I am very excited to announce an online shop!  Recently, I added a shop to the website that has a variety of Mount Carroll items including t-shirts, mugs, stickers, and more!  This is just the start of what is to come.  When I started Hill City Studios I had the idea that it would grow into much more than just photography. 

There are some fun items like the “I Love MC” mugs and t-shirts that play on the classic “I love NY” image with bit of a twist showing where Mount Carroll is located within the “heart” of Illinois.  Also, I made some mugs with a few different Mount Carroll paintings I had done several years ago.  My favorite is the winter scene downtown showing the band stand at the courthouse and Market Street.

Another fun design I am excited about is the “I’m From Mount Carroll” (or you could call it the “Where’s Mount Carroll?”) T-Shirt and Mug!  If you know anyone from Michigan then you know that they love to show where they’re from by pointing to their hands.  The lower peninsula of Michigan is roughly in the shape of a mitten, so in order to explain what part of the state they live in they often point to the area of the hand that shows the approximate location of their town.  I think it’s pretty funny, but it works very well.  I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but our hands are actually more like the shape of Illinois than Michigan!  Why hasn’t this caught on here?  Well, letting people know where your home town is has never been easier than this. (It was actually a friend from Michigan that showed me this.)

My hope for many years has been to create something that would be a blessing to our community and a creative outlet for myself.  I am so glad to be able to start something that could bring many of my skills and ideas together into one place.  I hope you enjoy the few items that are available now and be sure to be on the look-out for more to come!

Blessings,

Rhett