April showers bring May canvassers...

I love spring, but I hate that it means all the street canvassers come out in full force. Especially the ones who look dirty and bored and give you attitude.

Art is long.

As a kid I devoured art and comics. In grade school I read Doonesbury (even though I didn't understand much of it), Calvin & Hobbes, and most of the Sunday comics. In middle school and most of high school I was immersed in fantasy and sci-fi novels, I hit onto early/classic comics like Batman, Superman, and Green Arrow. I fell in love with Batman really quick, though I haven't stuck with the most current stories, but he is in my heart, along with Cat Woman. I came upon Wonder Woman and Captain American later.
In high school, my funky art school, so much art was thrown at me I almost drowned. That's when X-Men, Ghost World, and Maus showed up. I never really liked the name, but I found out about "graphic novels" like Love and Rockets by Jaime/Xaime Hernandez (he is one of my heroes and favorite artists all wrapped into one) and Doug TenNapel's work (Black Cherry mostly), along with Jim Mahfood who draws like I wish I could draw.
At crazy, hipter art college, I fell in with an awesome comic/nerd crowd and they fed me Scott Pilgrim, Bone, Pride of Baghdad, and countless others. I was going to comic book releases, I was in a comic collective, I read almost nothing but comics for awhile. I love the world, the culture, the booming rise of women in the comics industry.
I love comics. I am an enthusiast. I just wish I wanted to make them. I don't. I've made a few and printed two or three which failed to make any thunder; looking back I think they mostly didn't sell because my heart wasn't in it.
With that, though, I feel that some people are just made for it. An old friend of mine from college is booming: Just check out all his stuff, he's fantastic http://terryblas.com/thegnerdpodcast/archives/4.

I am an illustrator, but for now I feel dormant.
I have been having some strange mental problems, which are most-likely self-imposed. And doubt and regret and depression.

I find now that I am out of school and on my own (as they say) making art falls into a lower bracket. I do it for the kids at work, which is awesome, but once I am home I feel consumed with bills, and food, and drama, and roommates, and roommate drama, and all that other crap that's out there. I want to figure out how to find my level. It's hard and it's taking a lot to not quit my relatively stable job and just move to somewhere new and just sit around painting in my underwear all day trying to start over and be different. But I can't. Can't or won't? Probably mostly can't.

That being said, I'm uploading art today.

Love,
Nat.

If my life is mine What shouldn't I do?

Tiger Lily is not mine, but I still like to draw her.



Penguin!




Birdie!



Viking!

More Crayola nonsense!

Nat.

Mini me.

So, I did these way back when: http://nathaliesart.blogspot.com/2009/04/personal-injury-art-therapy.html but I think it's time to revisit the concept in a slightly more positive light. Instead of being about recovery, these ones are about living out my life so far. Most of my life is great, except for the being poor and not having the job I want. But those things can and will change.

Love.

Nat.

Mid-fish

So, sometimes I like to look at my stuff when it's at a halfway point. It's interesting to compare pencils to inks to color. Here are some pieces I'm about mid-way through.

Nat.

pencil stuff!

So, over the last two or three weeks at work I have watched Disney's Alice in Wonderful about 5 times. All the way through. And few times I've watched just the beginning because the kid doesn't have enough time to finish the whole movie. Long story short, themes get stuck in my head. I had to let it out. I always thought the queen of Hearts would've been younger. Kind of a Marie Antoinette thing, where she becomes queen super young. It makes her a sort of careless and self-absorbed leader because that's a rough role to impose on someone so young. Also, Disney has a way of portraying evil people as fat and cranky, or super thin and sallow... I don't think that's true of her either.


Fionna! She is from an episode of Adventure Time! where the sexes of all the characters are switched. Now, I love the heck out of Fin (the original lead character), but I kinda love Fionna more. So, I show it by doodling her a lot.

LOVE
NAT

Adventure Time (in Crayola) !!!

Zombie pirate?


My favorite Chameleon from Tangled!


Bluebird of Happiness


Spring colors.


Some monsters LOOOVVVEEEEE grape popsicles!


