Tribute to a canine

May 23, 2025 Natalie Wargin

Here is another memorial to a beloved lost canine. Or maybe to all beloved lost canines. I let myself run with this one. Lots of color, lots of flowers, no spare space. A big, wild tribute. Here the tomb is very close to the house. If the weather’s inclement you can see it from a front window. Or, coffee in hand, you can wander over in the morning or maybe in the evening thinking thoughts of a special friend whose amusing antics or gentle ways made your life richer. This is the third Memento Mori to a dog that I’ve drawn. The others have been more restrained but this, as it’s turned out, is a memorial and a celebration.

“Memento Mori #3”
14 x 12 inches
$220
Available in my Etsy shop.

Free Domestic shipping through May 27.
Follow the link below to find the original drawing.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4306276939/original-colored-pencil-painting-memento?ref=shop_home_active_1&logging_key=4ba841777903cb8750eeb52232eb7806cd605c3f%3A4306276939

Little Watercolors. Springtime!

April 29, 2025 Natalie Wargin

I like watercolors and I haven’t done any for quite a while so here are two little paintings. One dark, one bright. I don’t grow poppies because my garden is very shaded and poppies need sun, as you probably know. They are interesting and showy and I’ve paired them with the least showy birds. Sparrows. I’ve heard disparaging remarks about sparrows so I always try to take their side. They are tough little birds that stick around all year and if you live in a northern climate like I do that’s saying something. The wild roses and honeysuckle in the second painting are flowers that I do grow. The little brown wood frog was a recent discovery. I’d never seen one before this year. A bit like the sparrows he is simply brown and unassuming. I liked this fellow immediately.

“Sparrows and Poppies”
Watercolor on Fabriano Hot Press Paper
6 x 6 inches
$275

”Wood Frog”
Watercolor on Fabriano Hot Press Paper
6 x 6 inches
$275

These paintings are available in my shop where I’m running a sale.
20% off any purchase from today through May 2.
You can find them here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4296893568/original-watercolor-painting-sparrows?ref=shop_home_active_2&logging_key=29a50e8cc240af728eee5fd889414710beb378e5%3A4296893568

Thanks for taking the time to take a look!

My Wild Dog - New Work

May 19, 2023 Natalie Wargin

I have featured black dogs in my paintings before. Sometimes I showed my own dog, sometimes the dog was a stranger to me. But this wild black dog is mine all mine. This is Tilly, doing one of her favorite things: tearing flat out through my garden in pursuit of an unfortunate squirrel.

I have asked myself if I would have taken this dog home from the shelter had I known about her tremendous prey drive. It certainly was a shock to me the first time I watched her catch and kill a squirrel. And another squirrel. And then the poor ground hog. I’d never seen behavior like this other than on nature shows and that was when I would turn the program off. But we fall in love, don’t we, and we come to accept even the parts we dislike.

So here she is, single minded, ignoring the bunny and the turtles, careless of the things beneath her feet. My wild roses and spider wort trampled, the lilac blooms scattered, the ferns bent and broken. Bad news about the squirrel.

“Dog”
Acrylic on claybord
18 x 24 inches

Big sale in my shop!
Prints of this painting are available in my here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1484937881/black-dog-chasing-squirrel-through?click_key=0b78c99c726c05e9de87c013b0f95fbfde31a5c6%3A1484937881&click_sum=44ae15b0&ref=shop_home_active_1&sts=1

Thanks for taking a look! I truly appreciate it.

A new Sampler In Colored Pencil

August 5, 2022 Natalie Wargin

I decided to do another colored pencil sampler, just to get back into the swing of things after my exhibit in Woodstock. These drawings done in the style of an old fashioned sampler are relatively quick for me to execute and they’re very satisfying when completed. I’ve titled this one “Everything.”

Just above the curve of the earth are the moon and stars in the night sky and the soft clouds and sun of a new day. In the hills white tailed deer graze, odd birds fly, a rabbit runs, a horse gallops. Somebody should repair that fence. The woman waters her wildly successful garden. Just get a load of the peonies. An old dog relaxes. I’ll bet the house is cozy. The shed seems in good repair and if you choose to sit and rest for a moment you can watch the turtle in the pond under the buttonbush. There’s a black bear near the tree. I have to think about him.
This is everything.

