Tag Archives: turkey

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. Even though this move should have been easier, because we didn’t move out the country this time, or even from out of state (we were renting in a temporary location about 40 minutes’ drive from here), it was an unexpected move (we planned to go house hunting next year but the landlord wanted to sell the house we were living in and we had only two month’s notice to get out). I’ve told most of that story on here before, but my reason for bringing it up again is that it has taken me much longer than I thought to settle into our new life, and I wanted to explain my absence.

Several events happened to disrupt the process and make the transition much more stressful and life-altering than our previous moves. And, since we plan to make this our “forever” home, to the extent that such a thing is in our control and possible, this move means much more to us. I want to invest my time and energy into building a community for myself and my family. That’s different from the temporary approach and mindset we had in the years leading up to now. Connecting with people in person, face-to-face, heart to heart, in a much bigger way- out from behind the camera or the computer- was outside of my comfort zone. I’d been so reclusive that I’d lost a bit of myself along the way.

Besides this dramatic change in lifestyle, I had to face some giants that I’d been avoiding for years. Facing up to unpleasant, confrontational, or unwanted situations is never going to feel good, but hiding from these things only makes them loom larger in the shadows. If we were sitting together in person, I’d put the kettle on and I’d speak honestly about all of this. It’s been quite a physical, emotional, and spiritual journey.

It’s even been an intellectual ride, as I’ve also learned new things about a variety of subjects: landscaping, home improvement, how to get rid of rodents, how to successfully remove a hoard that was buried in the yard to deceive/hide from prospective buyers of a home, and more delightful topics such as how to become a better singer, how to take good care of vocal chords when singing regularly, in-depth religious discussions that lead to life changing perspectives to heal and build a new life, financial habits to weather storms and enjoy blessings, and much more. Most of these things I can’t talk about without putting myself into a position of too much personal disclosure online, as now I’d be talking about people, places, events, and organizations that someone may see themselves in. So, out of respect for my and their privacy, and inadvertently sticking my foot in my mouth, I can only generalize. To borrow from a famous line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.

I hope that my return to painting, blogging, and sharing with you is taking shape now. I will do my best to stay on track. I can feel my spirit calming down and the possibility of a steady life close at hand. Instead of scrambling to react to each new twist and turn (personal instability as well as shared world-wide chaos that all of you have been experiencing on various levels), I see the road widening and the skies clearing. I feel hope and optimism rising, regardless of the grief, fear and despair that weighs heavily upon humanity.

God bless you, and Happy Thanksgiving- for my fellow Americans who celebrate this special day- and for all others who celebrate in spirit. This is a time of year for reflection and gratitude, as many of us have extra time with our families and there’s a pause in our schedules. More than any other year I’m decorating big for Christmas. My heart is full and my emotions are a rollercoaster ride. Truly, all that really matters is God, family, and community. And my joy in all of that will shine brightly this year! As I will soon be singing in the Christmas choir program, “Ring, ring the bells!” Enjoy dinner with your loved ones and set out your best shiniest sparkliest decorations.

Oil painting “Thanksgiving Turkey and Pumpkins” by artist Natalie Buske Thomas, part of the 2022 collection Seasons.

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!

Thanksgiving Eve

Watch this oil painting come to life in just over 1 minute (time lapse)

This painting is of a peach pie, but today my firstborn daughter baked a pumpkin pie for tomorrow. I baked ahead the homemade macaroni and cheese. My youngest daughter made a green bean casserole. The two hot dishes will be on a heating & warming tray tomorrow. In the morning I’ll prepare and roast the turkey. We’ll have a flurry of activity in the kitchen when it’s time for making all of the other parts of the feast: stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables, yams (I don’t count them as vegetables and I won’t eat any, I don’t like yams) and heating the french bread my husband baked. My son will open a can of cranberry sauce and slice it. I won’t eat that stuff either, but he sure will.

