Art Stroll

Art Stroll: Hakone Open Air Museum, Japan

Strolling through the Hakone Open Air Museum in Japan was so amazing- especially- because I did not expect this crazy collection! We spent only a day in Hakone as we stayed in a traditional Ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn) and I had not really looked what was around there. But apparently my husband did and he had this planned as a little surprise for me :)

In this little resort town known for its hot springs you get to this museum by taking the slowest but most fun little train up the mountain.

Marcello Mascherini – Chimera con Ali – 1963 – Bronze

Auguste Rodin, Balzac 1891 – 98 – that is when I was like wowowowow- what is this Rodin doing here

Henry Moore – Reclinging Figure: Arch Leg 1969-70

Many pieces of Henry Moore.

Nicolas Schöffer, Spatiodynamique No. 22 – 1954-80

The weather was wonderful and it was great walking around and get some fresh air but also look at art at the same time.

Susumu Shingu – Never Ending Dialogue 1978

There are about 120 sculptures on permanent display across the huge park.

I love when people are interacting with art :)

Carl Milles, The Hand of God  1954

Henry Moore, Reclining Figure 1969-70

This tower was my absolute favorite- kind of unassuming but once you go inside the full beauty of the windows is revealed

There are a couple buildings with collections of sculptures- including one dedicated to Pablo Picasso with about 300 pieces of his work (no photography allowed- so no photos of that part)

 

Oh Max Ernst you always make me laugh!

Seiko Sawada, Maiko (Dancing Girl) 1974

So beautiful!

Francois Morellet, Spere-Trames 1862-63

Joan Miro, Personnage 1972  in front of this wooden construction

in which kids were playing in this colorful climbing thingi :)

Shin Yamamoto, Hey! 1992 – How can you not smile at this?

Isamu Noguchi – Rain Mountain 1982

Takao Tsuchida, Sound of Wind 1988 – I loved this!!!

and this ….

And …oh man …my husband…LOL – can’t bring him anywhere ;)

And a Dubuffet.

Hope you enjoyed this sculpture Art Stroll  in Japan. Which is your favorite sculpture I showed?

Nat

Comments (7)

  • Sue Clarke

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    The black and red one with a human interacting with it!
    I love the theme of so many of these…kinda like humans are just a small bit of the planet and yet we cover so much of it.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      I loved that one too – Art that brings out any reaction in people is fascinating but especially when it makes people doing something fun and mimick it.

      Reply

  • Jill McDowell

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    What an awsome experience. I’m so impressed that your husband set this little side trip up.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Yeah …he is a keeper …guess I need to more jazz concerts to pay back – LOL

      Reply

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On my way – Art Journal

I am on the task for a major studio redo and part of it is going through piles of stuff – so I am using finally some things up that I have had forever. Including some old calendars which had prints of my paintings from a while ago.

I sketched the lady and made her some city clothing with my Stroll stamps and collaged the prints. I also stamped some windows into the left building to tie it more together with the rest of the page. I also used some of my hoarded washi tape…I mean …how much washi tape can you store forever? – LOL

The whole studio redo is a long process because I have been traveling so much- but a plan has surfaced and right now before I move furniture and get new furniture, the first step is to purge and to get a grip on how my work flow actually looks like. I will keep you updated on the whole process …I ‘m on my way ;)

Here are some of the supplies I used for this spread


Nat

Comments (8)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Great page and words Nat.
    I too have tons of washi tape…why did I feel the need to save it???
    Crazy how we can be about supplies.
    Currently purging as well and much of the paper and embellies are going to the local elementary school where I work. The kids just love the items.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      right? LOL- I cannot believe the copious amount of stuff :) Love that you are giving some goodies to an elementary school – it is always wonderful if they can use some supplies!

