Art Journal

21 Secrets is now on sale

I’m so pleased to be a part of a wonderful online art journaling workshop called “21 Secrets” starting in April 2015

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21 SECRETS teachers create workshops that beautifully reflect who they are as an artist right here and now. The mission behind 21 SECRETS is to showcase a variety of approaches, techniques, and ways of integrating art journaling and creativity into one’s life. With both an open heart and an open art journal, together we as teachers provide our members the space, permission, and inspiration to navigate those unexplored territories within their own hearts that are longing to be fully expressed.

The 21 Secrets Spring Art Journaling Workshop is downloadable.

 

 

21 SECRETS Spring ART

What I teach? The Story Within a Story 

For me art journaling is visual story telling. It might not be a story that everyone can read but I can read it and that is all that counts. All my stories consist of many viewpoints and layers – thoughts, emotions and the story itself. I love to express the complexity of a story by building up layers and dimension through various techniques and texture.

In this workshop I would like to walk with you through my art journaling process. I will show you various layering techniques and I will tell you why and how I am doing what I am doing.

Join me in telling a creative story within a story.

21 SECRETS Spring 2015 Round

Some of the other teachers include: Eric Scott & Davd Modler – the Journal Fodder Junkies, Juliette Crane, Steve Salik, Jessica Leigh Brogan, Joyce van der Lely, You can read all about my class and the twenty other classes here

How much does it cost?

Right now the PRESALE is happening !

PRE ORDER NOW

Note: The link that I am using to promote 21 SECRETS is an affiliate link and I will receive a small percentage of any student who registers through my link. If you want to register, and want to support me as an artist it would be wonderful if you would consider registering through my link .

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As Easy as 1-2-3 Background² Tutorial

NatKalbach_Easy123Background

Today I am showing you how to make a background- actually two different backgrounds – for an art journal spread as easy as you count to 3…or almost as easy ;)

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Picking my art journal, my Lily Wallpaper Stencil and Liquitex Spray Paint I start by spraying over the stencil over the left spread of my art journal.

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Using the paint on the stencil for a negative imprint, I simply flip the stencil over to the right side and brayer over the back of my stencil

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You can use the flip over step of course on a total different spread- because essentially these are actually two different background starters with the same techniques and materials. But I like to work in a double spread on my art journal and I like it when the sides are similar – like here in pattern, but still have  some interesting differences.

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Using a big brush I spread a thin layer of Acrylic Ink over the spread. I love how the effect  – on the left side the lilly design is more bound in

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while on the right, by taking some of the ink off with a baby wipe, the blue spray paint color pops even more.

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I picked the same blue as a Soft Body Acrylic Paint as I used as a Spray Paint (Phthalocyanine Blue (Green Shade) for the next step. Layering my Ornament Stencil over the empty spaces of my Lily Background I stenciled single ornaments in.

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And done is/are my background(s)

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Here is the background 1 …and

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Easy, wasn’t it? I will show you in a couple days, what I actually did in my art journal with these two backgrounds.

Here is a complete list of the supplies I used

nSupplies



Have an amazing day

 

Comments (6)

  • Christy Tremblay

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    REALLY Cool!!!
    I am going to have to try this. Thank you for sharing and the nice pictures!

    Reply

  • sécotine La Petite Française

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    thanks so much for sharing your amazing work!!! love to play with the transparences of liquid acrylic paint!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Sweet and you make it look so easy.

    Reply

  • Jani Franck

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    I love how the layering works – gorgeous technique, thanks for sharing :)

    Reply

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Layered Art Journal Page Tutorial

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“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a stroke of luck” – Dalai Lama

And sometimes you won”t find out about that until much later… ;) For this spread I wanted a layered look to go with this quote. Let me share with you how I worked on this art journal page

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I chose three vibrant but close red /pinkish Liquitex Soft Body Paints: Naphthol Crimson, Fluorescent Red and Hibiscus and dry brushed and blended them together on the blank page.

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Using the Art Deco Wallpaper Stencil I designed for StencilGirl Designs I spray painted here and there a second layer with Cadmium Red Deep Hue 5 onto the spread.

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The result was very subtle as  I used the same color scheme as for the background but exactly that gives it so much dimension and depth. So I grabbed my Lilly Wall Decor Stencil and sprayed over it with Cadmium Red Light Hue.

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I just love the crisp stenciling effects with those spray paints!

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For my next layer I wanted to tone down the brightness a bit and was going for a white. But I also didn’t want a shiny white to not pick up on the brightness of my background and so I chose Gesso instead of Acrylic white paint to use with my Batik Stencil.

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I used only parts and bits of the Batik Stencil here and there.

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For my next layer I picked up the Lilly Stencil again – Repetition of Patterns is also a good way to layer and I had already used the Lilly Stencil AND I knew I was going to use my Elephant Stencil that has the Lilly in a smaller form as a pattern too :)

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I used Iridescent Bright Gold and used a cosmetic sponge to stencil through. BTW the sad looking foamy thing on the right is the cosmetic sponge. It looks like this because I use it several times cutting off the tip for new colors to make the most of it.

