Honored

Sooooo I got an award! Woohoo! It's been a little while since I've received one of those! Everybody's favorite Stephanie got really confused and thinks I'm a great artist and therefore gave me this award. (Let's not tell her the truth okay? I like getting awards. Shhhh)

So now the deal is that I have to tell you 10 things about myself and then award some other find bloggers who I think are totally Kreativ.

10 Things About Natalie:

1. I'm a nerd. Like, a nerdy nerd. I;m a make video game references in broad day light in crowded places kind of nerd. The kind of nerdy that my brother posts Portal 2 demotivational posters on my facebook page nerd.

2. I want to be crafty. I want to be that one friend that always hand makes the gifts and the cards you get from her. I'm not that friend yet. But I will be! Someday.

3. I'd rather be barefoot. But I also really like shoes. What a freakin' dilemma that can be.

4. I'm introverted, meaning that instead of getting a charge out of being with other people I get exhausted and need some 'me time' before I go out again.

5. I don't want to live in Idaho for the rest of my life. I dream about what it would be like to move away from here. I have no idea where I'll go yet, but just somewhere different would be nice. I think I need a vacation. I haven't had one of those in a very long time.

6. I grew up hating Mexican food. Did. Not. Want. Anything. To. Do.With. That. Nastiness. And now? I can't get enough of it. Carne Asada? Yes please. Shrimp fajitas? Of course! Chips and salsa? GIVE ME MORE!

7. I can't stand beans. Any kind of beans at all. None. I simply just refuse to eat them. They're gross on every level.

8. I miss sleepovers. The kind in high school, you know? The ones where you stayed up all night watching movies and pranking each other. Back when you painted each fingernail a different color and your best friend gave you a "fabulous" make over. Late night kitchen raids tip toeing around the house so you didn't wake up the Parents. Those were the days.

9. It is amazing unto me how many friends from high school I know who are engaged, married, and popping out kiddies. Seriously, I've only been graduated for three years, people. It's just unbelievable sometimes.

10. I love learning the histories of languages and words. I know how several commonly used phrases originated and things like that. In church I love learning the Greek or Hebrew words behind our English ones, because the Greek and Hebrew words are more specific. English is a really vague language and the more I learn about it, the more I don't like it all that much.

But enough about me! Especially since I was supposed to stop at 10 things anyway.

So I pick:

Cassandra ....because I simply enjoy her blog and she's just super cute.
Melissa ....because I love her. Bunches.
Valorie ....because she is awesome. Seriously.
and Natalie .....because she's adorable and always has the best blog headers every season!

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day, Gramps.

Satisfaction

I am not quite unlike a four year old whenever I go shopping. Unless I'm in a hurry. Then it's to be said I am more like that nasty old lady whole will beat you with her purse within an inch of your life because you decided it would be a good idea to take up the whole aisle with your friend and your shopping cart. But mostly, I am four because I pick. up. everything.

Prince and I went for a walk today. We walked over to Hastings and to the grocery store in search of dinner and a movie. And I must say, sometimes he can be a total downer. We walked passed the market where enormous cardboard boxes full of watermelons sat outside. Prince remarked about his lack of interest in said fruit and I reached out and touched them yelling "He didn't mean it!"

It is almost summer you know, and watermelons are the staple melon of summer. So juicy and delicious, I could just live off of watermelon during the summer.

And then we had to walk passed Michael's, and let it just be said that I could live at Michael's. I even applied for a job there. But of course, there was loads of summery supplies sitting in bins outside. Flip flops and plastic buckets and shovels. I started picking up this item and that item, saying how for all the world I'd love to go to the beach. That really is the best part about summer, the beach.

I felt Prince's fingers firmly grasp my arm and I was forced to relinquish the plastic bucket back into the bin, while again hearing about how I just had to be four years old. He dragged me passed Joann's Fabric and then RiteAid. RiteAid boasted huge displays of spring time blossoms. Pinks and whites and yellows all flooded my vision, and the smells! Oh the flowers smelled so delicious! I stooped down the pushed my nose into the blooming bouquets so I could relish in the deeply fragrant flowers, and I wished for the hundredth time that someone would find it in his heart to buy me one.

In my heart of hearts I knew I would probably viciously murder any plant that found it's way into my house, though. My mother is a plant killer and I feel as though I probably would be no better. Mostly it's just a forgetfulness of the need plants have for water. I mean, who drinks water anymore? Anyway, Prince chuckled at my request to buy one, and we moved on plantlessly.

The sun was shining and I was really beginning to regret my decision to wear a sweatshirt as we walked passed stores and restaurant fronts talking about this, that and the other thing. We finally got to Hastings, and there was a large plastic cup rack just outside the entrance. You know the kind, all colorful and kid like with different names in giant bubble letters loudly and vibrantly declaring that the mug exists for a person named so particularly?

