Art Journal

Good Girl – Art Journal

“I am just a good girl with bad habits”

My background was made with a sewing pattern which I adhered with acrylic paint and Liquitex matte medium to the ledger page. I layered up the paper, which gets a bit translucent when adhered on top of paint layers, and I also partly covered it up and scratched into the still wet paint with a pencil to create some marks. Then I used the same acrylic paint colors to stencil in different areas with my Art Deco Fairview stencil to tie it all together.

The piece of fabric is sun-printed (cyano type) and is from Birgit, Marsha and my workshop called Beyond the Paper where, in addition to tons of ideas for using substrates other than paper, I showed how to sun-print using stamps and stencils.

I had found an old letter in my collage drawer which contained the words “a good girl” – in the main image you can see it in the bottom right – which inspired me to create this page. The letters are from an old self adhesive letter sheet.

To finish it off I added some black splattering as the black backgrounds of the letters were a bit harsh and contrasting, and it needed a bit of repeating and visual weight throughout the page.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

Comments (2)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Love the colors and the quote. This came together nicely Nat!

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  • Robin seiz

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    I love everything about this page!!!! Such beautiful texture!

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Together – Art Journal

“We were together. I forget the rest.” – Walt Whitman

The collage elements in this page tell quite the story. The green paper strip in the background is from a scrapbooking paper line I did for a French company back in the day …it was called Emoticon and I thought I should use it up as I still have some sheets.

The Fairview stamped paper is from a technique and online class that I produced with Birgit Koopsen and Marsha Valk called Time Traveler. We each chose a stylistic era to draw artistic inspiration from in the course. In addition to showing a bunch of gelli printing and other mixed media techniques, we also each bound all our pages together in the end using a different bookmaking method. You can check it out here, sign up, and enjoy the class at your own pace :)

I forgot where I got the sheer adhesive backed strip from that I used to attach everything – they are strips that I think someone gave to me a while ago… They are great for journaling and stamping on (I stamped one of my Fan-fare stamps on this page) to make your own washi tape. Maybe someone knows what they are and can tell us in the comments below!

I was using my Triple Play foam stamps with stazon ink on Grafix Duralar for this element. It was part of a technique that I showed in another class with Birgit and Marsha called Beyond the Paper. As you can probably guess, the class looks at a bunch of different substrate alternatives to paper and still gets me thinking. You can check it out here and again, it’s available anytime ;)

In my move I found a lot of odds and ends and am excited about finally using them – stamp and stencil samples, tests, misc products, and collage papers from my online classes.

Here are some of the supplies I used in this page:

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    That paper line was awesome and quite different for its time. I have a piece or two kicking around.
    Nice words and design. Have a great day Nat!

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Times Like This – Art Journal

“In times like this, we need more than thoughts and prayers.” —just my thoughts – don’t be cross with me.

I created my background pattern with different versafine ink pad colors and my Wabi Sabi rubber stamps.

I made a sketch of my Church foam stamp on Grafix Duralar, cut it out and adhered it with double sided tape. For my journaling I used a Sharpie gel pen.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Do What Is Right – Art Journal

“The time is always right to do what is right.” – MLK

I love using a fresh gel plate where the mineral oil makes the paint crystalize.

In fact I loved the print using the Lady Liberty foam stamp so much that I did not want to add much more to it! Sometimes it is ok to keep it simple.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Continuous Flow – Art Journal

“I am made and remade continually. Different people draw different words from me.” ― Virginia Woolf

For this page I started with homemade marbled paper for my background.

Then to make the different patterns I stamped the Solid Hex Small rubber stamp in different Moonlight Duo ink pad colors and then used some of the Hex Set Small stamps to stamp on top.

I finished it off with a fude pen for the journaling.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    I just love that background paper and how the whole page goes so well with that quote Nat.

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Facts – Art Journal

Here I’m using another old work of mine from an art journal page (you can see the original post and page here) from the sold out Artist Almanac.

I used a brayer to roll out heavy body white and blue paint and added some yellow areas with yellow acrylic ink. I used my Gnarly and Funky foam stamps with black acrylic paint to add some marks, and a stabilo pencil for some softer marks as well.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Chaos – Art Journal

“You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star” Nietzsche

During the move I realized that I haven’t used my acrylic inks in a long time and I really love them so time to pull those guys out again and play with them more. I used my new ATC Mixup Stencil and shifted it around while loosely painting with a brush through the stencil with the ink.

This doesn’t of course give a nice crisp image but I wanted a more loose, almost watercolor like effect with the same pattern that I later traced through the stencil with a stabilo pencil.

I added a calendar page from the sold old almanac calendar (sorry guys)- this one shows an older painting of mine (still available for sale here) and blended the page in by adding some of the ink in the same color family to the page as well to the background. That was a lot of fun!

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

Comments (2)

  • Sue Clarke

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    I love everything about this! The quote, the colors, and the background design.
    The quote especially speaks to me during a week of family chaos.
    Happy Saint Patrick’s Day Nat!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      awee thank you Sue! Hope you had a gorgeous St. Paddy’s day and a very relaxing weekend ahead!

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Keep Going – Art Journal

“But I don’t give up. I forget why not.” – maybe Dorothy Parker – not sure as there are so many misattributed quotes for her. Regardless of who said it, it’s a pretty great quote :)

I used Golden and Liquitex Fluid and soft body paints and just played around a bit in my vintage ledger journal, feeling inspired by a wallpaper I had seen.

I created my drawing on deli paper and used some markers to spruce it up, then adhered it with gel medium.

I used one of my Fan-fare rubber stamps to go with the loose, abstract floral background.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Opinions – Art Journal

“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinions.” Jack Kerouac

I used the Artist Almanac calendar page with my artwork of the Flat Iron building (so sorry the calendar is long since sold out but you can get prints of my work and original paintings too still here in my shop.) The building always reminds me of how much it was made fun of and disliked in the beginning and became one of the most iconic and beloved buildings in the city.

For the background I used my Chicago stencil with a blending tool and Broken China Distress Ink applied over the stencil. Then I layered a pattern from my ATC Mixup Stencil on top using Tattered Rose Distress Ink, moving it around and making it work in the openings. Then I stamped with the back of a pencil in green and finally the Fan-fare rubber stamp.

I did my journaling with a black Signo pen and attached the calendar page with my favorite Coccoina glue stick.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    I really like the combo of the pastels with the darker colors of the building piece.

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