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!

A New Wild Turkey. A Pencil Drawing.

December 5, 2024 Natalie Wargin

I want to get back to painting but the Roxbury show tired me out some. I decided to do this pencil drawing to get back into the swing of things, pencil drawings being less demanding than the detailed acrylic paintings. Here’s where I landed.

The wild turkeys have been very wild this fall. The antics they get up to in my yard are noisy and crazy and Tilly and I race from front window to screen porch to watch them as they pass through. There’s a group of eleven that appears most evenings around six, just as we’re sitting down to dinner making my table manners less than appropriate. I just can’t help myself. Neither can Tilly. The birds talk and pick at each other, feathers flying here and there, launching themselves over our stone wall and back again.

This is one of them. A beautiful female, looking like a dancer. They are the most fabulous creatures.

“Wild Turkey”
9 x 12 inches
Prismacolor pencil on black Fabriano drawing paper
$200.00

This piece is available in my shop where I’m also running a sale.
20% off any purchase, including this drawing, today through Saturday, December 7.
Here’s a link to this drawing:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1822543532/original-colored-pencil-drawing-wild?click_key=4603d584729f8a48b3dd77b8620dad71119edecc%3A1822543532&click_sum=e4516f47&ref=shop_home_active_1&sts=1

Thank you, as always for your interest in my work.
I wish all of you the happiest of holidays!

Ghosts of Christmas Past - A New Painting

March 10, 2023 Natalie Wargin

It’s been a while since I sent out a newsletter and this painting is to blame. Would you look at all the people? Nine. And because I’m not well practiced or particularly good at painting faces they took hours. However, finish I did and here you have another scene featuring Emily, my grandmother, and Christmas Eve at her house.

It all started innocently enough when I found a bit of the wallpaper that had been on Emily’s living room walls. Then things got out of hand. I redrew the wallpaper pattern. It’s bold, don’t you agree? I remembered the olive green sofa and paired it with a club chair that in real life was deep red, one of a pair, but here it’s become green too. Our point of view: we’re in the dining room looking past the built in bookcases into the living room where Santa stands next to the tree handing out one gift each to the Christmas-crazy kids.

So many details. An uncle straightens a painting of the Polish mountains that Emily and Felix love to remember. An aunt drinks her coffee beneath a painting of a pretty house set in an equally pretty garden. Each of the boy cousins has an agenda. We’ll keep tabs on the one with the key who has been eyeing the gifts in the locked bookcases. The two girls might be me and my sister Cheryl. Emily, who together with Felix, has been laboring over the Christmas Eve traditions and meal for days and days, is still in her fabulous apron. She’s watching Felix, the man beside her in the Santa suit she made, making sure the right gift goes to the right grandchild.

Until I was working on this painting I hadn’t given much thought to my grandfather in the Santa suit but the fact that he dressed up like this says some lovely things about him. Felix spoke very little English and, along with all the other grandchildren, I never learned Polish. This made for a narrow relationship. I never doubted that he loved us all but he was a quiet, reserved man. Now, here I am, painting him in this outrageous outfit and it’s a revelation. This was a man who had a sense of humor, who loved children, and who definitely loved his wife. Sometimes it takes a very long time to see what was right before your eyes.

“Emily’s Dream #3 - Christmas Eve”
24 x 18 inches
Acrylic on claybord
$2200

My Etsy shop is open and I’m running a sale starting today and running through Sunday, March 12.

You can find this painting here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1434143983/christmas-eve-family-memories-original?click_key=66be8873377802b174829d66edeb003d76a8b1f0%3A1434143983&click_sum=7eeded9f&ref=shop_home_active_1

You can find prints of this image here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1419951996/art-print-original-acrylic-painting?click_key=47a0166967f15d3426f4e09d1857438998751e90%3A1419951996&click_sum=00e231a7&ref=shop_home_active_1

Thanks for taking the time to read this story. Thanks too for your interest in my work.
Merry Christmas!

“Emily’s Dream #3 - Christmas Eve” detail.

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!

Hello again...finally!

October 1, 2020 Natalie Wargin

Well, it has been a while, hasn’t it? Like many of you I have been plain off kilter. Although, since March, I continued to paint and draw I felt myself lose momentum. There became fewer and fewer opportunities for artists to show and share work. My pace slowed. But I want to get back to this newsletter, to let you see what I’ve been doing. I hope you’ve all been faring well and will continue to do so while the situation gets sorted.