“Sampler #4, Everything”
19 x 22 inches
Prismacolor pencil on Stonehenge Drawing Paper
$400

I’m running a sale in my Etsy shop, 15% off any purchase. The sale runs from today, August 5 through Sunday, August 7.
This original piece of art is available here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1278990519/original-colored-pencil-drawing-country?click_key=82736205cf8f36676c849f1f380c14b46f89819f%3A1278990519&click_sum=852e91ca&ref=shop_home_active_1

Prints of this image are also available here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1265042630/art-print-original-colored-pencil?click_key=355b32be87acde1a1c3fa446a8713b5229ebfd6f%3A1265042630&click_sum=9f11c33f&ref=shop_home_active_1

Thank you for taking a look at what I’ve been up to. I appreciate it!

Two Stories, One Pencil Drawing

April 21, 2022 Natalie Wargin

I feel the show in May nipping at my heels. This is the penultimate piece for my exhibit. It’s a colored pencil drawing, another sampler, that combines two of my favorite stories, the meteor shower and the weed bouquet. I’ve contained them within a floral border.

A few years ago, at 2AM on a very cold morning, my husband and I carried blankets and quilts out to the front yard where we laid down to watch a meteor shower. The dog took one look at this and went back in the house. Her loss, though, because it was a sight to see. I’ve shown it here with deer instead, under the shooting stars, helping themselves to my garden. The inset bouquet is actually a bunch of dried weeds, Queen Anne’s Lace and other things that looked pretty but made me sneeze so badly that I could not keep it. The floral border is adapted from samplers that I’ve admired.

“Meteor Shower and Bouquet”
Sampler #3
22 x 18 inches
Prismacolor pencil on Stonehenge Drawing Paper

I’ll be closing my Etsy shop indefinitely while I get ready for my May show and another show that will come on it’s heals. Before I do I will run a final sale.
20% off any purchase from April 21 through April 24.
Here’s a link to my shop:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/NatalieWargin

Thank you, as always, for your interest in my work.

A Sampler In Colored Pencil

May 7, 2021 Natalie Wargin

This piece began as a colored pencil still life based on photos I took of a birthday bouquet. I didn’t intend for it to resemble a sampler but I think the color of the paper I was using (Canson drawing paper, Oyster) pulled it in that direction. I didn’t put up a fight. I love samplers, have stitched a few myself, so I went along for the ride.

The flowers are reds and pinks, large carnations, tulips, and other unidentified things. I have tried to bring my rural landscape into my floral pieces on several occasions and here I did that in a couple of ways. Right and left of the vase are small scenes with little houses, fences, wildlife. There’s that black dog again, dear Maggie I think. And when it came to the illustrious little blue vase I added a barnyard scene with cows and one little calf. I like to think the vase resembles chinoiserie with a Hudson Valley twist. Once I was certain that this drawing was truly a sampler I added the border of little black dots. Think lots of French knots.

“Sampler #1”
20 x 24 inches
Prismacolor pencil on Canson drawing paper, Oyster
$375.00

I’ll be running a sale from today, May 7 through Sunday May 9.
20% off any purchase.

You can find the original drawing in my Etsy shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1014448185/original-colored-pencil-drawing-floral?ref=shop_home_active_1

You can find prints of this image here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1014443715/art-print-original-colored-pencil?ref=shop_home_active_2

Thanks so much for following along!

A little story about my grandmother

March 30, 2021 Natalie Wargin

This painting tells a little story about my grandmother, Emily Koscielski. Emily was a creative person who was a good cook, an excellent baker, a skilled embroiderer, a successful gardener. She loved flowers and birds, but especially flowers. She told me stories about gardens in Poland where there were only flowers, not a single blade of grass. Emily had a long narrow workroom in her basement where she made things like crepe paper flowers. You can see her at work here, looking serious and determined, busy adding to a wild paper garden of her own creation. There are ferns, lily-of-the-valley, wild roses, white tulips, frilly poppies and poppy seed heads, daffodils. I've given her room a cathedral door and centered her beneath sun and rain, night time and lightening to add emphasis to her conjuring powers.

