Thinking about getting a dog... in the future sometime.

The aesthetics of dogs is a very personal opinion. There are hideous dogs out there that people actual love and look for, but it's all based on taste. And there's absolutely no pleasing everyone. I love dogs. I have wanted one of my own, since I moved out by myself. They are wonderful pets and friends. Here is one of my list things of dogs I like. I hope to get one of these breeds in the future, but humane society mutts are perfect if they have a good personality too! Demeanor is more important than looks, but these are my top picks.


The samoyeda is a beautiful dog. Known to be more friendly than the husky, I think they have great faces and figures.


My favorite dog shape ever. Reminds me of Edward Gorey. These dogs are brave, protective, and loyal. Not good for multiple dog homes.


The boxer has won me over, especially because of my boyfriend's parent's boxer Ben. They are friendly, energetic, and extremely happy. I can't be sad for very long around Ben.


I have loyalty to airedales because my mother owned one for about 15 years and she was one of the most kind and friendly dogs I have ever known. I am biased, but I would definitely recommend them as a breed. Quite energetic and a bit ditzy, but they can be trained pretty quickly and they settle down when they are about 4 or 5 years, so if you buy one who is an older puppy they are easier to handle.


Irish Terrier. A smaller dog, and rascally, but cheerful and pretty. High spirited and very energetic, so they need a lot of exercise. Would definitely need a big yard or a large field nearby to keep this breed happy.


Wire-haired fox terrier. Adorable. Another smaller-sized dog, like the Irish Terrier, I really do prefer medium-sized dogs, but these dogs are very friendly, loyal, and very cute. They are a bit hyper, and would probably need 2-3 walks a day, but I am in love with them.



Border Terrier or Pharaoh Hound. Smaller than I would prefer, but I have think they have one of the friendliest faces of any breed. They are very energetic and wiggly, but also nice and protective.

I also like cats, but there is just something so wonderful about being greeted by a smiling dog face when you get home. They really do seem to like their people and I've seen very strong bonds form between a human and a dog. There is a stronger bond than with cats. And my boyfriend is not allergic to dogs... :D

Love,
Nate.

Art soon. Promise. Been making a lot of art, but scanner is having problems.

Messing About

So, to follow a line of thinking from earlier today, I would like to post a list of favorite actors and actresses. Most of whom has done films which have influenced my art and tastes in movies. I've narrowed it down to my top 10. Doesn't really feel art-related too much. But I've always admired really good actors/actresses and used to want to be in plays more, but I've resigned myself to the fact that my memory just isn't good enough. Acting is an art. And a hard one that takes over your life. These are actors/actresses who I appreciate and have found there films to be mostly consistently good. I will update art posts this week.

1. Christoph Waltz
2. Peter Dinklage
3. Lee Pace
4. Brendan Gleeson
5. Chiwetel Ejiofor

1. Penelope Cruz
2. Rachel Weisz
3. Audrey Tautou
4. Tina Fey
5. Paula Malcomson

Each of them have been in movies or shows I've loved and ones I've hated or had no interest in. It's strange how the media can also influence a personal opinion of an actor/actress briefly enough to have you miss a couple of there films or want no part in their newer stuff. I also find it harder to like and appreciate actresses. Which miffs me a little. My feminist side gets all sad. I love women and there are plenty of one-off performances I really like, just not very consistent performances in wide-variety who I find myself to go back to. The same can be said for actors, too, I suppose. But I find it to a lesser degree. I'm not sure why. Maybe I expect too much from actresses and I am rarely won over by the damsel-in-distress take which is so, sadly, still the case all too often.

Love,
Nat.

Art posts to follow soon.

water, which is lower than all things yet stronger even than the rocks.

Don't worry. I will never forget you. Look. I've been drawing and everything. I've just been out in the wide world trying to fend for myself too.
I am still a cashier and I still hate it. But there have been a lot of improvements.
My boyfriend and I had a terrible fight, but we got through it and we are better for it. Stronger. I have convinced myself that I can admit that I have depression and I am seeking medical help. Stronger. I am applying for more jobs. I am applying for food stamps on Friday so I don't feel so stretched out because of money... I hate when money makes me cry and get all anxious. I am hanging out with friends more and I feel better for it. I am also trying to get some more alone time with myself. I feel crowded a lot and I get stressed when I don't have proper time to clear my head. And the bus rides no longer feel like enough alone time. Stronger. I am making an effort to listen to more happy music. I am trying to read more and watch good shows. I am ignoring commercials and people who make me mad. I am ignoring people who are mean for no reason. It's a waste of energy. They don't matter. I am trying to have more fun at work. Trying.

I love you and I love art and I just wanted you to know that I am still here and I am still making art.



















"I'm an artist first"

Nata <3

music: Be My Yoko Ono - Barenaked Ladies

Dr. Who are you?

You are the Ninth Doctor
Take The Doctor Who Personality Test and Horoscope today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Personality Test Generator.