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And since I was talking about repetition : As the Elephant Parade Stencil also has small parts of my ornament stencil included, I pulled out the Ornament Wallpaper Stencil and stenciled with gold here and there.

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I wish the photos could do the gorgeous golden color justice…but you just have to take my word for it…it is amazing in real life! Then it was time to get the big guns…eh Elephants out. My Elephant Parade Stencil.

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I mixed some gesso with a drop of Ultramarine Blue and stenciled through the Elephant Silhouette part.

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I may repeat myself…but remember …I was talking about repetition? Using the patterned Elephant part of the stencil showing parts of the Ornament and Lilly Stencil I used the leftover paint and stenciled some of the images here and there onto my art journal page.

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Then I layered the patterned elephant stencil part over the area where I created the elephant silhouette and sprayed over with three different spray paints  – variating the pressure and areas to get color graduation and more dimension. I used: Parchment, Phthalo Blue and Neutral Grey.

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To get a bit contrast in I knew I needed some black in the page and since I do love to make a mess…I grabbed my Splatter tool and some black acrylic ink. To make sure that I was not getting any splatters into my elephant, I shielded it off with the elephant mask that is also part of the Elephant Parade Stencil. YES…three in one : Mask, Silhouette and Stencil – pretty pretty cool- if I dare to say so ;)

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And then I used my new found Love… I had tested the Derwent Graphik Line Painter already in spring at NAMTA and I couldn’t wait for it to finally be available. LOOOOOVEEEE – I am a nerd for a really good black journaling pen and this one writes beautifully and without any problems on dried (!) acrylic backgrounds and it is permanent once dried. Awesome journaling and sketching pen – the black is one numbered #18.

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Here are some details of the finished page

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Hope you liked the little layering tutorial – I won’t lie – it takes some time and usually …I would even go for more layering before adding the final focal points on my spread :)

Here is a list of all the supplies and colors I used

nSupplies



Have a gorgeous day:)

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Nice layers and I’ll have to try working with multiple shades of the same color for a change. I must search for that new black pen as well.

    Reply

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Lindy’s Stamp Gang Guest Design Projects

In September I was a featured guest designer for Lindy’s Stamp Gang – and here are the samples I made using the Lindy’s Stamp Gang Spray Inks for their blog.

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My favorite way to use Lindy’s Stamp Gang Spray Inks is in conjunction with Liquitex Acrylic Paints. I just love how the two working together make the colors pop.

I used some acrylic paint colors with some of my StencilGirl Products designs for a background.

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Once dried I sprayed the different colors of the Under The Boardwalk Set over it and blended the colors using a paper towel.
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For the finish I wrote some journaling and stenciled a bit more on top using Lindy’s Stamp Gang Spray Inks but also some acrylic paint.
One of my favorite features about Lindy’s Sprays is that they are permanent once dried and that you can actually spread some gesso or other paint media on top of the colored surface without deactivating the spray ink.
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 I also love to use my Stampendous Stamps and templates with acrylic paint and start layering those up on the surface.
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For Be Contagious I used some of the templates in my stamp sets with acrylic paint and then sprayed with Lindy’s Stamp Gang Spray Inks over it-
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I love how it makes the background pop.
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 In my Color Art Journal Spread I went a bit crazy- you can tell I love colors.
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 I alternated acrylic paints and Lindy’s Spray Inks with my Stampendous Stamps and Templates.
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I love how I was able to use so many different colors and it didn’t turn muddy.
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I had lot’s of fun playing with Spray Inks and Acrylic Paints :)
nSupplies



have a colorful day :)

Comments (2)

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NOT a Battle … or In My Art Journal Today

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Creating art is an argument with the attempt to work it out, not with the attempt to battle. (smarty pants Nat)

This is my view on creating art and using art media  .

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Lot’s of soft color layering and stamping -Journaling written with Bamboo Sketching Pen and Acrylic Ink.  I like how this turned out.

here is what I used:

nSupplies



Hope you have no battles today :)

Comments (3)

  • Stampendous Stamps

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    Nathalie, this is just gorgeous! The colors are so vibrant and yet calming! Love your quote for the day, good advice for all! Thanks for sharing with your terrific stamps you designed for us!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      awee- thank you so much! I love my stamps – thank you for making my dream possible :)

      Reply

  • Jackie P Neal

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    Beautiful spread Nat! xo

    Reply

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Believe in Yourself … or In My Art Journal Today

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The one thing that gets in the way once in a while- I think we all have a good fair to deal with this :) If not- kudos to you – LOL

 

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Lot’s of texture with Gesso on the background – then scraped lightly some Soft Body Acrylic Paint over it to have white peek through and also to reveal the texture more. Stamped and Stenciled with Soft Body Paints and then played a bit with markers :) Fun – easy and a good way to have a short creative session on an otherwise busy computer day . Not all projects you do need to be super elaborate – allow yourself to just play for a couple minutes.

