grow poppies all year round!

Below are some photos from the print in progress. There are many layers below the photo layer that I print and then there are layers on top of that. The right most photo shows the piece before I added the poppies.

Redwood forests are truly magical places in my book. Trying to capture that magic in photography or art is always an effort that comes short, but I still give it a go.

The print is available here! Fortitude Founded in Tranquillity

Where did "hilary at the circus" come from?

I often get asked the what “Hilary at the circus” means. In hindsight it’s not actually a great handle given that the “at” is so often confused with @, but I have never decided to change, and because of that I’ve kept reminding myself why I use it. It all started 25 years ago!

Back in 2000, I was already and artist and screen printer and also a vegan and half punk rock college kid living in Oakland, CA attending California College of Arts and Crafts. My friends and fellow artists printed our own stickers, patches and music or protest posters too. I thought that the internet and TV were doing no good to society and some of my most used and passed out stickers read “Net Free!”. This one was also a favorite of mine…

Back then I also loved images of the circus and its characters, with clowns and animals wearing circus outfits being common figures I drew as well as circus tents and decorations. I think at the time I felt like my depictions of this imagery was somehow a critique of consumer/capitalist society being some grandiose performance with a hidden dark side, contrasting with the fun and ridiculous sides of life as well.

When I eventually did give in to the pressures to be online in 2005, have email, and a website to promote and sell my art, I knew I did not want the more “stuffy” feeling Hilary Williams Fine Art. I wanted something more fun, so I decided on “Hilary at the circus”. Although my inner angst towards the world had softened a bit I still felt like a circus was a way to describe this life and that it would be a fitting and fun representation of me and my art work.

Today I still think it’s fitting, although as I mature into middle age I admit I may just pick the boring “Hilary Williams Fine Art” if I had to start over, but at this point the monicker is part of my identity too. Now when people ask, and I say, “ because life is a circus!”, what I mean by that has become a little broader. Life is surreal, crazy, a little messed up and hard, raucous, full of oddballs, magical, beautiful, colorful, awe inspiring, mind bending and death defying. Although my current work features natural landscapes and its characters, and I choose to focus more on the joyful and awesome rather than the dark side, I think that some of these adjectives can still describe these works or the feelings they may bring up. “Hilary at the circus” can still be a description of the world which I inhabit and create from.