As with the Peony drawing you saw last month I should credit the virus with the idea of this painting and the urge to make it. Like many of you I’ve been conversing quite a bit over the past months with family, including a cousin who has shared many of his family memories. I had fun correcting his misremembered stories but he did get me thinking a lot about my grandmother which has resulted in this painting.

“Emily’s Dream #2”
Acrylic on board
24 x 18 inches

You can find prints of this image in my shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/974871306/art-print-original-acrylic-painting?ref=shop_home_active_1
Also, I’m running a little sale, 15% off any item.

There are some detail images below. Thank you for reading along!

Hello! The shop’s open with new work!

March 19, 2020 Natalie Wargin

Hello again! Little did I realize when I was working on this bright piece that a splash of bold color might be just what we all need. Especially this spring. I hope you’re all taking care and keeping well.

You may remember that last year I put in a peony hedge. Surprisingly it was kind of a success. I cut some blooms, red ones and white ones, and took some photos to work from. Here I've featured only the red and deep pink flowers in a bouquet, and I will admit that in this painting I got a little carried away with red. I thought for a minute that I'd use up all of my red paint. I really worried a little. In the upper corner I opened a window for some relief and there was a pink house with an impatient woman in the window watching a very happy black dog. The woman might be me. I don’t recognize the dog.

“The Pink House”
12 x 16 inches, watercolor on Fabriano Hot Press.

Here’s a second piece finished just a week or so ago. The little yellow building is a Quaker chapel in the woods next to a trail. The trail, you can see it on the right, starts with a rocky section that's not difficult to negotiate unless it's rainy. Then be careful please.

The yellow chapel is sometimes used for weddings and is beautifully simple inside with benches arranged on the square, an open area in the center of them. Here are all of the woodland creatures I've grown accustomed to along with spring flowers -- day lilies, daffodils, fragrant mountain laurel.

I've added several foxes, mostly red, one gray. The grays are unusual here and after eleven years I've only seen one. Foxes are true survivors and should we finally destroy this planet of ours cockroaches and foxes will live on. Foxes are supremely adaptable. Social in a skulk or solitary they can live practically anywhere and they can eat practically anything.

“Fox Chapel”
18 x 24 inches, acrylic on board.

My Etsy shop is open again. I’ve added some new prints and some new originals and from March 19 through March 26 all prints and original work is 20% off.

You can find my shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/NatalieWargin

The “Red Peony” painting is here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/770512022/original-watercolor-painting-of-red?ref=shop_home_active_4

And the “Fox Chapel” painting is here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/785439255/original-acrylic-painting-woodland?ref=shop_home_active_7

Thank you for following along!

Blue Hydrangea in Watercolor

October 24, 2019 Natalie Wargin

Maybe this was the case where you’re located too but for some reason the hydrangeas were startling in color this spring. My neighbor's pink hydrangea was brighter than I've ever seen it and my blue was a shocker. I cut one head and show it here in the popular little blue vase. The small arrangement is based on photos that I took. The wallpaper design is from a pattern I made a while ago and the marquetry table top is pure invention. This is the latest in the series of floral watercolors that I’ve been painting this year. I hope to continue to add to the collection. The original watercolor has been claimed by a woman who has memories of her mother growing hydrangeas. I know this is how it is with flowers. Not only are they beautiful, they also conjure memories.

Prints of this painting are available in my shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/741177205/art-print-blue-hydrangea-spring-bouquet?ref=listing_published_alert

Also, 20% off on any purchase from today, October 24 through Sunday, October 27.

Thanks for following along!

"Tapestry" in Colored Pencil

August 28, 2019 Natalie Wargin

This piece started with some photos I took back in February of a birthday bouquet that I wasn’t overly fond of. The bouquet, not the photos. Of course I said “thank you” but the arrangement had just too many different colors, too many different things. Roses, tulips, ranunculus, little pips, scabiosa pods, lots of extra greenery (why do they always do that?), blackberries which were a surprise, sticks covered with greenshield lichen, also surprising. I took everything out of the vase, got rid of the greenery filler, spread it all out, added a mourning dove, and here it is.
“Tapestry.”
Prismacolor pencils on black Strathmore drawing paper.
25” x 19”.

