Monthly Archives: July 2022

New Painting – “Coffee Outside”

See my new painting “Coffee Outside” come alive in less than 2 minutes (time lapse video). This art is for the 2022 collection “25 Oil Paintings Inspired by Seasons (of Life and Nature)“. It’s inspired by the coffee chats I have with my daughter. One day we’ll have an outdoor bistro set like this. The thought of enjoying coffee outside with my favorite people keeps me motivated to tame the yard that was neglected and somewhat hoarded up when we moved in a couple of months ago. I’m still finding bits of trash, glass, and oddities coming to the surface after a heavy rain. Why do people destroy their own homes? Well, I’m going to make the place beautiful. It will take years, but I know I can do it.

I’ll talk about this in more detail some other time. It’s been interesting to discover the strange piles and isolated items that we’ve found and had to dispose of. “Interesting” isn’t really what we’d hoped for, but when I imagine a future garden the way I know it can be, surrounded by trees and flowers, it helps me get through the unpleasant work and handling the debris.

May this be a metaphor for life in general. We may not like the neglected and destroyed political, social, or spiritual environment we’ve inherited from others- who made choices we have to clean up after- but with resilience, persistence, patience, faith, and hard work we can make our world a better place. Our garden can be a beautiful one, where we enjoy living with our loved ones in peace.

New Painting – “Frog in Garden”

Watch this frog painting come alive in just over 1 minute (time lapse video)

This project was inspired by my tree frog friend who would hang out in my garden planters, watching me and seemingly smiling (do frogs really smile or just look like they do?). He’d scare me the first time he’d pop up unexpectedly, but after he enjoyed hearing me scream in fright over such a tiny little thing, he’d stick around all casual like, leaning over the edge of the planter watching me work. I grew to expect him to be there, my little froggy friend.

“Frog in Garden” is part of the 2022 collection called “25 Oil Paintings Inspired by Seasons (of Life and Nature)“. I’ll be adding this frog to my new store soon. Another painting done toward my lifetime goal of 1,000 finished oil paintings!

Hymn for Cardinal Painting

As promised, I’ve put together a singing video with the lyrics for the instrumental hymn that was in yesterday’s painting video. Maybe you already know this one? It’s a popular old hymn that many people love.

If you missed yesterday’s new painting, it is called “Cardinal in July”.

I have added this art to my new store. If you order anything, would you please consider taking a picture of what you buy and letting me know if you like how it turned out? Eventually I’d like to own all of these products so that I have a sample of everything and know what things look like, but that would be too expensive to do all at once. It’s amazing to see my art on things we can use for our homes, gifts, clothes, jewelry – just about anything! It makes me feel that my paintings can have more life to them after the videos fade from memory and are forgotten. I hope this adventure works out! If it does, I’ll add a lot more paintings to the store. If there are any favorites in particular you want me to add first, feel free to let me know.

Happy Saturday everyone!

New Painting – “Cardinal in July”

See my new cardinal oil painting “Cardinal in July” come alive in 2 minutes (time lapse video). I have lost track of how many cardinals I’ve painted, but I know this won’t be the last one. Cardinals are a recurring theme in my life and I know that many of you find special meaning, healing, hope, peace, and serendipitous sightings of them also. Those who have lost a loved one often report mysterious interactions with cardinals and healing spiritual experiences. If seeing a cardinal painting helps you feel inspired, I am happy to keep painting them.

If you are a subscriber to my blog viewing from your e-mail, you may have to click thru directly to this post to see the video. I’ll put together a singing video of the lyrics of the instrumental hymn used in the painting video and post that soon. You might already be familiar with it, as it is a popular old hymn called “When Peace Like a River (it is well)”.

I hope all is well with you and your family. It’s a hot summer here in Georgia, USA and the time is going by fast. Because the world is so chaotic, it’s good to keep busy and remain hopeful for the future by focusing on the good things. Stay strong. God bless you.

Go Light your World

This is the song that is featured in my oil painting “Candle and Bible” video. The music in the time lapse video is an instrumental version, but the lyrics are why I chose this song for my painting. I put the above singing video (if you are reading this inside your email you will probably have to click through to my site directly to play the video), together for you this morning with the lyrics on the screen. It’s a song that was sung by Kathy Troccoli (the version I was first introduced to) and also by Chris Rice (song writer) who I was able to see perform in person for an emotional charity event to benefit a family who had lost their teen children to a drunk driver. Below is the painting video where I used an instrumental version of “Go Light your World”.

Watch me paint this art in about 1 minute (time lapse video).

New Painting

See this oil painting come alive in about 1 minute (time lapse video). Note: if you read my blog via e-mail, my videos probably won’t show up unless you click on the link to this blog post and play the video directly on my site.

My latest painting “Yellow Rosebud” is a companion piece to the open, fully bloomed, flower art “Yellow Rose” (inspired by the same rose bush outside my window). These paintings will be included in the 2022 collection “25 Oil Paintings Inspired by Seasons (of life and nature)” for the section called Spring and Summer. Previous collections in the “Inspired by” series:

Savannah, GA (2019) 50

Christian Faith (2020) 50

Nature (2021) 50

Seasons (2022) 25

(Some paintings are not included in the “inspired” series)

The unexpected move put me behind schedule, when I was previously ahead of schedule. *this is why the new book will not have 50 works as I’ve done in previous years*

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to be notified via email when I’ve posted something new. When you have a couple of minutes spare time, click on the link to the post to view the painting video directly from my site. A short break to relieve your daily stresses!

Hymn for Lighthouse Painting

The painting video I shared yesterday included a piano instrumental version of “In Christ Alone”. My daughter (standing behind my chair) was kind enough to sing it with me for you. I added the lyrics at the top of the screen. This old hymn is good comfort for the times we are living in and goes well with the inspiration of a lighthouse.

By the way, the unframed canvas paintings you see on the shelves behind me are my drying system. I lay a fresh painting flat when it’s very wet, then I move it to the shelf (vertically leaning, as you can see in the video) to continue setting/drying. When it’s dry I move it into the closet storage. Then start all over again with the next wet canvas, still working toward my lifetime goal of 1,000 finished oil paintings. I have one on the canvas right now but I’m feeling tired and I’m procrastinating. We’ll see if my willpower wins today or my physical fatigue. So far I managed singing this song, one of my favorite hymns, and that was a good thing. God bless you and your families as we move forward in these chaotic times.

Happy 4th of July!

See this oil painting “Americana” come alive in 2 minutes (time lapse video), or view the longer version in the 4th of July show. This painting features an American flag painted on a barn, as a dog waits for his owner to come home. A yellow ribbon on the tree is a tradition to show support when a loved one is in the military during times of war. The happiest days are when a veteran returns home and the ribbons are off the trees.

“Americana” by artist Natalie Buske Thomas

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New Painting – “Lighthouse”

Watch this lighthouse oil painting come alive in 2 minutes (time lapse)

The song in the video is a piano instrumental version of the hymn “In Christ Alone”.

“Lighthouse” by artist Natalie Buske Thomas

“In Christ Alone”

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand”

(there are more verses, but those are the ones that I feel fit the theme of the painting the most)

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