One morning Maggie and I were walking in the woods above our house, on a deer path near the Upper Filigree. The deer were still sleeping. You can see the chipmunks resting safely in the stone wall. There’s a red tailed hawk in the red tree waiting them out. Red efts watch the from the rocks along the stream. It was very early spring and there was a dusting of snow so I could see the fresh turkey tracks. I heard them before I saw them and when we rounded a bend I warned Maggie not to chase the turkeys up ahead of us. But how silly of me. How could she resist? I knew the birds would elude her and Maggie was so happy with her harmless rousting. Happy doggie, unharmed birds, nice little anecdote.
”Chasing Turkeys,” acrylic on panel, 18 x 24 inches.

I’ve been tidying up my Etsy shop, relisting many items that had expired. I’m offering free domestic shipping on any order from October 1 through October 7. You can take a look here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/NatalieWargin

Thanks so much for your interest in my work. It’s truly appreciated.

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!

"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!

Meteor Showers. One more for the show.

October 30, 2017 Natalie Wargin

"Meteor Shower"16" x 20"Acrylic on panel$1800. — "Meteor Shower"
16" x 20"
Acrylic on panel
$1800.

A couple of years ago my husband and I decided to watch a juicy meteor shower that had been predicted. Coming from Chicago, with all of its ambient light, we'd never had an opportunity to do this. But the wide open skies of the valley gave us a good opportunity. Here's my depiction with some license taken. In reality this happened at 2 am on a frigid January morning. We bundled up and took blankets and quilts outside to lay on and wrap up in. Maggie took one look at this and walked right back inside. Here in the painting I've made the night a warmer one with turkeys bedding down in the trees and deer eating my plantings. In the sky is a ridiculous display of stars and flying meteors, a slight exaggeration.

This is the final piece for my show, number eleven. If you're interested in purchasing this painting please get in touch through the contact page or send me an email. And if you're near Gardiner, NY between noon and 2pm on November 18 stop by the Gardiner Library. I'm having a small reception and would love to meet you.

"One Morning" + FREE SHIPPING!

May 27, 2016 Natalie Wargin

That's my neighborhood to the left of the big tree. My house is the eyebrow colonial more or less in the middle. The one with the intelligent dog in the yard. This is what a cool spring morning is like. There's a bit of woodsmoke coming from the chimneys. A lot of rain has fallen, turning things that special early green and the blossoms are beginning to bloom. Along with the woodsmoke is the scent of wild pink honeysuckle. The dogwood is especially showy. There's a breeze tossing the trees a bit. The Catskills have my back, the sky above is overcast and cloudy. Maybe there will be more rain.

To the right of the big tree is a spot that Maggie and I discovered while walking in the woods behind our house. We like to follow the deer paths and on one particular day we came to a spot with seven indentations in the dry fallen leaves. I knew what it was as soon as I saw it, the place where the deer sleep. The deer were gone, of course, but I've added them here. All sleeping peacefully. All but the one keeping watch.

The topsy-turvy arrangement of the houses and barns on the left surprised me but it is accurate. I wasn't sure about that crazy blue fence and didn't think it would survive the painting but there it is. It's only an invention but it grew on me.

This is a 16" x 12" acrylic painting on cradled birch board.
It's available here in my shop:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/295064831/original-acrylic-painting-one-morning?ref=shop_home_active_1

For free shipping on any order use coupon code HAPPY
Code expires on May 31.

To see work in progress on this painting take a look at my Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/nataliewargin/

Blue Heron Blue Snakes

April 22, 2016 Natalie Wargin

When I walk down the trail along the Cottekill swamp a flying blue heron is a fairly common sight. I might initially glimpse one sitting on a limb or a fallen tree but once the bird sees me it usually takes off. They are very shy. I've exaggerated the bird's blue coloring in this painting. The true color is more subtle, more of a gray, better camouflage. To me they remain a startling sight when they fly off. They are large and ungainly and their long thin legs stretch far out behind them. Beautiful nonetheless.

Snakes live along the swamp's edge. They can be big and startling as they slither quickly into the water. Even shyer, I think, than the herons. Maggie is intrigued but I quickly shoo her away. I haven't learned yet which snakes are poisonous. Since it's early in a cold spring there's not too much growing yet. Mostly just the gorgeous emerald swamp cabbage.

