My daughter before her ballet recital, painted more than ten years ago… it is my one and only acrylic painting. I still had young children then and had frequent interruptions in painting. I complained about how fast the paint dries and my husband suggested I try oil painting. At a later time I did, and I’ve never stopped since. Even though my children aren’t little anymore, the family is active and almost more distracting. I appreciate how oils allow me to stop what I’m doing and go back to it hours or even days later. That’s really the only way an art vocation can work into the balance of my life.
But, beyond the practical nature of oils, I prefer them for many other reasons. I like the feel, glide, and ability to create texture, even light sculpting when the paint is especially thick. I also prefer the vibrant hues and reflective nature of oils. I like the connection to classical and renaissance art of old. I feel a part of something that pines for enlightenment, an affinity with those who paint to express the longing of the human spirit to be known, loved, and elevated to goodness.
I am happy though to have used acrylics for this painting of my daughter in her dance costume. The nature of the paints make this look almost vintage, and as the years pass, the memory of it feels longer and longer ago. She says this is her favorite painting I’ve done, and she adds “of course it’s of ME”, but she is drawn to the softer hues and subtle lines, so acrylic appeals to her also.
I don’t know if I’ll get back into acrylics ever, but I doubt it. I do prefer oils and they feel much more intuitive to how I paint. If you enjoy art but haven’t yet found your way, it’s possible that you haven’t hit upon the medium you’d be natural for. Maybe you prefer the more flowy style of inks and watercolors? Or you are choosing between acrylic and oil? Pencils? There are so many differences, and that’s without exploring styles of drawing, painting, and creating. So if you’ve become discouraged, perhaps you should try something new.
Note: There’s no video to watch me paint this. I wasn’t filming my sessions yet. Also, I could only find a low resolution photo of it after it was hung on the wall. I’ll keep digging for a higher resolution photo, but I may have to resort to taking a new photo of the original, which is still wrapped up after our move to Georgia. When I get my act together with this piece I’ll create an art page for it on this site.
Subscribe to Blog via Email
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
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
Today’s Painting
LOL! It looks like my daughter (girl in the painting) is afraid of my fan brush in this still photo I lifted from the video!
New Painting in Progress
I don’t often show my paintings until they are done, but I thought you’d like to know what I’m working on since there’s been a
New Painting – “Lion in Storm”
Watch oil painting “Lion in Storm” come alive in under 1 minute (in the time lapse video above). This is an angry time. Many of
New month, new direction!
Did you click on the image above? I’ve painted enough art now to re-design this website and sort by categories! This will be more fun
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 “50 Oil
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
New Painting – “Lighthouse”
The song in the video is a piano instrumental version of the hymn “In Christ Alone”. “In Christ Alone” In Christ alone my hope is
New Painting!
See this osprey come to life in 2 minutes (time lapse video). My new art area is now fully set up and I should be
Happy Father’s Day!
I’m finally working on a new painting. I’ll share it on Wednesday. My daily blog has fallen behind since our sudden, unexpected move. I’m still
New Painting, Finally!
I’m finally back to work after our big sudden, unexpected move. The move took wild turns and we ended up buying a house at least
Want to go to Church?
If you watched the above video (a clip from this year’s Easter Show), you saw how emotional I was while singing the cover of “I
New Art Journey
I’ve lost track of how many oil paintings I’ve done, but “over 200” is possibly right. My lifetime goal is over 1,000 finished oil paintings,
