Mixed Media Painting

Powerhouse Canvas

The last weekend I buried myself into the studio to work on this canvas – and it made me pretty happy – I think you might see I was inspired by all the wonderful colors I had seen during my travels.

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The building is an old powerhouse here in Jersey City, which is boarded up and there is work going on there- so we will see . I do love this building – I find it fascinating and since I am a big fan of the Tate Modern in London, which is housed in an old power station – I can see an art gallery in here, art studios and some open public space…but probably it will be shops and lofts or a mall – who knows.

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I played with all kinds of acrylic media and techniques-I was in my happy happy place :)

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Here are some photos I took during the process

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Here are the supplies I used:

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Have a powerful day :)
hugs
nat

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My Favorite Tool: A Brayer

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If you ask me what my all time favorite Tool is …well besides my fingers ;) – it is a brayer. The versatility of a brayer is just immense. You can use it for printing, mixing colors together, stamping, background creating, you can make sure things get applied evenly, you can use it for mono printing, even painting. You can use it with acrylic paints, with inks, with spray paints, with acrylic media – it is just the coolest thing in the world :) Well…at least in my world. I even did once (2008) a whole class on brayer techniques and it was a lot of fun.

Here are three tutorials I posted the last couple months where the brayer played a big role :)

Positive/Negative Stenciling

 

Brayer Technique Background

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Rubber Band Brayer Technique Background

 

So, what’s not to love about a brayer? ;)

Have a gorgeous day

Nat

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The Yellow No. 2 Pencil or …a new canvas

Finally I had time to create a new canvas –

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the first one in my new home here in Jersey City. And of course…if you live in an old pencil factory – you have to get inspired by your surrounding buildings :)

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It was a bit crazy to work on the canvas in the middle of unpacked boxes but I am so glad I did. I think I will do a couple more yellow pencil canvases…

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Here are some of the supplies that I used

nSupplies

Have an amazing day

Nat

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Fragmented II or Hamburg*End(si)e Canvas

This is my favorite canvas that I created for the exhibition. Actually not only for the exhibition. I created it already with a place to hang it in my mind in our new home in Jersey City. It is a wall that is in the middle of our dining and living room – there is a little fireplace in the wall. So the plan is to hang this canvas on one side and make another one the same size  70x80cm (27.5×31.5 inches) – or the other side of the wall but with a Jersey City or NYC theme- have to see ;). mmmh- now I wonder if that is a size I can get in the States- better inquire – LOL .

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Again symbols, landmarks and typical Hamburg-related things on this canvas.

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I painted with Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic Paints, Markers and Spray Paints.

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After this canvas I am almost striving to do even bigger canvases…but then there is the question, where to hang it – LOL.

Have a colorful day today :)

nat

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I Love St. Pauli or…Nachtschattengewächse

2013
Acrylic paint, marker 16×18″ – SOLD

Only four more days till my exhibition…I am “slightly” totally utterly super duper excited ! And yes… I am also “peeing” (sorry!) my pants – no kidding ;)

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By now I should have decided which title this canvas- which is 20″x 24″ (60x50cm) has –  Naming the canvases is sometimes easy sometimes it is like Canvas 1, 2 , 3 …which is so boring – LOL. And did you notice….I said I SHOULD have decided ….

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Thursday we will hang the pictures – I already planned out which canvases go together and in which rooms they will hang- and put the name tags on the side of them (again…Nat…you have to decide the names by Thursday!!!) and then we will see ;)

What would you call this canvas? If you are German…German is good- LOL- go ahead ;)

Have a gorgeous day

Nat

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Defragmented or…Hamburg*End(si)e Canvas

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Slowly getting there- but still a lot to do for my exhibition in August. Here is another canvas I created – I had lots of fun doing this one.

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If you have never been to Hamburg you probably do not get all the references and landmarks in the collage – but there are lot’s of them in there :) But even if you do not know all of them- I hope you have fun spotting some details.