You are a caring and fun loving person, but you like to keep your past to yourself. You enjoy showing off to people you think deserve it, but will belittle those you do not like. You prefer to have a small group of friends and do not really care about popularity. You are a bit rough and gritty, but keenly intelligent and sexy in a strange way. You are attracted to younger people. You have a good sense of humor, but you use it to cover up the pain you are really going through. You will sacrifice yourself to save someone you truly love, and then move to New York and become invisible.

So, I've not had a lot of opportunities to post art lately. I have indeed been trying to do the 50 in 30. It just hasn't been posted yet. ... So, it will be a crazy day of scanning and posting sometime soon.
Also, about four days ago my own laptop become sick with a virus. I haven't been able to get it to anybody who can fix it yet. But, I've been told by a friend that they can give it a go on Monday. Hopefully it will be fixable.
Promise art soon.

Love!
nathalie


music: Iron&Wine - Around the Well disc 2

50in30

As is evident in a post I made a couple days ago, I am attempting 50 relatively finished drawings within the month of March. The other contributors post their stuff here: http://insomniacsketchsociety.blogspot.com/ You may see a lot of overlap of my stuff on both my blog and theirs (ours). Oh, well. Hope you like seeing my art more than once. ;)
Here's what I've done so far:








I've mostly just been doing what I do. Graphite, ink, watercolor. Whatever. I am also going to try to make this project into more of an experiment. I want to do what is more outside my own comfort zone.
We'll see what happens.

Love,
Nata.


music: All These Things That I've Done - The Killers

Featured Blog:

My blog might be small, and maybe a dozen people read it with any degree of regularity, but I do enjoy doing a feature. For you. Whomever of you followers who pay attention.

I have a list, the length of my leg, of blogs and online comics and tumblrs that I follow.

One art site I have found very entertaining, creative, and simply plain cool is Lunch Bag Art. http://lunchbagart.tumblr.com/
It's pretty self-explanatory, but it's also possibly the coolest way to make lunch for yourself and/or your kids more cool and exciting.
One of my favorites is this one:



I have no official affiliation with this site and I don't even know, nor have I even met, the gentleman who makes these brown paper artworks. I'm simply posting this because I like and I am making no claim that I have created or that I have any kind of legal control of it. I just like it.
The paintings are not only lovably adorable, they are beautiful.

Thanks for letting me throw props to someone I don't even know.

Love, Nat.

March Madness.

An old chum of mine from art school has set my imagination on fire.
You can find her here: http://www.melissadowillustration.com/
She has started a kind of a self-motivated challenge.
50 drawings by April 1st. 50 drawings in 30 days.
I'm in.
If y'all wanna join in, you should post something and let me know.
Important: you don't have to do one or two a day. Work at your own pace.

I will be posting my progress whenever I can over the next month.

This sounds like a good personal challenge and there could be some great experiments and break-throughs in my art.
Having not set about to achieve anything specifically artistic within the last few days.

More to follow!


Love,
Nathalie.

current music: mixed CD "car wash mix"

When we were young.

Here is a small list of some of the artist influences I had around me as a small child. I'm sure I've left some out, but I will probably update more later.


William Nicholson. Best known by me for The Velveteen Rabbit.



Tomie dePaolo. Best known by me for Indian Paintbrush and Strega Nona.


Don Freeman. Corduroy.


Quentin Blake. Best known by me for all of the illustrations in the Roald Dahl books.


Jan Brett. Best known to me for her retelling of Beauty and the Beast and The Owl and the Pussycat. As well as Twelve Days of Christmas.


Clement Hurd. Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny.


Leo and Diane Dillon. Why Mosquitoes Buzz In People's Ears and numerous young adult book covers.


Bill Watterson. Need I say more?

Each of these artists are still influential to me. And they're still some of my favorite artists.

Nathalie.
Love.


TV: A Haunting. Season 1.

DrawRawr!

Some ink and graphite doodles.
You might see a Dr. Girlfriend in there.
And I drew some sexy space ladies for you (Vince).
Along with some other people and things. Nouns mostly.

LOVE,
Nathalie. G.


book: Agents of Light and Darkness by Simon R. Green
movie: Throw Momma From the Train

Tawanda!

Ever think about what you could/would do if you suddenly had $1000? What about $100,000? I do all the time.
Since I am still at a 20 hour job, that pays me just enough to cover my small cost of living, thinking in the thousands is hard to do sometimes.
Stretching it out to hundreds of thousands? What? No one has THAT kind of money. Pshh. Oh, they do. And I'm sure some of the worked very hard, or inherited it, or were just born with it. I can't even fathom it.
$500,000? Hells nah. What about, dare I say, $1,000,000?!?! No! Surely not! Not even god has THAT kind of bread! Well, no, there are people with that kind of cash.

