First off - hello!
My name is Natsumi and I am an artist specializing in traditional medium, primarily oil painting. After owning this art portfolio website for a few years, I woke up this morning with a sudden urge to open my laptop and type this blog. I just wanted to shake this all off before I start my Friday morning run.
I’ll reserve the longer version of my artistic journey so far in another post, but here is a very brief introduction of myself:
Born and raised here in the City of San Francisco. Ask me which “school” I went to and I’ll give you the right answer. And if you didn’t understand this at all, then don’t worry about it. It’s a local thing. :)
I never attended formal art atelier/class until early 2024. I just loved drawing as a kid and once dreamt of being an artist or illustrator. I ended up in a totally different career path, but my curiosity never left and I’m so grateful for myself for never loosing interest in art
I am an architect and fitness Membership Advisor here in San Francisco, and use art as my creative outlet to improve my craftsmanship and express the beauty and my emotional view of the subjects I choose to render.
Why blog now?
Besides this website, and like most people in this world today, I’ve been sharing my art journey on Instagram. My activity level on this platform has been dwindling down this past year. I am working on prioritizing my mental health and reserving more time for other sources of self-care, such as working out, art, and lying down on the couch and stare at the ceiling.
Meta Inc.’s implementation of their new AI access and training policy starting today is no doubt making artists and creatives reconsider their future presence on this platform and how to share their future works online. There are so many opinions and thoughts out there, and I’m honestly still trying to wrap my head around my own.
One thing for sure is that I am NOT deleting my Instagram account just yet. I’m not ready to lose access to all the local and global artists I discovered on this platform. They all inspire me, and I’d still like to have the chance to subscribe to their newsletters and quickly reference them during conversations with friends and strangers.
With that said, Instagram has become a convenient way for us to explore wider range of creatives out there. The effort it takes us to stumble on multiple artists and their works today is nothing compared to the amount of effort it took the audience back in the 1870s to discover artists like Claude Monet and John Singer Sargeant. I have yet to sell art online nor have a strong online presence, but I will admit this: meeting and selling your art in-person at local art event or gallery felt much more meaningful than I ever thought. And receiving a single like and supportive comment from real people means a lot more to me than most people think.
What is my solution for now? Well, there is only one way to find out: just try different options and see what sticks. I’ve already been treating my Instagram posts as a mini-blog anyway, so why not experiment and share my thoughts here? The mantra that got me to where I am today is this blog title: you never know until you try.
My plan for the rest of 2026-
Between now and end of this year, I will be participating in Hannah’s Art Place 2nd annual Student Art Show! The showing takes place on Friday, November 6th from 5-8pm at Activspace Mission here in San Francisco. RSVP here!
I am also about to participate in Todd Casey’s virtual Master Sketch 30-day challenge for the first time, and I plan to post daily on my Instagram (that’s one of the requirements) through the month of November. I’ll eventually share my sketches here on my website, but I only have so many hands and rather take things one out of time for now. I completed three sketches so far, and I can already feel so rewarded and appreciative for embarking on this quest.
Holiday events? Hm, not sure. There is one I’m eyeing on but have not committed to yet. I’d rather shift my focus to preparing for my biggest art event yet, which I’ll announce soon I’m sure. :)
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Alrighty, that is all for now. I will attempt one post on a weekly basis and go from there. I wanted to jump in here this morning to get the feel, how long it takes me to collect my thoughts and type.
And in case you haven’t notice yet, this and all future posts will not be AI-generated. Writing and grammar are admittedly not my strongest suite, but the imperfection and flaws are what makes us human too (it’s not an excuse for bad writing though. haha). While I still use AI as my search engine and assist in reorganizing my business-related thoughts, I do believe it does no good especially when it comes to expressing your true self, forms of expression and voice. You can tell an AI-generated flyer apart from illustrations that were designed by human hands and emotions.
Thanks for reading. Stay safe and have a great day everyone!
Cheers, N
