Two Small Botanicals. New Work.

October 6, 2022 Natalie Wargin

I find the most interesting plants growing in the woods and along the wetland edge. Here are small watercolors of two that I see, depending on the season: Bloodroot and Buttonbush. Bloodroot gets its name from its red orange roots that resemble carrots. Yes, I pulled one up so I could see for myself. The roots can be used to make ink or dye. The leaves are big and curvy, the flowers are smallish and white. In the spring, in the woodland shadows, this plant spreads and beautifully fills a lot of space. The second plant, Buttonbush, grows in wet areas and also appreciates shade. In the spring the blossoms are like little green balls that each open into dozens of tightly packed small white flowers like the globe you see here. The foliage is dense and dark and in the fall the “buttons” become red and copper colored. Both of these plants are quite dramatic.

I haven’t done any watercolors in a while and it was a pleasure to work on these two. They are small, as I say, and working on small pieces was also a nice change. I’ll be back to larger work soon.

Both of these originals are available in my Etsy shop where I’m also offering free domestic shipping on all orders through Sunday, October 9. Here are the links:

“Bloodroot”
5 x 6 inches
Watercolor on Fabriano Hot Press
$90
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1318491625/original-watercolor-painting-bloodroot?click_key=6d824a8df84af158ef00b08fb3a00f0133c480d6%3A1318491625&click_sum=7bca4747&ref=shop_home_active_2

“Buttonbush
5 x 6 inches
Watercolor on Fabriano Hot Press
SOLD
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1318500245/original-watercolor-painting-buttonbush?click_key=f24f7649d7317fc42c19a9d7951b9b5884f25ffb%3A1318500245&click_sum=d04f1daa&ref=shop_home_active_1

You can also find prints of these paintings in my shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/NatalieWargin?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Thanks so much for taking a look at what I’ve been up to.
It’s most appreciated!

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 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!

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!

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 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

Porcupines at the Mohonk Preserve

August 26, 2015 Natalie Wargin

I went for a hike at the Mohonk Preserve with my friends Raedel and Mary Grace. The Mohonk Preserve is in the Shawangunk Mountains or Gunks, as they are affectionately called around here. The Gunks are part of the long ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, known early on for logging and mining but now known mainly for recreation, most notably for rock climbing and hiking. As with many areas like this the trails vary in difficulty. We were on an a fairly easy trail, a good walk and conversation being our intent. It was a perfect morning for it. As we neared the end of our hike we rounded a bend and Mary Grace, who was in the lead, almost stepped on a porcupine.

I had never seen a porcupine outside of a zoo and it was all I could do to get out my phone and start snapping pictures. Although the porcupine was clearly moving away from me it wasn't running and I was able to get some decent shots. I doubt it was worried about me because once it got to an overgrown area it stopped to grab and eat a bunch of leaves. I thought it was very beautiful. I did wonder about those quills though. Do they shoot them in self-defense? Later I looked it up and found that porcupines do not shoot their quills but will charge and impale a predator with multiple barbs.

Here is my portrayal of the porcupine we saw, munching in the foreground and then calmly retreating. It really was an attractive animal with many many quills that almost looked soft. Almost. I've added the orange day lilies that line the roads here in the summer.

The painting is available in my shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/243853269/original-watercolor-porcupines-at-the?ref=shop_home_active_1

And prints of the image are available here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/243854559/art-print-original-watercolor-porcupines?ref=shop_home_active_2

Here's a back-to-school special: 20% off any purchase, good until September 3rd:
FALL20

Dogwood and Deer

July 28, 2015 Natalie Wargin

This spring was a good one for the dogwoods here in the Hudson Valley. While other things, my honeysuckle for example, failed after the terrible winter the dogwoods were as full of blooms as I've ever seen them. Branches heavy with perfect pinkish white flowers that stopped me in my tracks more than once. I thought I'd make a canopy of them. The deer and rabbits beneath are actually a study for a larger acrylic painting that I'm planning. They do seem at home here though, silent in the cool dark wood. I've finally gotten some cattails into the mix, there in the foreground. And a few spiderwebs higher, in the tree tops.

This is an original watercolor and gouache painting of three deer and a few rabbits under a blooming dogwood. The painting is 7 x 10 inches (18 x 25 cm).
You can find the painting here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/240400084/original-watercolor-painting-dogwood?ref=shop_home_active_1

And prints of the image here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/241120525/art-print-deer-and-dogwood?ref=shop_home_active_2