Natalie Featherston’s art has been an inspiration since the day I laid eyes on her work in the Meyer Gallery, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I’d surprised my husband with a trip for his birthday… he got a great trip, and I got a great piece of art by Natalie.
The “Nesting Instinct“ image above is from Natalie’s web site, and y’all… that cardboard box? It’s painted. As in, it’s a wood panel that she painted to look like a cardboard box.
The amount of detail with which she paints is mind boggling, and the content that she has chosen over the years to paint in such detail is brilliant. One series she does is of crayon drawings, but painted.
She takes the time to PAINT a painting that looks like a crayon drawing taped inside the frame. I love the fact that you forget that you are looking at a painting, and think you are actually looking at a kid’s drawing.
Who does that? Who would spend so much of their time, and so much of their skill, to make something look so simple? So simple that viewer automatically thinks, what the big deal? A kid drew a picture and someone taped it into a frame? I’ll tell you who:
Natalie Featherston. That’s who.
If you click over to her web site you’ll see what I mean. You may think, yeah, whatever. And if you do, remember, you’re looking at oil paintings. You’re not looking at actual crumpled and torn pieces of paper or tape. It’s not actual yarn, or real cardboard boxes. They’re paintings!