      Reply

  • W Evelyn

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    Be sure and take before and after photos to see how much you accomplished.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Evelyn- I will – promised. As I am also looking for a new desk it is taking some time to change …on the one hand that is good as it provides the opportunity to be very thorough on the other it just doesn’t end

      Reply

  • Jean Goza

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    Really like this layout.

    A studio makeover can simultaneously be frustrating and invigorating. Have fun with it. It’s always an adventure!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you Jean! Yeah – I hear you – it is quite an adventure- LOL. Let’s see where it leads

      Reply

  • Janene

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    I am envious of your spring cleaning/purge effort. I have way too much stuff and it’s actually inhibiting my ability to work in my space. I’m cheering you on and I will be watching to see how your space transforms into something new!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you Janene! I know exactly what you mean about inhibiting the ability to the work- same here.

      Reply

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Artist Quote of The Week: Henry Moore

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Rhonda Mancini

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    Hi, we met at Salem Runaway art in class. Just wanted to thank you for such interesting post. That Japan one make me want to go! Thanks Nat. Hope to meet again in class. Have a great day.?

    Reply

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Painful Melancholy – Art Journal

Inspired by my trip to Japan I created this art journal spread. I used my new inkstone and inkstick to create some ink and sketch the woman as well as the markings.

I used my Embroidery stamps as well as the Stroll Around the Block stamps to create the pattern on the clothing and the rain in the background.

I painted the background with gesso and watercolor and the dress with a think layer of acrylic paint.

I like how this turned out. Here are some of the supplies I used.


Have a wonderful day!

Nat

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Inspired By: Nara, Japan

Nara was one of the super highlights of an already amazing trip! Nara was the capitol of Japan from 710 to 794 and it’s Buddhist Monuments are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We started off with walking around the Yoshikien Garden and I really loved the moss garden! So beautiful! The only weird thing about the garden was, that it had a sign that sketching wasn’t allowed. Mhhh – I was a good girl and left the sketchbook in but it did make me wonder.

While walking through the Nara Park you will encounter a ton of deers – who like to be fed. Deer are able to roam freely and are believed to be sacred messengers of the Shinto gods that inhabit the shrine and surrounding mountainous terrain. Some of the deer have learned to bow in order to receive a snack and some will butt you if you nibble on a cookie without sharing.

The Tōdai-ji Great Buddha Hall is the the world’s largest wooden building. It is STUNNING. This picture cannot do it justice- it is just breathtakingly beautiful and massive!

And while we were still catching our breath looking at the stunning doors and woodwork outside, we stepped in and gasped – again the pictures don’t do this justice. The Great Buddha statue in bronze is about 15 m/49ft tall .

It was originally cast in 752 but typhoons and earthquakes destroyed parts of it over the centuries and so some parts have been recasted.

Kokuzo-Bosatsu Statue but also look at the inside wood construction of the building !

One hell of a staircase ….

One of the wooden Nio Guardians who protect Buddha, carved in 1203. Komoku-ten is holding a writing brush and scroll.

I loved this gigantic butterfly a the lotus vase. We indulged in some delicious udon noodles and continued our walk.

Next we visited the Nigatsudo temple. The Nigatsudo is best known for Omizutori, a fire and water ceremony on March 12 every year, where huge flaming torches are held out from the temple balcony. The next day – the day we were actually there, sacred water is drawn from a well under the temple, which is said to have healing properties. The ceremony has been held here without a break since the temple’s founding in 752. Since it is a wooden structure it is a miracle that it still exists – The smell of the fire ceremony the night before was still lingering everywhere.

The temple tea room – I couldn’t stay in the room unfortunately because the burned smoke still in the building made me cough madly.

A beautiful view from the temple terrace while inside you heard monks chants. Beautiful and peaceful.

I loved all the little details

An old wooden plaque.

And then we had some Matcha tea sitting outside and I think I haven’t been as relaxed as in that moment for a long long time.