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The canvas is 16″ by 24″ big (40cm x 60cm) – I know it looks way smaller here -. Off to work on some more canvases.

Have a wonderful day

 

P.S. – Thank you for you wonderful comments and sharing your personal thoughts and stories on my post the day before yesterday! Thank YOU!!!

Hugs

Nat

Nat

Heimathafen or…Hamburg*End(si)e Exhibition Canvas

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Another canvas for my exhibition in August here in Hamburg. This one is actually 16″ by 24″ big (40cm x 60cm) . I figured out that for canvases in that big size I need an easel but I guess for the time being here in Hamburg I might not invest in one or maybe I should…mmmh…mhhh – LOL…never shy of an excuse to go to the art supply store ;) .

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It is a collage with acrylic paints, acrylic inks and acrylic markers . It was a slow process on this canvas …It moved several times in the apartment so I could just look at it because I wasn’t too happy in the beginning and needed to figure out what it was. It was the ship on the right that made me crazy…something was badly off, but now it is done. I really like the colors- and I know they are not very usual for me .

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I am sure you got it figured out, this is the Hamburg harbor – a bit part of our city, and the title is home port. Now working on the next canvas which is even bigger…let’s see how this goes- LOL

Have a wonderful day

Hugs

Nat

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Don’t Tear Down This Wall or…Viva Las Vegas Stamps

Pretty stoked to be the guest designer for Viva Las Vegas Stamps this month. This layout was posted last week and there is another one on next week :)

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I used the Charred Wood Back Ground Stamp to create my own background for a grungy layout. The layout is about the East Side Gallery – a tiny remaining bit of the Berlin Wall that was painted by different artists in 1990 and now unfortunately is supposed to be torn down to make room for some luxury flats. Some of you might remember some of my photos from this blog post here- where I had visited Berlin with my friend Julie.
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I love to create my own backgrounds using stamps to emphasize photos or the feelings and emotions that go along with photos. For this background I had stamped the background with the awesome Charred Wood Back Ground Stamp and embossing powder and then used Wow Bonding Powder and Foil on top. This created a kind of resist. So when I sprayed some Dylusion spray inks over the stamp image and texture of it got fully revealed.
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Other Suppliess used: White Cardstock, WOW Bonding Powder, WOW Foil, Versamark, Ranger’s Dylusions Spray Inks, Liquitex Professional Spray Paints, Heidi Swapp Chipboard Letters, Rose Moka Journaling Cards, Posca Marker, Zig Journaling Pen

Have a wonderful day

nat

Nat

Stand Tall – Canvas

First of all- thank you so much for your wonderful comments on my CHA Designer-Showcase in the post below! They made my day!

I am back from Lille in France but before I show you some photos from the show next, I share this canvas I made. It is actually part of my Über*Media Gesso class which now ended. I will reopen the sign ups in April/May I think – so if you are interested let me know :)

Supplies:

White Gesso, Black Gesso,  Eco Green Crafts Acrylic Paints, Punchinella, Posca Marker, White Signo Marker, Heidi Swapp Color Magic Banner, Tattered Angels Black Magic Glimmer Mist, Heidi Swapp – old – Chipboard Letters, Sakura Souffle Pen

I wanted the background to look crazy busy….it fits with what I wanted to say with this project.

I am totally back to Acrylic paints right now- I have discovered so many new techniques along with the many I knew already – I think it is time to plan the next Über*Media class ;) HINT HINT – LOL

Looking at this picture btw I realize that my hair is playing tricks on me – I discovered a LOT of grey and WHITE hair the last weeks. Excuse me??? How can this go right into white hair? Oh well…I guess I better get used to it ;) Funny enough when I was a kid I always wanted white hair…I thought it looked just so graceful…mmhh – yeah…not sure if I think this now for myself – LOL.

I’m getting chatty….everything to procrastinate the paperwork I have to do today ;) – so I better keep going. Wishing you an amazing day!

Nat

 

Nat