Happy Easter

Blessings to you on this day! Today I’m sharing things that are stripped bare and honest. No formal gowns. Nothing fancy. Just authentic sharing from the heart. First, a clip (in the video below) that I’ve shared here before of a regular day at home when my daughter agreed to sing the hymn “In Christ Alone” with me spontaneously, no music, reading the lyrics I pulled up on the screen in case we’d forget the words. I can’t remember why I wanted to film this song for my blog that day, but sometimes it’s nice when all the music is stripped away. There’s no stage, there’s no audience. It’s just the words and human voices. Lyrics at top of the screen so you can sing along.

Next, one of my early paintings. There is no video for this one, and it’s a bit strange, so I have seldom shared it. But, since I’m sharing raw and authentic things, honest things, I’ll share this one today and talk to you about what it means. Here is the version I added text to, to help explain it.

This is how it felt when I was Mom’s caregiver and she asked me to scrub her feet for her. I thought I would talk about this at length but I realize I’d rather not put too many private details about the family on this public space, so I’ll have to try to communicate without the full story. Imagine if pushed to your limits on what you think you can do, feeling humbled to a breaking point, feeling alone in that point of despair. Does anyone see you? Does anyone know what you do for others, when you feel you can’t go on another minute? I felt in that second (washing her feet) that Jesus was there. No, I didn’t see Him, but it was a certain and strong impression, as if I’d see Him if I turned around (and it felt like I was not allowed to do so). I tried to paint what I saw in my mind, what I felt I’d see if I turned around. Sad eyes, full of empathy, and it felt like a message “For the least of these you do for Me”. It wasn’t a voice, it wasn’t an image, but the message and face was kind of like when we see and hear things in a dream as we’re about to wake up- when we know we are dreaming but the dream is finishing as we’re coming into a wakened state, so the conscious/unconscious merge. As if we can see things that are behind us, even though our dream self is not looking behind, we just know what is there. That’s the best way I can think of to explain it. Of course, one could argue that I was so emotionally stressed that I imagined this, or that I induced a dream-like state. That’s certainly one way to look at it. But in my heart, I know what I experienced, and I believe that I was given encouragement that we are never alone, and He sees what we do for others when we feel broken and weary. We matter, and we are loved. Just after I felt that impression, Mom looked at me in a very unusual way, as if she’d just seen Jesus too- but a stern scolding Jesus, not the empathetic one I saw. She immediately said, “You don’t have to do that, Natalie” and she never asked me to scrub her feet again.


Last, I’d like to share one of the first paintings I have video of. It’s called “Dove in a Forest”. The dove is an important symbol of Christianity and Easter, and it brings peace to us in ways that are personal to each of us. I selected this one because I painted it from imagination. I didn’t have a big website presence then, or thousands of social media followers. It was before I was targeted by hate groups, before anyone knew who I was. It was when I simply painted what I felt in my heart to share. Sometimes what we share when we are being most ourselves, alone, and trying to connect our solitary thoughts with the greater family of humans is our best work. Is it my most detailed, experienced and artistically best work? No. But I believe that that’s not what God asks of us.

Redemption isn’t about perfection or pleasing mankind. The beauty of Easter is freedom through mercy and grace. We cannot earn that kind of supernatural love. It is a gift. And that gift brings us peace.

God bless you and your family on this Easter Sunday and always.

Note: I will be starting the next round of projects for the 2023 collection called “Joyful Living”. Some of those will be short and light, others will be detailed and will take longer to complete. I hope you will enjoy this year’s series. Please subscribe if you want to be notified when there’s something new here (if you haven’t already).

The Old Rugged Cross

Sharing a few clips of favorite Easter shows and events from the past few years – the above was from Easter show 2021, singing beloved hymn “The Old Rugged Cross” with my two daughters. Scroll down for highlights and short clips of previous painting and singing specials.

2 minute time-lapse in the above video (moves very fast, then slows down at the end so you can see the painting) of “Easter Sunday with Grandma”, a special memory of attending church with my Irish grandma. It was important for me to dress up fancy, like Grandma. This painting was photographed and then separated into two different paintings, one of them focused solely on the robin and the nest.

The next videos are from Easter church choir in 2019. The first song (above) is “Messiah Comes” and the one below is “Precious Lamb”. You can see that my daughters and I are the entire soprano section in that little choir. The woman on the end is the pastor’s wife, she’d sing soprano with us sometimes (like in the above video) or help out the others (like in the bottom video). The big man on the end is the pastor, who retired shortly before our move. He worked in disaster relief and at the local hospital, very good man, and his wife as well. I’m better for having known such kind and loving people.