I guess my husband is trying to figure out where the ground is of the tea pot ;)

OK – guys, I have to put this photo in there…CUTEST deer EVAAAAAHHHH. Every time I need a cute-dose now I am pulling up this photo -I get all squeaky when I look at it. I contained myself when I saw it in person right next to me so I wouldn’t scare it off – but please- tell me …isn’t it the cutest deer you have ever seen?

Next we went to to the Kasuga Grand Shrine. Bronze lanterns are hung everywhere.

And tons of stone lanterns lead the way to it.

Twice a year all those lanterns get lit at once – I can only imagine how magic this must look- but it was magic already just to walk around the park and temple, with deers roaming around. Unreal ! We had a second tea break, saw a turtle walking by (no kidding!) and had a yummy piece of persimmon cake. There are so many pictures of just that one day….I tried to keep it on a what I hope manageable amount LOL. But one more ;)

Here is a manhole in Nara – most beautiful manhole I have ever seen. I will show you a couple from the trip in an upcoming post but this one deserves to be shown twice ;) Hope you are inspired by Nara – more from my Japan trip to come soon.

Nat

Comments (16)

  • Catherine

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    Beautiful photos, thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  • Anna

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    I feel so lucky to see your photos and read your story.
    Thank you!

    Reply

  • Joanne Howard

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    Wow! What a trip! I could look at your pictures all day. It must have been so amazing just to wander around.

    The deer is the cutest thing I have ever seen! I don’t know how you contained yourself.

    Thank you for taking us along. I look forward to more pictures of your trip!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      LOL- I know I wanted to pack the deer into my pocket. Thank you for coming along Joanne!

      Reply

  • Janet

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    Dear Nat, Thank you so much for taking me to Nara! What a treat for the eyes (and other senses with a little imagination). All of that texture is intoxicating. Manhole covers are a photo topic of mine, and yes, that is the most beautiful one I have seen. Also, yes, the deer is adorable! Thank you again for all of the lovely photos and description. I’ll be anxiously awaiting more photos of your Japan experience.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Awe- thank you Janet for coming along :) More manhole covers coming soon – I wish I could have stayed longer just to get a whole collection together.

      Reply

  • Jill McDowell

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    Nat, that is absolutely the most adorable deer eva! I would have wanted to take him home with me. Those eyes!
    I’m blown away by all of these gorgeous pics. The moss and those lanterns.. and the manhole cover. Can’t wait to see more.
    I had to read the dates twice.. 710? That’s history. Thanks for sharing

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      LOL – I know the deer was “killing” me :) I now the dates are making you aware how much history is out in the world!

      Reply

  • Sara jansen

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    That deer!!!! The rest of the pictures and stories are great but you are absolutely right about how cute that little guy is!!!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    That deer is THE cutest deer eva!!!
    How was the persimmon cake?
    I recently discovered persimmons and they are so hard to find. My local TJMaxx carries the dried ones which are very good for a snack.
    Thanks for your gorgeous pics…such history that we just don’t have in our young country here.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Sue, the persimmon cake was super yummie. We do have an Asian supermarket here and indeed as Joanne points out they are usually carrying them in the fall.

      Reply

    • Joanne Howard

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      Sue, I don’t know where you live but persimmons are a Fall fruit. In the fall season Fuyu persimmons are small and squaty . You can eat them when they are a little hard, peel and slice them like an apple .I think they are Korean. Not sure but I get them at my local Asian grocery store.

      There is another type of persimmon that is larger and more pointy. They need to ripen until really soft. They will be sweet and messy. If eaten too soon, they are bitter

      Reply

      • nathalie-kalbach

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        We also get them at the Asian supermarket and I second what you said. It is so fun to discover unusual and different fruits and veggies from the Asian market.

        Reply

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Fun with Furoshiki Wrapping

Furoshiki is the wonderful art and tradition of wrapping things in a nicely printed square cloth. When I was in Japan I saw specialized Furoshiki stores everywhere, selling not only the beautiful cloth but also showing how to wrap different gifts, books, and make bags etc. I totally fell in love with this and so Kim and I decided to have a little playdate to make our own wrapping cloth.

