Atelier Talk: To Pause in the Storm ~February 2024~

A sketch of my bird Nadeshiko 2022

Happy February Everyone, 

I'm starting a new month with a blog to share with you a few things, some of my art related and some my life related. 

Today is an emotional day for me because it is the first anniversary of my little bird's death. Although I am very sad that she is no longer with me, I am glad that I was there for her the day she passed away. She was an albino parakeet I adopted when I moved to New York City. We moved to a new home multiple times since we started to live together. We lived in Queens, Bushwick, and Greenpoint in Brooklyn..., she was such a New Yorker. We were away from each other for a year when I was in Japan, but thankfully we could reunite again. A bird’s affection is different from of other animals and humans, but we always communicated well and loved each other a lot. I gave her a female name but for major years of her life I was wondering about her gender. Towards the end of her life, she started to lay eggs for me, and that is when I finally learned she was a female bird. I was with her from her early life and many things happened in between but we were together until the very end of her life.

Now she is sleeping in a vase in my kitchen where photos are growing. This spring, I think I will plant new flowers there. I think everyone should have an opportunity to live with a prey animal and a predator animal in their life. 

I used to draw her from life when she was alive like the sketch in the first image. She liked the attention she get from me when we were working on these sketches.

This is a work in progress painting I stopped painting when she passed away, but I will love to finish it this year while I still have clear image of her. 

While many things have been happening in my life recently, there is a great news to share with you. A new interview of mine was released from White Hot Magazine. I have answered multiple interviews in the past but I can say that this is the best one by far to learn about portions of my life and my work. 

Read the White Hot Magazine Interview:

Artists You Should Know: An Interview with Natsumi Goldfish

Lastly.., this is an exciting news for me to share with you that the painting I started in November last year is finally coming along. It took longer than I originally thought but I am very satisfied with all the details. One more day and probably I can call it finished. 

A final stage of work in progress painting (but still progress)

When I stared it I thought I could finish it sooner…, but it is already into the fourth month since I started to paint this piece. I look forward to sharing with you the final image of this piece very soon.