These are special memories of singing with all of my children before we moved from our temporary commuting area last May to our house in Savannah, where we plan to make our “forever” home. My oldest daughter still sings with me, but my son and youngest daughter are both knee-deep in school now and working toward their degrees, so neither of them joined choir in our new church. They do still perform with me in some of my painting shows. I appreciate and enjoy that very much.

I’ll share more memories with you tomorrow, but last for today is from the first Easter painting show I did for you here on this site. It is a panoramic, 3-panel oil painting representing Easter and the trinity. It was my first taped show and the start of what I expect will continue for many more years to come. You might notice that I used “The Old Rugged” cross instrumental track that the girls and I later used to sing to (in the video at the top of this blog). So we’ll end today’s blog post the same way we began. May you feel the power of Easter, redemption, forgiveness, mercy, grace, love and everything that it means to you personally. God bless you and your family.

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Be Thou my Vision

Singing “Be Thou my Vision” in English and Irish (Gaelic) with my daughters for Easter Show 2022

I hope you are enjoying this Easter weekend with loved ones and are feeling peace in your spirit. I’ve uploaded the Easter Show 2022 in separate short videos of the different segments (two oil paintings “Easter Lily” and “Jesus at Calvary”, two songs “I’ll Fly Away” and Irish hymn “Be Thou my Vision”). The best viewing experience is here on this site because I can upload the highest quality large HD files. However, your family and friends probably prefer to click on a platform link that they know, so I’ve put these clips and the entire show on YouTube also.


Missed it?

2021 Easter Show

If you missed last year’s Easter Show, here it is. It’s quite different from the 2022 show in many ways, but yet the general format is the same: painting and singing. This one has a story that runs via captions, and it’s more about family and tradition than this year’s deeply spiritual show. If you’ve not yet seen it, I hope that you do. It’s a much needed respite from the dystopia of our time.

On a personal note: The update from yesterday- we did not get the house. They accepted another offer. So, we’re back to looking. We are now down to three weeks to find a house and get an offer accepted in time to close before we must vacate. The housing crisis is real, folks. The rental market is even worse. Way too many folks needing houses for the few available and they are price gouging. Renters are even in bidding wars, offering to pay more than the asking rental price to get in ahead of someone else. Hopefully we’ll be able to buy a house, as that seems the better route even though we were planning on doing that next year and are having to move Heaven and Earth to make this happen now. Prayers appreciated.


Show on YouTube

Please share with your family, friends, and social media connections.

My Easter Painting Variety Show is now on YouTube, for those who prefer that platform for easy sharing. The best video quality is here on this site though, so you may want to view it here if you’ve not already seen it. I’ll make smaller clips soon of the individual segments so you can view/share your favorite parts.

Moving update: still no word on whether or not our offer on the house will be accepted. Waiting on pins and needles! Meanwhile our move out date looms ever closer and it’s feeling scary. Faith over fear. It will all work out, because it has to!


Holy Week Begins

See “Cross and Lily” oil painting come alive in under 2 minutes (time lapse)

On this Palm Sunday, may you feel encouragement for the week ahead and the hope that Easter and spring instills.

Today we put down an offer on a house- alongside at least six other competing offers! We don’t know how things will go for us, but we are expectant and hopeful, excited, and willing to put our hearts out there. The deadline for us to vacate looms, so the pressure is rising. Yet, we know it will all work out somehow. There is a future for us, a place prepared for us- may each of us believe this physically and spiritually.

Did you see my announcement yesterday about my Easter show? I launched it here on the site. I’ll be uploading it to YouTube, BitChute and possibly other platforms. I also plan to create short clips of each segment for easy sharing of favorite parts of the show. The full length Easter show is here.


Show Update

See this paintbrush oil painting “Painting Colors” come to life in about 1 minute (time lapse)

I finished the final taping segment for my Easter show today! When the video is finished I will launch the show, giving you time to share it with family and friends ahead of (and on) Easter weekend. I hope you will find the show entertaining and joyful, yet powerful and inspiring. View my previous shows here.