I put matching turkey and harvest themed tablecloths on the tables, finished making festive potholders, and washed the pretty new holiday apron my daughter gave me. I’m ready! I’ll be up very early to finish thawing the turkey, going outside to cut the fresh parsley and rosemary to stuff the turkey, as well as a lemon, orange, onion, and apple. This is a new variation I’m trying, based on tips I found online. I like to try new ways to prepare the turkey. Every year it seems to be “the best turkey ever!”

I wish you all a happy day tomorrow, and those of you who celebrate this holiday, may you have a joyous Thanksgiving!

New Painting

See this Thanksgiving oil painting come alive in 3 minutes (time lapse)

This is the painting I finished yesterday. Thanksgiving is coming up fast. Beyond a special meal that features a roast turkey, those of us who celebrate this holiday typically use this time to reflect upon our blessings, express gratitude, and gather with family.

“Thanksgiving”

Watch Natalie paint this art in about 3 minutes (time lapse)

“Thanksgiving” is part of the 2022 collection “Seasons” (of life and nature). Paintings in this collection celebrate seasons of life (metaphorical, representational, or inspired-by-real-life scenes about milestones, rites of passage, and shared human experiences of love, aging, family, and beyond) as well as seasons of nature (literal scenes depicting autumn, summer, fall, and winter).

“Thanksgiving” represents autumn and celebrates family traditions, as well as celebrating blessings and expressing gratitude.

Oil painting “Thanksgiving” by artist Natalie Buske Thomas

Enjoy Natalie’s art on fun, creative, and classy gifts for you and your family!

Tip Natalie to fund art supplies to reach her lifetime goal of 1,000 finished oil paintings, a series of live events, and surprising opportunities!

Thanksgiving Plans?

Watch oil painting “We Gather Together” come alive in about 1 minute (time lapse)

I talked about this painting in an August blog post called “Feasting“. Today, I’m thinking about Thanksgiving and how quickly it’s coming up. For those of you who celebrate this holiday, do you have plans? We already bought a turkey last week, fearing that there may be a turkey shortage this year.

I’ve also dressed up the house with decorations and I’ve been sewing festive potholders, which is good because our current potholders are disgusting! I’ve let them get gross from too much use without enough washing in between. Now they seem too nasty to save. Happily, my first potholder is done and it turned out great!

I’m working on a new Thanksgiving painting that I’ll share with you soon. I expect to have it done by the weekend, assuming I have good natural light coming in. If it’s cloudy every minute of the day or raining I’ll have to postpone the project. But, barring that, I should get it done. Anyway, there will be a new Thanksgiving painting that will be in a slightly different style from the one above.

You may notice that sometimes I paint in a highly detailed and realistic way, such as in this oil painting of a wolf. And other paintings are somewhat detailed, but soft in parts, like this lighthouse painting. Still others have abstract backgrounds with details in only the main subject, like this lily painting, and others are simplistic and representational like the painting in today’s blog, in which there are no faces on the figures and the proportions and perspective is skewed/unrealistic. I usually paint faces on the people in my art, but I didn’t want this particular work to be too much about my own family so I left our faces and other realistic details out.

Some people have said that they like my paintings that I personally don’t care for, so I continue to share different styles and experiments that I try. But my own preference is when I do a more realistic style painting even if somewhat dreamlike or stylized, or when I paint a detailed subject on an abstract background. The paintings that are rough, skewed, or in this case- without faces!- are not ones I like. I’ve said it before: art is a language. What is communicated to one, may be different for another. Even in my own family, we do not agree about which paintings are my best. And the ones I’ve thought are my worst were some of their favorites. So, I’ll continue to just paint as the inspiration or project goals lead me, and then it’s no longer about me.

That’s true of anything we share in life, isn’t it? Like a Thanksgiving turkey; we may prepare the meal ourselves and be quite proud of the table display, the wonderful delicious feast, and the festivity we’ve created, but the real joy is in sharing the holiday with others. Even if the turkey is dry or the decorations are cheap, it’s all about the love we share.

I don’t think it matters much what I paint or how I paint it. What matters is that I keep painting, evolving, and sharing. Whatever we do, may we do it with our whole heart, and then give ourselves away. That’s when we find true happiness.

God bless you, and keep you, and may His face shine upon you this day and always.