Moody Tink. "Getting too old for this shit!"


Fox.



Sheep.


Unicorn.


Pig.


Made-up bird! Bespoke ornithology? Whaa?


Goldfish.


Fancy pretty seahorse!


Posh Mr. Lion.

Not a lot to clarify for this post. So, I'm a 25 year old who loves crayons. I work with children who enjoy taking home fancy, colorful pictures, but when they leave, sometimes there isn't much for me to do. Coloring passes the time, and sometimes I kinda like what I end up with. My favorite in this set is probably the seahorse.

Comments please.

Love,
Natty

Also, I got a haircut. It's weird, but I like it.

2" x 3"

Quite a time ago, I bought some of these small cards to draw on. I found them amidst the rubble of art supply clutter and decided that I should do something with them. These are 4 of the ones I've done so far. More to follow.

Feedback is cool. Thanks.

-Nat

Sketchbook locations

Soooo, I have been doing most of my drawing at work.
Which seems kind of backwards to me.
Only, I get more opportunity to draw there than at home. At least lately. The last few weeks have been pretty busy, will some of that extra spicy drama thrown in. I'm not a drama person, but it seems to be able to find me pretty well. I've been having some trouble with roommates, my house, my roommates friends (ex-friends) and just personal issues including bizarre insomnia and stress fatigue. I've also been trying to get out more and be social while I have time off from work. Only problem is that this leaves less time for writing, drawings, scanning, and blogging.
One day I will find balance, right now I'm just trying to tread water and be relatively happy.
So I brought my work sketchbook home with me today.
Because I work with children 5 and under, I keep that sketchbook really clean, but now that it seems to be my only sketchbook, and I've been hurting to draw more of my ladies, I have brought it home to do some scanning and to add less PG rated material.
Hopefully, by the end of next week, I will have had some time to draw, scan, and post some of my stuff. No, I will. I will. Don't worry.

Just a heads up. I'll post my crayola stuff too.

Love,
N
a
t



Music: Hustle Rose - Metric

I need more tattoos! Why so spensive? Grr.

I get paid to do this?

Sweet!

So, I work with children ages 2 to 5 and I find myself drawing with crayons a lot more than I have in the last, let's say, 15 years. I get requests, which I love, but I really love drawing with a kid. I love to see what they draw or what they ask me to draw. I also really like drawing a picture and having them help me color it. Sometimes I am just drawing while they watch movies or something and then they ask me what I'm doing and ask if they can draw too. These are my favorite days at work. Here's an example:

A girl named Kayla saw that I was coloring a unicorn.


She got all excited and told me all about how she LOOOOVEES unicorns SO MUCH and how my unicorn was the most prettiest unicorn she has ever seen. So, she asked me if she could draw a unicorn too. She gave me her drawing:



It's my favorite drawing at work. I put it on the wall with the other drawings kids give me. Not to sound rude, but it really is my favorite.
I think her unicorn is better.

Love,
Nat

Adventures in childcare. Oof.

music: Spring And A Storm - Tally Hall
movie: Snow White & the Seven Dwarves
book: Virals by Kathy Reichs and rereading Barry Ween by Judd Winick

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This is going to be an interesting year. I am hoping to stop mucking about and finally pull on my artist gloves. I went completely awash last year. 2011 was completely focused on my job and paying bills and stressing out. I had good times with friends and family, but I feel a sense of vacancy and urgency all at once. I need to do art. MORE. NOW. I've found myself so significantly starved of artistic outlet that I am hopelessly addicted to the Crayola crayons at work. I have a work sketchbook and I knit, but that is barely keeping me afloat. I had a small burst of steam within the last three months, making gifts for Christmas and such. I painted a couple birds, a cat, and several pin ups. Delicious. My days off, more recently, I find myself focused on Skyrim or Netflix or sleeping. All of these things are good, but they are also not completely necessary in great quantities. Also, I am aiming to have my scanner up and scanning by the end of the week. I will flood this blog with images. I will !

Good luck to me!
Love to you.

-Nat