Well, earlier today, I was feeling kinda down. Making virtually no money makes you a little depressed. Feeling like the degree you worked really hard for is just sitting on top of your bookcase, is frustrating. Totally. But, I started getting a little fidgety. What if, all-of-a-sudden my bank account had $1,000,000,000 in it? What the fuck would I do with all that crazy money?!? Getting that kind of money is kind of like the edge-of-the-volcano-test for someone who has never really had any. Who would I become and what would I do with it?

So, I made a list.
If I had $1,000,000,000:

Quit my job.
Pay off student loans.
Pay off my sister's student loans.
Pay off any loans/debts of my parents.
Design and build my own house.
Buy two cars and hire a driver (Even as a millionaire I don't think I'd want to drive...).
Buy a really good bicycle.
Buy studio/office space fully equipt for art making.
Start gallery and small-time publishing resource for artists/writers.
Buy massages for entire “minion” staff at HW600 Fred Meyer.
Donate to Planned Parenthood.
Donate to Public Schools.
Donate to Public Libraries.
Donate to Heifer International.
Donate to World Wildlife Fund.
Donate to PNCA.
Donate to TSOTA.
Donate to Mercy Corps.
Donate to Zimbabwe Art Project.
Donate to Human Rights Campaign.
Donate to The Wild Image Project.
Donate to Portland Mission and Salvation Army.
Donate to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the floods of Haiti.
Donate to Breast Cancer Awareness/Prevention.
Donate to AIDS/HIV research.
Donate to the companies who work to find homes, jobs, and healthcare for soldiers coming back from the Middle East.
Invest in chocolate.
Outfit my own in-home gym; access for any friends/family who want to use it.
Put money toward groups who appose/prevent the usage of coral, ivory, and blood diamonds.
Travel: England, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, France, Belgium, Italy, Mexico, Japan, New Orleans, Hawaii, New York, San Francisco, Madagascar, Galapagos Islands, Australia, Egypt.
Start a grant for artists.
Start a grant for liberal arts and humanities.
Buy a dog.
Learn bass guitar.
Learn French, German, Japanese, and Norwegian. Maybe Spanish.
Get a book published.
Shopping trip. Clothes and furniture, mostly. Y'all can come too!

Lastly, I'd get a job that I love. Or start my own company and manage it.

What would you do? That's a fuck ton of money. Would it end all the problems or just cause a bunch more? Would you change a lot? Would your personality warp and stretch and become monstrous. Sure, I make this list, but what would really happen? Would I become a drug-addicted, spoiled, media-hungry, shallow, wash out? Blow it all on coke and X and strippers? Maybe. But, I like making the list anyway.
I hope I would do all of those things.
I'd love to travel all those places and give 75% of my assets to charities and my family.
Yes, I'd probably go a little nuts and buy all of the clothes I ever wanted and the studio space seems like a splurge, but hell, we're not all saints. I'm not. I know that. I would probably throw a couple massive and irresponsible parties and I'd probably have a much bigger ego. Yeah, I would probably think I was better than a lot of people. Or not. I don't know. And I never will unless I suddenly had that money. Which I never will, most likely. Oh well.
I think it's pretty cool to think about. Slightly depressing, 'cause now I definitely want to do all those things with it, but cool and interesting none-the-less.

LOVE,
Natty. G.


music: CAKE - I want to love you madly
TV: Leverage
book: the Nightside books by Simon R. Green.

p.s. Arty post tonight or tomorrow! Finally! Updates!

mashed-up dance music.

A pencil sketch of Kevin playing video games.


In a weird mood today. Blahblahblah.
Watched Super Troopers, which makes a lot of things better.
Been eating a lot better lately, and exercising, but weight loss takes SO long... oh, well. Just gotta keep at it.
Being mostly in a chair drawing, reading, and watching movies I've always been a little overweight. Sit-at-home-nerd-syndrome. Totally. Trying to morph into a more active nerd!
But I'm not too frustrated (I say that now). It'll happen.
I was pretty comfortable with all my curves (I still think I am cute/curvy) but this holiday weight ended that.
I'm sure there are other nerds/artists who can sympathize.
I wish I liked running. Or loved a sport enough to go play it every week.
But first I will conquer what I call "relaxation eating" which is essentially snacking while sitting for long periods of time.

Sorry, I know that's not art-related, but it does have to do with my art process.
I DO love granola, yogurt, celery, and almonds. Also 100% juices and teas. All of these are supposed to help weight come off. Also a lot of fiber, berries, fruits...etc. Sounds obvious, I know, but with my financial means it comes down to a lot of cheap/quick food like mac n' cheese, grilled cheese, bacon and eggs, and too much coffee. Throw in all of that holiday chocolate, cookies, and extra meat and cheese, and it became really obvious that I was losing the battle. Ugh.
I am starting off with cutting red meat, most cheese, and eggs. Also doing Pilates every other day and taking evening constitutionals more often.
Wish me luck!

Ta!
Love, Natty G.

music: dance-mix mash-ups
book: Of Bees and Mist: A Novel by Erick Setiawan