I’ve been enjoying the colored pencils but this will be my last pencil piece for a while. It’s back to the landscapes for me. I’ve also closed my Etsy shop for a bit. It will be on an extended vacation and will reopen sometime in the fall.

I have a bit of news. My painting, “Ghost Story,” has been accepted to the Radius 50 Show at the Woodstock Artists Museum. The show runs from September 7 through September 29 with an artists reception on September 14 from 4 - 6pm. I’ll be at the reception so if you’re in the area stop by and say hello. I’d love to meet you!

Hope you’re all enjoying the end of summer and thank you for following along!

Peonies in Colored Pencil

July 26, 2019 Natalie Wargin

I may have mentioned that I have never had a green thumb. Garden success has always run in my family but I have had very little of it. My grandparents had a prolific flower garden behind their house. They also had a bountiful “Victory Garden” in a nearby plot shared with their neighbors following the second world war. My grandmother liked to tell me, as we toured her yard, about the beautiful gardens in Poland which inspired her. My mother always grew flowers. She got things to grow in the most unlikely places, a dizzying stand of purple irises right next to the garbage cans in the alley. My father had a postage stamp sized vegetable garden that gave an impressive yield. My sister has grown garlic commercially. And my brother in California, boastful thing that he is, loves to show us not only photos of his flowers and vegetables but also the system he designed that lets him water his plants from anywhere on the planet. By comparison I could get very little to thrive in my Chicago garden. But the times they are a-changing.

The Hudson Valley soil is rich. That must be a big part of it but my garden is definitely growing now. I have always wanted a peony hedge and when I found a sale a year ago, an offer I couldn’t refuse, I ordered ten roots. This spring I was rewarded. Not quite a full hedge yet but close and the blooms were impressive. Pinks and reds, including the color I love best, the pale pale almost white peony. This pencil drawing shows a bouquet of those flowers.

“Peonies.”
25’ x 19”
Prismacolor pencils on Strathmore drawing paper.
$275.

The original and prints of the image are available in my shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/720837001/peonies-original-colored-pencil-drawing?ref=shop_home_active_3&frs=1
https://www.etsy.com/listing/720835595/peonies-art-print-of-original-colored?ref=shop_home_active_4&frs=1

In addition to the new drawing I’ve also added some new greeting cards. You can find them here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/NatalieWargin?section_id=14952051

I have made some changes to my shop, now offering free shipping always on any order over $35.
In addition to this I’m running a sale, 20% off on any purchase of any amount from Friday, July 26 through Monday, July 29.

Thank you for following along!

Daffodils in Colored Pencil

June 21, 2019 Natalie Wargin

Shortly after I moved into this house in New York my sister, who lives only three miles from me, came over with a bunch of daffodil bulbs. Three varieties. I chose a spot which was easy because these would be the first things I planted here and there was plenty of room for planting. Now, eleven years later, they still come up in the spring, a reminder of where my garden began. This was the first small bouquet of the year. If you’ve been following me at all you’re familiar with the little blue vase. It really is a tiny thing and I chuckle at the absurd size it’s become. It did hold the daffodils but it’s simply not as large as it looks here. I’ve invented the table and the table scarf. I wanted some movement in this drawing and the blue linen cloth provided that. There must be a window open somewhere. The wallpaper pattern is taken from an older drawing of soapwort. The sparrows are there because I love sparrows.

“Daffodils”
Prismacolor pencils on Strathmore drawing paper.
19” x 25”

The original drawing and prints of the image are available in my shop.
All shop items are 20% off from June 21 through June 23.

You can find the original drawing here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/714829157/daffodils-original-colored-pencil?ref=listing_published_alert

Find the print here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/714826829/daffodils-art-print-of-original-colored?ref=shop_home_active_2

Thanks so much for following along!

A Still Life in Colored Pencil

March 8, 2019 Natalie Wargin

There’s a long and not especially interesting story behind my decision to do this piece in colored pencil. I won’t bore you. Mostly though I blame my friends and family who have given me many sets of colored pencils over the years, none of which I’ve used until now. This floral still life is a reprise of a portion of a previous painting and features an arrangement of eucalyptus and thistle. The eucalyptus leaves fall softly around the bowl, buds very white. The bright pink thistles stand tall. The wallpaper pattern of subtle doves and garland makes a background. Someone spilled some sugar on the table. The ants are busy and happy. One may be whistling. A caterpillar seems interested.

