Gorgeous work! I was at MOMA last week and saw her self-portrait with monkey in a beautiful mirror and painted glass frame. Your journal work evokes the feeling and energy of Frida’s painting.
Fantastic journal piece, Nathalie. Absolutely love those colors and such a great quote to live by. Thank you for sharing your N*Studio stamps with us today!
My friend Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and I will be teaching the Mixed Media Circus: Art Journal Adventure workshop 1 hour North of Sydney in Berkley Vale – at the Darkroom Door Art Studio , Australia April 15 -17, 2016.
You can sign up for this 3-Day-Workshop here: Mixed Media Circus: Art Journaling Adventure. We would really love to see you there*-and we are super excited to come Down Under and it will loads of fun and a real art journaling adventure!
*if you are in the Melbourne area and would love to join us there- we are teaching at Artified April 8-10,2016 – sign up and more info here
Soooo excited about this. Some of you might remember that in July I joined my friends Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, Dina Wakely and Mary Beth Shaw in Texas for a Art Journaling Live Workshop with 75 students. The four of us taught different art journaling techniques and the event was recorded on video. Here is a little sneak peak
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You’ll love this art journaling video workshop if:
You missed the Art Journaling LIVE event, but want the instruction from the sessions
You are a fan of mixed-media artists Mary Beth Shaw, Dina Wakley, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, and Nathalie Kalbach
You want to learn exclusive techniques to grow your artistic skillset
Learn More about Each Session:
In “The Abstracted Journal,” StencilGirl Mary Beth Shaw gives you techniques for creating your own stickers, decorative tape, collage papers and more as you create an abstract art journal spread with unique component parts!
Complete two art journal pages with Dina Wakley in her class, “Random by Design,” as she gives you four fail-proof guidelines for creating an expressive, random look in your art journal without creating chaos!
In “Easy Lettering,”Julie Fei-Fan Balzer shows you ways to use your own handwriting to create more than 24 fancy lettering styles. Then, learn the best way to add shadows to make your text pop off the page!
Join Nathalie Kalbach for “Tooling Around,” in which she’ll show you how to create lusciously layered backgrounds by pushing your mixed-media tools to the max. Take part in a roomful of fun as you experiment with more than 10 techniques!
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True, I guess …sometimes it is hard to trust…but what else is left over?
Some texture play in my art journal. I used flexible modeling paste through my Crackle Stencil, let it dry and then applied some Glass Beads here and there.
After the glass beads dried I used Liquitex Spray Paints and sprayed over – sometimes going back in while the paint was still wet and blending some of the colors. I finsihed the spread off with some white ink splatters and the “trust” sticker as well as some writing.
“I have already lost touch with a couple of people, I used to be” – so true ;)
For this spread I painted the background with Liquitex Brilliant Yellow Green, Yellow Light Hansa and Brilliant Blue – mixing the colors with a brayer. I then used my Lilly Wallpaper and Batik Stencil with some of the colors in the Background and used the Mish Mesh Stamp with some Titanium White. The image is painted with Liquitex Markers as well as the Journaling. An easy but fun spread – the right amount of work to get the morning creativity flowing.
Disclaimer: This post includes an art journal page with a swear word – I know….OMG! Please …get over it, it is called personal expression . If you have a problem with that or art, you might be better off looking at something else . Don’t email me to complain, don’t visit my blog anymore because I might post things like this again and, farewell!
“Note to self: Listen, smile, agree…and then do whatever the **** you were gonna do anyway! ”
Sometimes an art journal is a the best way to get some grumpy feelings out …and this was just the right thing for me to write down at the situation I was in. So there, I felt better right away :)
But besides that I was dumping my grumpiness onto this art journal spread – I had a pretty fun time painting :) I had used some colors, mixing and brushing them on and also doing some marks with my brush.
The white splatters were done with a fan brush and white Liquitex Acrylic Ink.
For the stamping I used my Stampendous Mark Maker Set and the Hero Arts Ink Pad – I love the chalky look of it and how it gives a nice layered look.
For the journaling I use a Fineline Applicator filled with a mixture of Liquitex acrylic ink and soft body paint.
The orange-purple-brown texture pieces are actually acrylic skins which I applied with Matte Medium – I love using those in my art journal.
If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try!