Here is what I used

nSupplies



Have an amazing day today!

 

Comments (5)

  • rockmelon

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    yep, i agree, self belief can sometimes be tidal, waxing and waning…

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Nat, did you use real Scrabble tiles? It’s hard to tell on this pic.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Hi Sue, no those are actually out of a magazine- but you could def use real ones from an old discarded game for other projects. I fear they would be a bit to thick in dimension for an art journal.

      Reply

  • Laura S

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    After seeing your gorgeous textured page, I’m going to go break out the acrylics and my new Liquitex markers, right now! Have a fun Sunday :)

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      woohooo- so cool!!! hope you had a fun time. Have a great start into the week!

      Reply

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Loved Stars Too Fondly … or In My Art Journal Today

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I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night. – Sarah Williams

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Lot’s of texture in the background, some stenciling in the background, then using a star stencil with a conrasting color. Loved adding some black splatters :)

Here are the supplies I used:

nSupplies



Wishing you an amazing day

 

Comments (4)

  • Laura S

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    Hello Nat! Love this page and the boldness of the red stars.

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    I also like the black splatters Nat. Do you use the fan brush to make them?

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Hi Sue, those were made with the Liquitex Splatter Tool – totally forgot to list it. I usually use black Acrylic ink to make them.

      Reply

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Sometimes you learn … or In My Art Journal Today

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Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn

– isn’t that the truth ? – LOL

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I painted the collaged background with Alizarin Crimson Hue Permanent acrylic paint, then spray painted over with Light Violet.

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Not a color combo that is usually in my repertoire but I liked how it turned out and added a couple white sprinkles too it.

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Here is what I used:

nSupplies



Does this color combination speak to you? :) 

Have a wonderful day

 

Comments (3)

  • Sue Clarke

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    I like the color combo on your page. I wouldn’t have thought to use those colors together. I do use the purple and red together a bunch. Have a delightful day Nat.

    Reply

  • Madeline Rains

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    you know, I would never have thought it would but it really speaks to me because your page is so good. love it.

    Reply

  • muriel

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    I wouldn’t have dared this colour combo but it’s really great. Your journaling reminds me of a journal page I did at the beginning of the summer which said:”Sometimes you fail.” But I remember not feeling negative about the failure; it was sort of “I failed, yes, but life goes on.”

    Reply

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No ONE Way to Art … or In My Art Journal Today

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There is no one way to art, there is many ways, there is YOUR way!

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I was experimenting a bit with a different color combination here and I really like the outcome.

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I used Liquitex Soft Body Paints: Titanium White and Mars Black to mix a grey, and mixed the Bright Blue with the Titanium White to mix a lighter blue. I also added Iridescent Bright Gold to the page. I love how it came out.

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I did sculpt the plants a bit with the brush – most of the background texture however comes from the masking tape that was layered to the paper.

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Here is the supply list

nSupplies



I am using grey a lot lately- is that a color that you often use?

Nat

Comments (12)

  • Lisa Flaherty

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    I bet this is really striking in real life with that gold iridescence! Great color combo and texture. I love grey. I wear it all the time, but don’t find myself creating with it too often. That needs to change!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Glad I made you think about using grey in your creative projects ;) have a wonderful week!

      Reply

  • Kim

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    Love the handling of the background! Now you have to go check out the Cy Twombly piece on display in the Morgan Library: Treatise on the Veil. It’s 33 feet of delicately worked gray. And when you’re finished taking in all the gray, they have a lovely sun drenched cafe area :)

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Awesome tip- Kim! I will put this down as a NYC on the bucket list must :) have a great day!

      Reply

  • nathalie-kalbach

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    sounds like you like grey a lot- I am sure it will find it’s way soon on a layout too :))) thank you for leaving a comment, nat

    Reply

  • Miae

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    Just breezing through blogs and this totally caught my eye! I’m so attracted to the background colors with the pops of white….do I use grey? Not very much on my layouts but I love it elsewhere. My whole livingroom is painted a warm grey against white….yum!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    This page is so different for you and I love it.
    I never use grey and I love these colors together.
    Thanks for the reminder to try something completely different!

    Reply

  • Laura S

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    I too thought you were using a stencil. I love how this page turned out!! It’s really beautiful. I love the colors especially that pop of gold. I am going to have to play with this palette!! I think you need to lay this one down on canvas :)

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      mmmhhhh- on canvas- that is a really good idea I think I will try this soon. Thanks for triggering that idea, Laura ;)

      Reply

  • muriel

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    Aaah, love love love! At first I thought you’d been using a stencil for your plants! The colour combo is so great! I hardly ever use grey or if I do I often end covering it with more intense colours. I’m sure you had a great time doing this.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thanks muriel– LOL- nope no stencils used. And yes, as you I usually tend to be drawn to the more intense colors- but this was fun!

      Reply

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