I dyed some white cloth beforehand so we would not just work with plain white and then gathered fabric paint, some foam stamps and brayers.

For one of of the pieces i used my Grove Foam Stamp Set and created a pattern leaving some white space as this seems to work the best for this purpose.

Kim created a pattern using the Broadway Foam Stamp Set.

And create a border using my Exchange Place Foam Stamp.

And Kim used for her second piece the Circle Drive Foam Stamp.

Then the wrapping part started. Our cloth was a tiny bit too stiff …it worked but when we do this again a thinner fabric would work even better.

Here is the close up

and wrapping a bottle

you can tell …the cat sneaked into the picture …but there you go- LOL ;)

Another method for boxes or books

And a simple but fun one

I love that these cloth can be used in so many ways by the recipients. Either reused for gifts yet again or as kitchen towels, or depending on the fabric as shawls etc. So many options and a great way to give a beautifully wrapped gift. I hope you liked our playdate and give Furoshiki a try.

Here are some of the supplies Kim and I used for this Furoshiki play date:


Nat

Comments (2)

  • Janene

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    Very beautiful! I would love to receive a gift (or even my lunch) wrapped in something so lovely. I don’t have any fabric paint (yet), but I’m seeing a trip to the store this weekend so that I can give this a try. Thanks for sharing!

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The Future is Now – Art Journal

An art journal page that I created after the marches last month happened. I love that Art Journaling can be a way of taking note of current events in a visual way – and as you know I am not much of a writer in my art journal because a lot of my thoughts and feelings are conveyed by the colors, paints and techniques I am using.

I spray painted the background in blue and then sprayed in red through my Santiago Stencil – I flipped it over while the paint on top was still wet to get a reverse pattern.

Some obstructed notes with a gold gesso and a thick brush and then I filled in all the areas with patterns using a white signo pen.

It was a nice and meditative time to fill in the page with white little patterns, marks and doodles :)

Here is what I used for this spread:


Nat

Comments (2)

  • Deb

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    Striking composition. Love the colors and the addition of the gold gesso. Different look for you to using block printing instead of cursive. Overall great art journal pages! Agree how meditative mark making can be. Inspired to go do some! Thanks.
    Deb

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you Deb! Yeah I rarely do use block printing but I actually like it …good reminder to use it more often :)

      Reply

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Photos of my Workshop in Oklahoma

Last weekend I taught my 3-Day Splash of Color Workshop at My Heart’s Fancy in Oklahoma. We started out with blank papers, filled them with lot’s of pattern, and imagery and then bound them into art journals.

We did a lot of gelli printing/mono printing the first day- look at those colorful pages

Love all the texture – yummie!

We used tons of my stencils and stamps- always tickles me to see a wall of my designs :)

And we had a ton of fun – I love spending a whole weekend with a group of sweet talented students!

Look at Marcia colorful gelli plate :)

Time flies when you play with paint and colors – the three days went by in a breeze

Creating the covers was a big hit too  – happy faces

and thinking faces ;)

Now how can you not enjoy a weekend with all those smiling peeps :)

And it was so much fun to see how everyone loved their newly bound book on the second day and working in it.

 

yummie patterns with my ArtFoamies – I always love seeing the color combinations my students choose. So inspiring.

We also did some transfers and they looked fabulous!!!

And we created some funky clothing and city scapes with my RubberMoon stamps.

And here are all the beautiful bound art journals – 78 pages thick- such a happy colorful sight!

Thank you to all the wonderful students – I loved spending time with you, creating, laughing, chatting, eating …and eating delicious homemade cake (thank you Lynda!) and sharing supplies and ideas. Thank you also to Maura and Lisa for having me once again – I always love coming back.

