New! A Wild Stampede!

August 15, 2024 Natalie Wargin

Tilly and I were on our way home from a walk at High Falls. You can see the falls in the upper right. I had just turned the corner at the food co-op to come on to our road when I saw some deer about to cross right in front of us. They were running hard. I slammed the breaks and was treated to a rare sight. Nearly twenty deer stampeding. I had never seen so many all together. They passed the red barns and the pretty houses and continued across the grassy field. Why, I wondered? Where were they headed? Did something frighten them? Were they simply having fun? I think if I had gotten out of my car I would have felt the earth shake.

Naturally I have embellished a bit. I don’t know who that woman is but she has my dog. And she’d better hang on. The black birds are startled. The smaller creatures at the bottom are running opposite to the deer. Smart. The white cat seems to have been rudely awakened. And the appearance of the gardener surprised me. Early on I tried to get rid of him but he started to remind me of my father, an avid gardener himself, so he stays.

This painting will be part of my Roxbury exhibit in November.
If you’re interested in purchasing this piece before the exhibit please let me know in the comments below or send an email from the contact page.

“Seventeen Deer”
16 x 20 inches
Acrylic on claybord

Prints of this image are available in my Etsy shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1748185640/art-print-of-original-painting-seventeen?click_key=c96439a265502fb287f77a402fc30219d7c312c9%3A1748185640&click_sum=3e5f4249&ref=shop_home_active_1
My shop is running a sale from August 15 through Sunday, August 18.
20% off any purchase.

Thanks so much for your kind attention.

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.

New Work and a PBS Interview

January 28, 2022 Natalie Wargin

Well, I’ve been keeping busy. This is a new painting featuring the monster tomato plant I grew this past summer. Just as I was finishing this piece I was contacted by WMHT, our local PBS station. Would I be interested in being featured on their show about the arts? Yes, I would.

First, a little about the interview. The producer/director and the camera woman came to my home, turned my living room into a sort of studio where the interview was filmed. Then we went to my work area in the basement where I was filmed while I painted. This was the hard part. The camera was almost literally on my shoulder. Good thing I’ve learned how to tune the world out when I need to. It’s a short piece and if you’d like to take a look here’s the link:
https://fb.watch/aLMWetGbjF/

Picture it, a single tomato plant that all but took over the front yard. She could never have known how perfect the conditions were for that little seed but all the warm sun, the good Hudson Valley dirt, and the careful watering created a wonderful monster. Here she is, her cozy house and peony hedge behind her, picking another basket full of tomatoes. There is abundant life all around. Birds are bickering, a chipmunk helps herself, a skunk has wandered in. And that very fast dog, who just can’t seem to help herself, is getting mighty close to that squirrel.

”Tomato Garden”
18 x 24 inches
Acrylic on Clayboard

I’ve reopened my Etsy shop and you can find prints of this image here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1154168238/tomato-garden-art-print-of-original?click_key=72bba725ab2f741b717dc5019fcda0489281b3cb%3A1154168238&click_sum=25d605b5&ref=shop_home_active_1&sts=1

Thank you for reading along.
If you have any comments on the interview, or anything really, I’d love to hear them.

New Painting -- A view from the Cottekill Trail

September 22, 2015 Natalie Wargin

I see a lot of deer these days. It must be the time of year. I'll be running on the trail and they'll walk out of the woods and stand in my path, looking at me as I get closer and closer to them. It's a delight to see them though I worry that I can get so close before they leap away. I know that animals are far from stupid. Most, I suspect, are much more intelligent than we egotistical humans will allow. But I don't want the wild animals around here to ever trust people. Hunting season is around the corner.

I pass this spot on the Cottekill trail. The trail is bordered by woods and all sorts of small plants. That funny lattice structure is a puzzlement. There are houses beyond and the mountains of course. This is a cool morning with smoke from wood stoves in the air. You can also spot bunnies, a squirrel, and one deer a-leaping.

This is a 12 x 16" acrylic painting on birch board. It's titled "Over."
https://www.etsy.com/listing/248611494/original-acrylic-painting-a-view-from?ref=shop_home_active_1

Work in Progress -- Herons

June 5, 2015 Natalie Wargin

I've been asked a few times if I could show my progress on a painting so here goes. This first image shows my light sketch and the beginning of the painting. I've learned from experience that I should start on the important parts -- in this case the herons -- because if I'm not happy with the stars of the piece I will need to start again and I'd hate to throw away more work than I need to.

I pass this pond on my daily rounds. It's very close to a section of the rail trail that has a swamp with the most amazing array of birds, frogs, turtles, and snakes. And beavers. I usually see a single heron at the swamp without fail but one morning I saw this pair on the pond. I had never seen a pair before and certainly never on the pond which is also close to a somewhat well traveled road. It was early morning and still quiet and there they were, the happy couple. The people who own the pond have planted dozens of daffodils. The purple phlox is wild. It's everywhere, the rocks too. I added the dashing squirrels because I love to watch them flying through the trees.

This is a large painting for me, 12 x 18". It's watercolor and gouache. You can find it in my shop, together with prints of the image in various sizes:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/234865593/watercolor-original-painting-herons?ref=shop_home_active_1
https://www.etsy.com/listing/234866381/art-print-original-watercolor-herons?ref=listing-shop-header-0