I believe that is true – almost every time, I thought of something I would love to do or achieve and it sounded scary it was a good decision …like quitting my paralegal job to become an artist…or moving to the U.S. … So time for me to encounter another thing that scares me – we shall see ;)
This was a quick page in the morning – I had painted the background a couple weeks ago and had experimented with glazes. It got a bit dark in the process, so I added a huge field of white gesso scratched on with an old hotel key card. Later I spray painted using my StencilGirl Products Lilly Stencil and two different colors of Liquitex Spray Paint. Sometimes Art Journaling doesn’t have to be a long process- remember – you are the boss apple sauce ;)
Just a reminder that I am teaching an Art Journaling 101 Class in NYC at Pratt Institute at the Manhattan Campus this coming sunday. Anyone can join – just call 855.551.7727 and register for PMFA506! You more or less only have to bring a book or watercolor paper and some brushes – all else will be provided!
I would love to see you there if you are in the area!!!
I’m in Love with cities I’ve never been to and people I’ve never met.
It is true. I love to travel and I love to meet new people …but I also love to go back to places and to see people I know again.
I love the texture of this spread. I had painted the background with red and yellow acrylic paint and stenciled with my Ornament Wallpaper Stencil and some Spray Paint. The spray paint left a nice dimension on the background. So I lightly covered the whole spread with Liquitex Titanium Spray Paint – leaving the painted area peak through a bit but also create a nice textured area of the stencil. It gave it a bit of a grungy shabby chic look….if I want to label this look – LOL . Then I took some Liquitex Acrylic Inks and started painting the city skyline as well as the water- choosing contrasting colors to make it more pop. I mixed the Yellow Azo and Naphthol Crimson for a nice orange right on the spread, as the spray painted area was less absorbent than paper and left me longer time to work on it. I added some green and purple accents in the houses with Soft Body Paints. For the Windows and marks in the houses I used my Filbert brush and Fan Brush in different ways- it was fun to limit myself to the brush as a tool in creating those elements.
I used a Fine Line Applicator filled with Black Acrylic Ink and Black Soft Body Paint and added the scribbly lines around the houses. The quote was written with a black marker and then overwritten with a white Signo pen.
I only like to travel – WITH YOU!!! I seldom leave the ranch but I soooo love your posts when you travel Nat. Oh well heck – I love all your posts but I do enjoy seeing all your photos of the sights and the things that you do. AND… you know – I always love your skyline projects. This one is no exception. LOVE LOVE the bright colors and the wonderful backgrounds. Great way to start my week – seeing your SUPER FINE post. Hugs. j.
Hey Nat!!
I am a country girl who grew up on a farm. So it never ceases to amaze me how drawn I am to cityscapes……especially yours!! And the large piece you did before you moved here (sorry, my memory sucks these days!!) it was a waterfront/city painting for a contest?) despite my embarrassment I shall forge on to tell you how much that piece blew me away!! Maybe that’s where my memory went!!! Love your work and teaching style!! Hope to catch more on-line classes!l. Having trouble getting this comment to post!!! I’ll try later!!!
Cat
hi Cat, thank you so much for your wonderful words. I did a couple paintings before I moved to the States- maybe you find the particular one here in the gallery: http://nathaliesstudio.com/ngallery/ I hope I see you in class :) Have a wonderful day!!!
Hey Nat!!
I am a country girl who grew up on a farm. So it never ceases to amaze me how drawn I am to cityscapes……especially yours!! And the large piece you did before you moved here (sorry, my memory sucks these days!!) it was a waterfront/city painting for a contest?) despite my embarrassment I shall forge on to tell you how much that piece blew me away!! Maybe that’s where my memory went!!! Love your work and teaching style!! Hope to catch more on-line classes!
Cat
I love to travel and wish that I could do more of it.
It’s so fun to meet new folks and see that we are really after the same things in life.
Plus the different designs and colors in different areas are inspiring.
Nice colors in this art journal page Nat.
Comments (7)
dixiekugel16
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Gorgeous work! I was at MOMA last week and saw her self-portrait with monkey in a beautiful mirror and painted glass frame. Your journal work evokes the feeling and energy of Frida’s painting.
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nathalie-kalbach
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Thank you so much Carolyn! Have you seen the picasso sculpture exhibition too? I sure hope so – I bet you loved it!
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gloz
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Wow, a great journal page. I can’t wait to get started on my first Frieda.
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Jane LaFazio
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cool page!!
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nathalie-kalbach
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thank you Jane!
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Stampendous Stamps
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Fantastic journal piece, Nathalie. Absolutely love those colors and such a great quote to live by. Thank you for sharing your N*Studio stamps with us today!
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nathalie-kalbach
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Thank you so much !!!
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