I walked right up to the rack and my favorite of all favorite boy names, Gabriel was right up front and center. I really want to name my future son Gabriel, after the messenger angel. My mom always scoffs and tells me I'll have to marry a Latino guy if I want to name my son Gabriel. To that I say loudly and defiantly "Whatever Mom. He's gonna be my kid, not yours." Funnily enough I have no girls names picked out. When Prince and I were serious, he liked the name Jora for a girl, but good luck finding that on a mug or a keychain. I still think it's a really pretty name though.

I picked through all the mugs, looking them up and down. Prince had to pry me away from them, complaining yet again that I was such a preschooler. I just had to touch everything. And oh but I do! I pick everything up, look it over and put it back down again in order to move on to the next thing. It's part of my nature. I'm very much a "look at everything from all sides" kind of girl and not really a "take everything at face value" kind of person.

If my mother taught me one thing, it's that you always ask questions. I never just do something because someone somewhere said it's what needed to be done. I always ask why. I have to find out the reason it's done this way. Why don't we do it another? What about thinking about it from this angle? What do you mean, you didn't ask how come? I remember getting constantly frustrated with Prince after he would tell me about something his mom told him and I would ask why this and why that and he had no answers.

I can't imagine just taking things as they come and not questioning them. You learn by asking questions and making mistakes. So why on Earth would you just sit there and let life hand you things without ever asking why you were being given this or that? It makes no sense. It's like walking into a shop and buying something without knowing what you're getting. Why would you do that?

So I touch things and move stuff. I pick up things and examine them. I ask why. I ask why not. Consequently, I also have a pretty good immune system. Probably because I'm not really afraid of getting my hands dirty. When Prince first moved away to college he was sick all the time. I'm convinced it's because his crazy mother keeps her house completely sterile and void of any sort of dirt or uncleanliness whatsoever.

It's not bad to have a clean house, and I also don't think it's bad to pick everything up in a store. Curiosity may have killed the cat you know, but what they don't ever tell you is that satisfaction brought it back.

hello? is this thing on?

I have been a really bad blogger lately. I haven't been posting all that much or commenting as much as I used to. I've been up on my reading though, just you know, lazy bones this one. I'm not really sure as to why, other than I got a little overwhelmed with the end of last semester and things with Princey have been rocky at best.

Most of the time we get along alright, but I have called my mom a couple times in a crying frenzy over something stupid that transpired between the two of us. I keep hoping that things will mend themselves, you know? But really only time will tell. I try to tell myself to take it one day at a time. Either we'll end up together or we won't and no amount of pining or worrying or crying is going to make a difference. Things have been nice lately, and I'm hoping they will stay that way.

So on to brighter and happier things shall we? Oh good.

Now that the semester is over, I'm only taking one class. That means more time for stuff I actually like doing. Like blogging. I promise to be a better blogger. Maybe even post pictures of things that aren't artwork! Can you imagine? It's been a while, I know.

And in addition to promising to get back into the blogging swing, I've discovered that I'm a dab hand in the kitchen, wouldn't you know? I can cook things like hamburgers and spaghetti and tacos. I can make awesome chocolate chip pancakes and fry an egg with the best of them. And my spicy cayenne ranch dip is to die for. And it is spicy, lemme tell you.

Have you been to Applebee's? Poor Moscow, really it's one of the nicest restaurants in town. Definitely on the higher end of the spectrum here in this tiny little podunk place in the middle of nowhere. But I do like their food, especially the Bourbon Street Steak. Please, if you haven't eaten that delectable morsel of meaty goodness you need to go right now. RIGHT NOW!

I am getting way off topic.

I bring up Applee's to you because of this dessert that they have. And let us just agree that chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream drenched in chocolate syrup might just be the best invention ever next to my mother's award winning apple pie (seriously, it's super delicious and I will never be able to top it).

So anyway, I had a craving tonight for delicious vanilla ice cream soaked chocolate chip cookies but I really didn't want to waste precious pennies on something I could make myself. And I did. Because I can be domestic and stuff sometimes. Actually, I really like playing house, but don't tell anyone okay? Okay.

Tell me please, what have you been up to lately? Let's get reacquainted. I feel like we barely know each other anymore!

that one time i made another blog and nobody cared

So remember when I started that other blog and then no body really took an interest in reading it, but that was kind of okay since it was mostly to help me with a ridiculously hard class I was taking? Well, remember how the semester is over now and I'm not in that stupidly hard class anymore?

Yeah.

So I was left with this blog, and I looked at it. Poor pitiful blog without a purpose. And I contemplated ending it's sad little life, but I thought that was too easy. Why, it was just a young thing! It has lots of life left inside it's little html walls. How could I do something so cruel as to behead it before it had even begun to really blossom? I mean, how rude!