If you would like to take an in-person class with me, I am teaching in May two classes in Kentucky at Ephemera Paducah which will be super fun. I will also teach in Toronto (Canada), San Jose (CA), Boltenhagen (Germany) and Coventry (UK) this year. For more information check my In-Person Workshop page I would love to see you.

Nat

Comments (6)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Looks like a fun class and an awesome store to shop in!

    Reply

  • Maura

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    I must say that this was such a wonderful workshop. Fun, inspiring…. in one word – delightful! Thank you Nathalie. You taught us such wonderful things and we enjoyed having you with us again!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you Maura- it is always such a pleasure to come back and teach for you!!! See you soon again!

      Reply

  • Donna B.

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    Looks like it was a wonderful class!!! I envy those lucky students!!

    Reply

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Inspired By: Kyoto, Japan

After we spent a couple days in Tokyo, we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto.

I am spoiled with nice trains from Germany …the ICE is a pretty nice high-speed train- but the Shinkansen steps it up a notch – very pleasant traveling in it and 2 1/2 hours later you are in Kyoto.

This is a train station stamp from Kyoto. Almost every train station in Japan has a stamp that shows symbols and buildings around the location. I collected them in my travel journal – if you go to Japan bring a red ink pad with you as some of the station ink pads are a bit dried out.

A bit outside of Kyoto is the Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine. A reoccurring theme at the shrine are foxes – some fox statues carrying a key in their mouth.  The fox is the messenger of Inari, as well as the shrine guardian. You often see shrine guardians wearing a red bib added by worshippers out of respect.

Every shrine seems to have their own individual Ema – a wooden wishing plaque. You can purchase them and the fox plates at this shrine are actually made so that you can fill and draw in your own fox face design. On the back of the plaque you write your wish and then hang it up.

Look at all the different faces.

Another Shrine guardian – a lion dog.

Such a beautiful walk up the mountain to the shrine.

through a little Bamboo forrest

and thousands of Torii Gates- that was so beautiful and of course a lot of us remember the scene of Memoirs of a Geisha.

First signs of Cherry Blossom in Kyoto – so beautiful!

But also interesting signs in Gion – I cannot believe that you actually have to tell people to not touch a Geisha- seriously? What is wrong with people?

And then all of a sudden I was standing at an alley way – this beautiful stunning Maiko appeared with a huge entourage of photographers following her. I cannot really describe it but the way she moved and looked was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. A Maiko is a trainee  before she becomes a Geisha (and no Geishas are not prostitutes! )Maiko are trained and constantly training in traditional Japanese arts, such as dancing, singing, classical Japanese instruments and the tea ceremony.  I asked one of the photographers why they were following her all and he told me that this was a very special day and something you would not see often, as for this Maiko it was her Misedashi – basically her graduation day where she turns into a Maiko and gets introduced into the neighborhood. This Maiko’s name is Nanoha as I found out later.

I loved the Gion neighborhood with it’s traditional wooden houses and a lot of people walking around in traditional kimonos.

A dotted pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama also in Gion.

I had seen a documentary at home on how these beautiful traditional candles often used in temples are being made. They are made with handcrafted vegetable wax and burn a long time. When I did some research I found this little store in Kyoto where they are sold and we went and bought some.Tanji Renshodo sells mostly to Buddhist temples. It was such a wonderful little store and you can actually see where they are made.  If you are in Kyoto- step by and buy some – they make wonderful gifts!

We stayed in a really nice Kyoto guesthouse – sleeping on traditional tatami mats on a futon and you have to take your shoes out upon entering your room – here is the slipper shelf – loved that.

And here is Mount Fuji as seen from the Shinkansen on the way to Hakone. I will show some pictures from Nara next. I hope you enjoyed this post from our stop in Kyoto.

 

Nat

Comments (2)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Loved this post and the streets are so clean!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      the streets truly are crazy clean – the more amazing as there are almost no garbage cans out on the streets …people just take their garbage home. It was one of the things I noticed right away.

      Reply

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