This painting measures 7 x 9 inches (15 x 23cm).
It's available in my shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/276304442/original-watercolor-blue-heron-blue?ref=shop_home_listings
Prints of this painting are available here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/290195037/art-print-original-watercolor-blue-heron?ref=shop_home_listings

A Bright Bouquet with Two Sparrows

March 31, 2016 Natalie Wargin

There's a small but very special shop one town over. It's the perfect place to find a gift or to get a wildly colorful bouquet and I was lucky enough to receive some of their fancy flowers for my birthday. Scarlet poppies, purple-indigo delphinium, lime-light hydrangeas. I thought I'd paint them even though the arrangement was a bit more colorful than my usual palette. Here they are. Somehow a couple of sparrows got into the picture. If you know me at all you know that I can't just leave things alone. Birds and animals tug at my sleeve every time I pull out my paints. I happen to have a soft spot for sparrows. Small and unassuming, quietly colored, they are hearty and tough. I had some space so in they went.

This is a 9 x 12 inch watercolor and gouache painting. It's available here in my shop:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/286217601/watercolor-painting-original-bouquet?ref=shop_home_active_2
You can find prints of this painting here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/274048834/art-print-watercolor-painting-original?ref=listing-shop-header-1

A Riotous Painting + Free SHIPPING

March 10, 2016 Natalie Wargin

Spring is coming, that's for sure. I look out my window or ride down a road and flocks of birds are gathering and singing like it's some big happy family reunion. Dozens of starlings flying in an abstract formation that thins and swells and curves. Dozens of robins in my yard, hopping and pecking at the grass and filling the yet to bud flame bushes. Driving down 209 recently I looked over to the fields where Gill's Farm has been growing exceptional corn for decades and I saw hundreds of geese. Hundreds. I have never seen so many birds all in one place. Maybe they were resting or maybe there was something tasty that geese just love left over from last season. All I know is that it was an impressive sight.

I've painted a version of what I saw and I admit that I took some license. The geese I saw were still and if there were other animals I didn't see them. I've moved the creek. The Esopus is actually a couple hundred yards away. I haven't seen any turtles yet this year. And these geese are flying which would probably be a wise decision if there were foxes around.

This is a watercolor and gouache painting, slightly horizontal, 13" x 12".
You can find the painting and prints of the image in my shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/270709027/original-watercolor-painting-100-geese?ref=shop_home_active_1
https://www.etsy.com/listing/271423948/art-print-original-watercolor-painting?ref=listing-shop-header-0

And get free shipping, today through Sunday March 13, with this code:
FREESHIP

New Watercolor, Winter Nest

February 26, 2016 Natalie Wargin

One of the best things about having a nosey dog is that she makes me wait. While I don't like to let Maggie spend an eternity sniffing the same spot I do feel that since the walk is for her as well as for me she should have some time to explore. She noses around, I look around. A couple of weeks ago we were on the road near the Cottekill and Maggie stopped. I looked up at the tall bushes in front of me on the edge of the creek and saw a small nest. It was abandoned, of course, almost lost in the branches and I would have missed it but for the dog. On the ground were some hydrangeas, dry and papery, a pretty straw color.

Here's the nest, caught in a tangle against a clear blue sky, hydrangeas below.
This is a small painting, 4.5 x 6 inches.
It's available in my shop.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/269730526/original-watercolor-painting-winter-nest?ref=shop_home_active_1

New Painting + S A L E

February 12, 2016 Natalie Wargin

In a way this is a study for a larger painting that I'm planning. I've been wanting to paint sleeping deer ever since Maggie and I discovered the place in the woods where several of them sleep. We were walking beyond the ridge behind our house -- there are hundreds of wooded acres back there -- and we found a well-sheltered spot with eight hollowed ovals in the snow. I figured out what they were fairly quickly and the realization was accompanied by my usual "Wow!" There were trees all around, tall pines that blocked the sunlight. In fact, the soft light filtering through the needled branches almost looked green.
The place was secluded and felt safe.

Here they are, the resting deer, protected by the rare red tree. The fancy house in the background is inspired by Sunnyside, the home of Washington Irving here on the Hudson River. The Hudson banks were favored by many influential people, close enough to the city but just far enough away to be a retreat.

