Tag Archives: blog

Moving Day!

See this oil painting of a house in Savannah come alive in just over 1 minute (time lapse)

This looks nothing like the house we’re closing on, but our house IS in Savannah. I had no idea when I painted this several years ago that I’d be living nearby. This painting seems almost prophetic or foreshadowing now.

I’m looking forward to setting up my new art space and digging my paintbrushes back out. Until then, I’ll try to keep up with my daily blog talks with you, but I don’t know how soon our Internet connection will be up and running. I may be able to hotspot with my phone. If you don’t hear from me for a few days, assume I’m not set up yet.

Today will be a very busy day of moving and closing. I’m nervous, and excited! We are going HOME! After more than a decade of temporary living, we’ll finally be home!!

  • 2023 Painting Collection Revealed
    If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know that we had an unexpected sudden move that caused a big disruption in my life. Because of that, for the first time since I’ve started doing these annual collections, I didn’t reach my goal. I’m very disappointed about this, but sometimes life takes aContinue reading “2023 Painting Collection Revealed”
  • New Painting – “Chickadees in Holly”
    Latest oil painting (birds in our holly tree), from the 2022 Christmas painting and variety show. If you missed it: Watch free now. Here we are, another year gone. Wishing you a joyful 2023, with hope and faith that blessings will come to you and your family. Happy New Year! Here’s to another year ofContinue reading “New Painting – “Chickadees in Holly””
  • CHRISTMAS PAINTING SHOW 2022! Enjoy!
    Christmas Painting Show 2022 full length video, artist Natalie Buske Thomas, live painting special and time lapse, singing favorite Christmas carols and beloved hymns at home Christmas party with family and neighbors – You are invited!
  • New Show!
    Last year’s Christmas show feels long ago and far away, at least for me it does. So much has changed, so much has happened, and I can barely keep up with who I am in this new life. I wondered how I will even do my shows in this new place- will I do themContinue reading “New Show!”
  • Last Month of Autumn
    As we head into the last month of autumn, may you give yourself a few moments of peace to watch me paint these 10 fall scenes. Each video is about 2 minutes long (time lapse) to see each painting go from blank canvas to finished art. This first video (above) is called “Autumn Forest”. ScrollContinue reading “Last Month of Autumn”
  • New Painting – “Thanksgiving Turkey & Pumpkins”
    Watch this Thanksgiving scene come alive in less than 1 minute 30 seconds (time lapse video, above). It’s been a couple of months since I’ve last posted, when prior to our recent move to Savannah, Georgia I’d been a daily blogger and prolific painter, working feverishly toward my lifetime goal of 1,000 finished oil paintings.Continue reading “New Painting – “Thanksgiving Turkey & Pumpkins””
  • New Painting – “Alabama Landscape”
    Oil painting by artist Natalie Buske Thomas “Alabama Landscape”. Watch Natalie paint this art in less than 2 minutes (time lapse video). New painting for September 2022.
  • New Painting Finished!
    If you’ve been following the progress of my new oil painting “Walking in Rain Puddle”, you’ll be happy to know that it is now finished and you can see the whole thing in the 2 minute time lapse video (above). The beautiful song in the video is called “Where Can I Turn for Peace”. WhenContinue reading “New Painting Finished!”
  • Back to Work! Session 3
    Well, it’s time to get back to work on the new painting in progress. Normally I wait until the painting is finished before sharing, but sometimes I share each session at a time so that you can see the progress (in the time lapse video above). If you missed Session 1 and 2, those areContinue reading “Back to Work! Session 3”

Sneak Peek

Watch “Painting Colors” come alive in 1 minute (time lapse)

I’m still enjoying the holiday weekend, but this morning I was by myself while the family slept in, so I had time to dabble with something I’ve been working on: a video channel for binge watching all of my painting videos. It will mean hours and hours of peaceful videos, so you’ll need to refill your coffee or other favorite beverages many times. The new page is set up with a few playlists started. This project will take several days to finish, as there are over 200 videos to upload. If you want a sneak peek before the video channel is officially linked and released to the public, here you go! Video Channel (in progress).

As usual, I’ll post my paintings here on the blog, rotating my older ones and chatting with you about things on my mind. When I have a new painting finished, I’ll put “New Painting” in the title so you know it’s fresh off the canvas, never before seen. But, if you’d like to see a whole series of videos without clicking back and forth, the new video channel will be a good place to be. You can easily spend all night there when all the videos are uploaded!

If you’ve already subscribed to me, thank you. It helps knowing that you are there, waiting for me to post something new. It applies pressure to me to keep working toward my lifetime goal of 1,000 finished oil paintings. If you’ve not yet subscribed, please do so. There’s no such thing as too many friends! 🙂

Holiday Break

Watch “Pumpkin Latte” come alive in 1 minute (time lapse)

Our house is already changing from pumpkin spices to gingerbread. Today we decorated the Christmas tree and made cookies. Yesterday for Thanksgiving we had a glorious feast! I was proud to use fresh garden rosemary, parsley, and basil to stuff and season the turkey. I went outside early in the morning while it was not quite light out, but I could see my breath in the chilly November air. I was like Santa choosing only the best reindeer for the mission- only the greenest and prettiest herbs made the cut for our Thanksgiving turkey.