This drawing is 30” x 22” on black Stonehenge paper. I used Prismacolor pencils which were a surprise and a delight. They are soft and waxy and they blend and cover well. And, lucky for me, they don’t smear if you brush a sleeve over the work. I think there will be more pencil work to come.

Prints of this image are available in my Etsy shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/674332648/art-print-original-colored-pencil?ref=listing_published_alert
And I’m offering free shipping on all domestic orders from March 8 through March 12. No code necessary.

Thank you for indulging me.

Happy Holidays!

December 11, 2018 Natalie Wargin

I realize that Lily of the Valley aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the holidays but I was in the mood to paint some flowers. I picked these in the spring and put them in the mottled blue vase and took some photos for “future” reference. It turned out that November was the “future.” I like this little vase, a gift from long ago that comes in handy for small things. The wallpaper is loosely based on a pattern design that I created in Illustrator. I don’t know where the red tiles came from but I think they look alright. Maybe a little Christmas-y.

Thanks to all of you for your continued interest in my work. I am grateful. I wish all of you the happiest of holidays, whatever those may be.

“Lily of the Valley,” watercolor, 10” x 12”, on Fabriano paper.

Prints of this painting are available in my Etsy shop.
FREE SHIPPING on every domestic purchase through December 21.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/665131253/art-print-original-watercolor-lily-of?ref=shop_home_active_1

Pink Tulips And An Attack

April 26, 2018 Natalie Wargin

Spring has been very slow in arriving here in the Hudson Valley. I know this is true of many parts of the country. But even if there's still snow on the ground it seems a sign when the market starts to sell tulips. I'm especially fond of the pale pink ones myself and I can never resist. In a way this is a reprise of an earlier watercolor of pink tulips and peepers; tulips in the foreground, the little frogs hanging on to the stems and leaves. But in this painting, beyond the flowers, is my rural landscape and a little drama that unfolded. Maggie was attacked by an angry Canada goose who came out of nowhere. Luckily Maggie escaped mostly unharmed. This is a true story.

As you can imagine the altercation between goose and dog got my heart racing. I'm working on a depiction. It will be the painting you'll see in the next installment of this newsletter. You can watch my progress on my Instagram page here:
instagram.com/nataliewargin/

The painting, "Pink Tulips and An Attack," and prints of this image are available in my Etsy shop.
You can find the painting here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/595821212/pink-tulips-with-peepers-and-canada?ref=shop_home_active_1

You can find the print here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/592033034/pink-tulips-with-peepers-art-print-of?ref=shop_home_active_2

I've added several more prints of past paintings to my shop as well.
And to celebrate the arrival of this very tardy spring there's FREE SHIPPING on every order from April 26 through
Wednesday, May 2. No code needed.

Hello Again!

March 22, 2018 Natalie Wargin

"Reception detail."  Acrylic on board, 20" x 16". — "Reception detail." Acrylic on board, 20" x 16".

It's been a while, I know. When I wrote to you last I was about to show my work at a local library. Which I did. The opening reception was very nice, better than I had expected. I'm pretty happy to work quietly most days and I'm not a party girl in the least so I was half dreading the reception and the requisite talking. But everyone who came was so lovely, old friends and new, and I was barely uncomfortable at all. In the end ten of the eleven paintings sold. After a little down time I'm back to painting again. The detail above shows the flowers I had on the table at the reception -- thistles and some sort of eucalyptus.

I've reopened my Etsy shop. To kick things off all prints are 20% off. The sale will run from today, March 22, through March 27. No coupon code is needed -- Etsy will show the mark down on each item. I don't have a lot of inventory yet but I'll be adding as time goes by. If there's an image that's not there that you'd like a print of please let me know and I'll see what I can do. I'm now having an outside source do my printing. Making the prints myself, as I did in the past, is pretty time consuming and I want to focus as much as possible on my painting.

Here's a link to my shop:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NatalieWargin

I want to thank you all for hanging around. I'm so grateful for your support. I hope that the work and small stories to come will continue to hold your interest. I'll probably send this blog out once a month or so, as before, but if you'd like to see how my paintings are progressing you can check out my Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/nataliewargin/