This is a small painting, watercolor and gouache, 5 1/2 x 6 inches. It's available in my shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/267191746/original-watercolor-painting-early-snow?ref=shop_home_active_2
You can find prints of "Early Snow" here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/267252295/art-print-original-watercolor-early-snow?ref=listing-shop-header-0

I am having a big birthday on Sunday. A milestone. I invite you to join in my celebration.
I am offering 25% off anything in my shop including original art.
This sale will run from Saturday through Sunday, February 13 -14.
Coupon code: MILESTONE

A Room With A View + Free Shipping

January 29, 2016 Natalie Wargin

I have to face it. This winter here in the Hudson Valley is a dud. I know, I know, there's still more winter to come but I can recognize a pattern when I see one. This one says "No Snow." And I love snow.

Recently I was out with Maggie in the gray afternoon thinking a pretty bouquet might lift my funk when I realized that I didn't have to go over to Green Cottage for flowers. I could pick an interesting assortment of drying things; leaves of red and brown, gray-brown Queen Anne's Lace, and some of those other things, all appropriately decomposing like my mood. But I felt my mood improving. You can see in the photo of the things I chose that they made a pleasing arrangement. I took them home, took that photo, and was about to place the weeds in a vase when I noticed all the little dust and seeds falling. I began to sneeze wildly. The bouquet ended up back in the woods but I had an image and an idea for a watercolor.

The drying bouquet is hanging, as you can see, tied with a ribbon. I added the falling dust and seeds just for fun. There are goats in my vicinity but not right next door. The view out the window of goats in the snow is wishful.

The original watercolor is 11" x 14" and available in my Etsy shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/265830673/watercolor-painting-original-a-room-with?ref=shop_home_active_1
Prints of the image are available here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/265937368/art-print-original-watercolor-a-room?ref=listing-shop-header-1

And shipping is free on any order with this code, good through January 31.
FREESHIP

New Painting -- My Neighbors

January 12, 2016 Natalie Wargin

I have these neighbors up the road who have a story that you can read just by looking at their property. The star of the story as I tell it is Chester, the 16 year old rescued Belgian Draft Horse. Chester is big and blonde and gentle. A handsome chap. Belgians are related to Clydesdales so that might give you an idea of Chester's size. He loves to lay in the mud or stand out in the rain or snow. I suppose if you had such an enormous body you might like to cool down when you get the opportunity. Chester has his own barn and a corral that are pretty much right on the road and he attracts attention. Hence the sign: "Please Don't Feed The Horse. Ask." I should say right now that I haven't manufactured anything that you see in the painting. I loved that brilliant sign the second I saw it. I took a picture and I'm glad I did because it's weathered and you can't really read it anymore.

The deer hanging from the tree is common during hunting season. I think the man who lives here is a pretty good hunter because every year there's a deer. One year there was a bear. And one year there was a coyote. Apparently the coyotes were eating the chickens. Although I've placed the tree in the background the actual "hanging tree" is on the road. Scared the daylights out of me the first morning I ran past and saw a dead deer hanging next to me.

The woman who lives here actually has three pigs. Pot bellied pigs that live in the house. I have met them and they are sweet and bristley. Here she is walking the largest.

The painting is an acrylic on birch board, 16" x 12", my largest to date.
This is also the first time I've added a person.
And I've given Chester a pink halo just to show how special I think he is.

The piece is available in my shop:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/263160806/original-painting-my-neighbors-with?ref=shop_home_active_1

Two Bears and Homeopathy

December 17, 2015 Natalie Wargin

"Grandparents of the Forest" website header art

I've been busy lately developing some characters for a website and a future children's book. The client is an herbalist and therapist who specializes in behavior disorders in children. She's chosen a bear couple, bespectacled Nicolas and Lila, as the stars in a story about how herbs, natural remedies, and nature itself can help children to lead calmer lives. The author wants to show children the wonders of nature and how turning to nature can be helpful and healing.

The bears are mythical medicine makers – community herbalists. The female is a shaman, the male is a scientist although there is some fun and play in this as they switch roles often. They complement each other. The bears have a cave to retreat to – deep in the woods. It’s a classic underworld cave with mystical writing and drawings on the walls. Lila talks to the plants, rocks, animals and birds, listening for their reply. She is the personification of the Mother, warm, welcoming, kind. Nicolas is a scientist who knows a lot about plants and animals and he likes to dabble with potions and medicines. The book will tell of Lila coming to know that there is a need somewhere amongst the children of the village. She'll look for the right plant to help.

That's it in a nutshell. I'll let you know how things progress.

I want to wish all of you the happiest of holidays.
Thank you for following along with my bits of news.
I'm planning lots of new work in the new year.