Aren’t those fresh greens pretty? Their shapes are perfect!
Before roasting: turkey stuffed with an apple, orange, lemon, onion, parsley, rosemary, and basil. I also made herb butter with garlic and greens to spread under the skin and over the skin of the turkey. This is what makes it moist, tender, and in no need of basting.
It turned out VERY moist and tender, didn’t need a knife. It pulled apart with just large forks and tongs and the family could cut it easily with a fork! This is good because my husband has banned me from ever using an electric knife again after a certain incident from a few years ago… (The knife fell from the counter and I instinctively reached out and grabbed it to catch it from falling. I was very, very lucky that I caught it by the handle and not by the blade! Whew, that was close to a nasty accident. It was my painting hand too, so it could have possibly been quite tragic for me.)
My dinner plate, crammed full of food! I didn’t want the yams or cranberry sauce.
And here’s the cake I made last weekend. I took a chocolate cake recipe of my mom’s and made a few creative substitutions. Instead of milk I used eggnog, whiskey and espresso! Other than that, it was just chocolate cake! 🙂 The frosting was AMAZING. I modified a buttercream recipe.
The house even has a chimney on it. This bundt cake mold is made in the USA by Nordic Ware. The unfortunate crack you see is because I ran out of batter and had to quickly make more, so it’s two different cakes (one had the whiskey and espresso in it, the other had eggnog; both were chocolate cakes other than those substitutions for the milk). Anyway, I will make a double batch of batter before I begin next time. I’m going to make three of these tomorrow for my kids to decorate. The wreath is fondant and the snow is frosting. The trees are painted with a green food coloring pen. I didn’t add any other decorations, but my kids want to do more with theirs.

I have more stories to share, but this blog post is getting rather long! So, I’ll just leave this at the food highlights for now. I hope all of you have been enjoying your Thanksgiving break, and if you don’t celebrate this holiday, may you have a joyful weekend anyway!

Happy Anyway

Watch this oil painting of a dolphin come alive in 2 minutes (time lapse)

I struggled to think of what to say for today’s blog post. World events paint a bleak, angry, and fearful picture. What popped into my head was this dolphin. It’s nearly impossible not to feel happy when we see a dolphin playing in the ocean. Even when humanity thinks the sky is falling, dolphins are happy anyway. Perhaps it will lift your spirits to see a picture of a dolphin, as a break from focusing on the picture that the news is painting.

The holiday season is fast upon us. Don’t let anything steal your happiness. We have but one life, and each day that is wasted in worry or despair is one day less to live our purpose, love our families, and experience what we are meant to know.

God bless and keep you. May His face shine upon you, and give you peace.

I forgot to tell you!

Watch oil painting “Cardinal at the Cabin” come to life

in about 2 minutes (time lapse)

In my blog post “New Painting- Peaceful Landscape” that I shared with you in June, I said, “I’ll talk about what this painting means to me in a future blog post. For now, I just want to share it and let you let it speak to you.” But I forgot to follow up! I never did tell you what I was thinking when I painted this.

This was a landscape from my own imagination, in which I didn’t look at anything while painting, nor did I plan it out. I intentionally let the art tell the story and evolve, as I listened to music and let myself feel whatever came to my heart. I meant to paint a scene that is warm and inviting, and would appeal to me as a retreat, but that’s not quite what happened.

Instead, it seems that I painted the deeper feelings; the reason why I wanted a special place to retreat to. Because this place doesn’t look relaxing to me. It’s very remote and a bit lonely looking. Quiet, and pretty, yes, but it looks like someone’s missing from that empty rocking chair, as if suddenly taken from their favorite spot and the tea or coffee cup that never got cleared. There’s probably still a last sip in it.

The cardinal is observing the scene, as if he understands and has empathy. The flowers are still in bloom, the fields reach toward a clear blue sky, and the evergreens are as fresh as ever. But the walkway has no feet upon it. The steps are vacant. The rocking chair is not in motion. The last sip will never be drunk. 

Reflecting on those we’ve lost, and realizing the passage of time, and feeling the weight of the dark world upon our shoulders, sometimes it feels as if we need a retreat from the burden of broken dreams and better days that must wait, or may never come at all. But in imagining a retreat, I instead inadvertently, subconsciously, painted the emotions that were driving me to want a retreat. 

Maybe next time I’ll paint the actual retreat, but by the time I finished painting through the feelings I didn’t even know I had, I felt as if I’d already had my retreat. It was me observing the cardinal in the tree, from my vantage point on the other side of the canvas looking in. Seeing the scene through his eyes was enough to restore my spirit for another day. 

Nature goes on uninterrupted. Seasons change. Flowers bloom. Trees grow. Then all of it repeats. There is something comforting in the sameness, and even more comforting is the pattern of change. This (spiritual) season will change. Meanwhile, we can embrace the quiet, the steady stillness, and the cabin that waits for someone to come back. When we are blessed to be here for another day, may we never leave the last sip to grow cold.