New Collection

Shattered, But Not Broken

Fine art print of Natalie Ray's watercolor honoring the beautiful landscape of Western North Carolina. Available sizes are 11x14", 18x24", and 24x32". Free tube shipping is included within the US and Canada.

From the artist:
I started this painting the day the rain started, before we knew the impact the following days would have on us. I continued painting this piece after all the trees fell around us, as we lost power and water, as we began to feel unsafe in our home. I painted while our world crumbled around us and we watched love ones lose their homes, while still more evacuated. I painted it while seeing our amazing community come together to shovel toxic mud from strangers homes, rescue strangers from their rooftops and from under fallen trees, and search for their own paintings out of flooded studios. Restaurants worked to provide safe, free, and delicious food around the clock, some to their own detriment. Our linemen and first responders worked days on end, away from their own families, to help those who have lost everything.

I'm especially grateful for the friends - and lots of strangers- who brought us potable water, food, and gas, a crank radio, even offered cash because that was our only usable currency those first few days. Our friends who literally put a roof over our head. For my mom, who reminded me to make the situation an adventure for our kids, and not let them see the anxiety that lived inside us as parents, not knowing if we would actually make it through this. For my dad, who stayed in constant communication from California to make sure we had everything we needed, and told me he would start driving not knowing if there would even be roads for him to reach us by the time he got here. I kept painting, inspired by the beauty of our state, having faith that it will be fully restored, and we are a more resilient, yet more precarious, community. Although I wasn't born Appalachian, I sure feel like one now. We all are, and we've earned it.