I hmmed and hawed and tilted my head for a bit. And then I made some chicken noodle soup, stared at some of my newly created watercolor paintings and it hit me. I've been wondering whether or not I should start an art blog for a while now, since I'm producing a lot of new stuff in a relatively short period of time for all of my classes here at the university.

So I changed this little blog's life and turned it into a place for me to show off the new things I have created. I tried to import some of my art posts from this blog over to that one, but it was way to complicated for my poor little brain to try and sit there and figure out.

I'm tired guys, I mean, I've been sleeping on a couch since I moved out of the dorm. Not exactly a recipe for a good night's rest. Therefore, trying to understand how importing and exporting a blog works, I just decided that it would be a fresh start and that I would just start posting new stuff to that blog instead of this one.

Anyway, I figured that you guys probably weren't really interested in art theory before, but most of you seem to like when I post about the concept behind my art or the technique or just looking at what new stuff channels its way out of my head. Well, here's the place you'll find it. So if you could, just click this link, this one right here, and follow me! See, I just gave you three links! Four! So that's no excuse!

If it helps, there's a cute picture over there right now. It's not watercolor, it's from print making, but still. It's adorable. Don't hurt its feelings. Or the blog's for that matter. It was rather suicidal a little bit ago, and I had to rescue it. And you have to help me!

A joint effort!

I'll give you cookies?

No?

Still not interested?

A pony?

Well okay. I'll quit pushing the issue.

...


please?

I Haven't Used Watercolors Since Elementary School

It's no secret around here that me and painting are just simply not friends. I documented my oil painting class progress, but ultimately I was never really happy with any of my paintings except for my good friend Davy Jones and my final project.

So when I was making my schedule for next fall, you can imagine my disheartened attitude when I decided that intermediate painting was a better fit than intermediate printmaking. Because some of my education classes were only offered at one time and that conflicted with the only section of intermediate printmaking, and well Bloggies, it just wasn't meant to be.

And in addition to my intermediate painting class come the Fall 2011 semester, this summer I have been enrolled into a watercolor painting class. I was actually kind of excited for this class, because it wasn't oil painting, but also I was a bit worried that I would hate it also. Besides my apparent love for mixing colors with a brush, I'd also heard things about my professor. I had heard that a lot of people didn't like him. I already took a class last semester where I hated my professor, and please oh please I didn't want my only summer class to be that way too.

So imagine my surprise when I decided that I actually liked watercolors, and I liked my professor too. Granted, we are only three days into the semester, but it's already less painful than oil painting ever was. We'll see if the fun lasts, but I'm ready for a studio class that I actually enjoy going to again.

This is the first watercolor painting I did this summer. I hadn't used watercolor paints since I was about six, it feels like. Plus, you always give the little kiddies cheap watercolors that don't really work very well anyways. Also, at six you don't really know how to use them correctly anyway - so I actually kind of hated them when I was little too. Anyway, this picture turned out fun and I really like the lamp post.

This was meant to focus on the clouds. It was starting to get stormy out, and the sky was really moody. I kept getting compliments on this painting though. One of the guys in my class took a particular liking to it for reasons that I'm not really sure, but I'm not going to complain. They say you aren't really an artist until someone outside of your family is willing to pay and display your stuff in their house.

This is our painting from today. There is a field of cows on campus, and this building is over by where they graze. It's an old creaky chicken coop looking thing. My favorite part of this painting is the tree though, to be honest.

It wasn't even by the building, I just wanted to paint it. And that's something that I absolutely love about this painting class, is that you can move things around and decide to not paint other things, it's really up to you. That's a freedom I didn't really have in my rigidly structured oil studio class. I wish I could take intermediate watercolor next semester. Maybe they'll let me use watercolors anyway?? You think? Me either.

This Painting Took Forever And I'm Glad I'm Finally Done With It

My latest project.

I have been thinking of selling my artwork. My mom said the other day that someone asked her if I was selling what I made and sent me into "what if" mode. My printmaking instructor last semester even suggested that I sell some of my prints.

I don't know exactly how Etsy works, or really anything about it other than you can sell your handmade products on its website. Also, I have no idea how much money I would list my work for anyway. I mean, I have paintings and prints and drawings that I could potentially sell, but how much do those things go for anyway? 

Besides, I get attached to some of my work and I don't want to let it go! I don't know if I could bring myself to part with some of my artwork, but I suppose maybe if the price was high enough? Who knows. Unless I make it with the idea in mind of giving it away or I end up hating it, generally I don't like to part with my stuff. 

Giving things to family is different though, because I know I'll see it again and that it's going to a good home and that it's loved and cherished and cared for. Not that someone who pays money for it would be any less careful about how they handle my artwork, but really, I would be parting with it forever. 

Who knows what will happen, but maybe someday I will sell my work. Maybe it will be sooner rather than later. At least I'm considering it, right? 

It's Almost Over

There's a week and half left of the semester. My brain is on overload.

You know how it goes.