Letting Go – Again

See angel releasing dove oil painting with real beach shells come alive in 2 minutes (time lapse)

I’ve used this same painting for a very similar blog post called “Letting Go”. In that post I said these wise words “We may not have control over time, and future events, but we always have a spiritual choice about how we respond to change.” Ha! I better take my own advice to heart, lest I be a hypocrite. The past couple of days I was in a sour sullen snit about the shocking news of learning that we have to move in about two months, when we intended to continue renting this house until after my husband’s graduation (he’d gone back to school after losing his job when the company he worked for moved out of the country, and he’s nearly done- graduates in June- but too late to get us out from under this predicament).

Today I pushed myself to start the taping of the Easter show even though that was the last thing I wanted to do, as I need to start packing! But I’d already committed to doing the show and had invested in it. Yesterday I finished making my dress and I finished the set design this afternoon. Taping has begun! The first segment is done- and it went much better than I thought it would. No matter what’s going on in our lives, we have to choose whether or not to let those temporary circumstances paralyze, discourage, or destroy our purpose. I could have canceled the show, but that would have been wrong.

Letting go of worry, anxiety, dread, fear, resentment, bitterness, despair, and anger is a perpetual experience. Life will never be perfect and if we allow our human condition to stop us from acting on our plans, we will leave things unsaid, inspirations never created, places never traveled, and destinies never reached. So, we must plow through and do the things our heart is stirred to do, even when we don’t feel like it. “Fake it ’till you make it” is real. Not only will we get to where we want to be if we keep doing it, regardless of how close to the bottom we are when we start, but we’ll also become joyful if we fake feeling joy.

Today’s work on the Easter show included dressing up in an outrageously festive gown and singing songs that are truly joyful. I may have started out faking the joy, but shortly after I forced myself to be joyful, I really was! I had a happy time today. I am glad I gave up my stubborn attitude and chose to let go.

My stressful circumstances will change, with or without my cooperative attitude. I can stomp my feet and tantrum my way through this ordeal, or I can aim for high energy to work at a smooth transition. I can look for positive serendipitous events that fall neatly into place. If I look for these things, I will find them. If I work for a smooth transition, I am likely to have one. Change is often difficult. We can hate every minute of it and be no better off. Or, we can rise to the challenge and fake joyfulness until we feel the joy.


Show Plans

See this 3 panel panoramic oil painting landscape for Easter Show 2020 come alive in 2 minutes

It’s that time of year again – I’m working on the new Easter Show 2022. The above painting was for my first holiday show, Easter 2020. Since then I’ve done several shows, including last year’s Easter Show 2021 (below):

This year’s Easter 2022 Show painting is planned, the songs are chosen, and I already have the start of my dress. I’m making the rest of it myself and I hope you’ll love it. I figured I better up my game and make one-of-a-kind gowns instead of missing an opportunity to be creative.

These holiday shows are separate from the new shows I plan to do on a regular (weekly is the plan) basis. Those have been temporarily postponed due a number of things that came up and bumped it off schedule. I will put it back on schedule as soon as I can. You might recall I mentioned an inspection I had to prepare for that came up without much notice, and I’ve been planting seeds indoors for my garden. I have limited space and need to use containers because I don’t own this property and can’t put anything into the ground. This makes for a good challenge, and I’m fine with that. Bring it on! I already have a lot of goodies sprouting. But, it is a lot of work to grow our own food and I have to fit it in quickly so I don’t miss the optimal window for our growing zone (8b). Anyway, I didn’t want you to think that the new vlog/green screen show I was talking about has been postponed indefinitely. It’s only on hold, especially since this has now merged with the Easter show prep.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that I say what I mean, do what I say. I will deliver the show I promised soon. Until then, new paintings as I finish them, and in a little over a month I’ll launch the Easter show. Busy times. It helps us escape the gloom and doom of this world when we focus on positive, productive, happy things. But I can’t always measure up, and some days I’m just in a nasty funk. Today was sort of like that. I got it together by the afternoon, partly because I was looking through our Easter song choices and it’s hard to stay sullen and resentful when seeing such beautiful lyrics of hope and promise.

Stay strong. God bless you and yours. Spring will be here soon! May the new season bring peaceful times for this dark world.


“Easter Sunday with Grandma”

This oil painting “Easter Sunday with Grandma” is featured in the book “50 Oil Paintings Inspired by Nature” and is also a live painting show event for the Easter Show 2021. The story that inspired this painting is narrated in the Easter Show.

Watch Natalie paint “Easter Sunday with Grandma” in this 2 minute time lapse video
Full Painting “Easter Sunday with Grandma”
“Robin with Eggs” (cropped from full painting)
“Pink Bell Flowers” (cropped from full painting)
“Going to Church” (cropped from full painting)

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