Mixed Media

New Downloadable PDF Art Lesson: Creating Texture

I’m excited to announce that my downloadable PDF Art Lesson 9: Creating Texture Plates Inspired by Nature is now available in the NorthLightShop! For $3.99 it’s a great deal – you get a full step out AND a 10min video :)

As you know, I love playing with texture in my artwork, especially the textures that can be found in nature. In this Art Lesson, you will learn a way to create some super gorgeous textures with a few new materials and techniques, and I will share with you how I use inspiration from nature to guide me. I begin with an inspiration photo of geysers I took at Yosemite National Park, and by using a variety of mediums and mixed media techniques, I create a deeply textured plate that begs to be touched.

You can check out on ClothPaperScissors how this lesson and tips from my book Artful Adventures in Mixed Media inspired Jeannine Stein to create some beautiful nature inspired tags.

The Lesson is available here.

Nat

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Best Adventure EVER – Art Journal

“Maybe it won’t work out. But maybe seeing if it does will be the best adventure ever.”

Love this – I think that sums up a lot of things that I have done in my life so far …love my artful adventures and believe me…many didn’t quite work out- LOL

I am totally in pattern heaven using my brand new Downtown Positive and Negative Foam Stamp Set. I love how the two stamps stamped on top of each other in copper and teal make up for such a beautiful intricate pattern.

I added some yellow ink here and there after the stamped areas dired and I love how it added another color and interest.

Stamping it a bit offset and given the fact that a foam stamp reveals texture I love how the effect is so dimensional and looks almost as if the image is raised and jumps off the page. One happy Nat on this one.

Here are some of the supplies I used for this spread:


Have an adventurous day!

Nat

Comments (6)

  • stephanie

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    LOVE the hand written words.

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Love the words and the color mix!!!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      That color mix totally got me- LOL- cannot stop using it :) Thanks Sue!

      Reply

  • Nancy G.

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    Great page for the sentiment, colors and patterns!

    Reply

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Photos of my Mixed Media Workshops in California

Last weekend I taught three mixed media classes at Scrapbooking Forever in Westvillage, California.

It was a wonderful time there with the students- I taught my Artvergnugen, as well as my Master Art Express and my Walk With Me Class.

Here are some wonderful patterned pages from the Artvergnugen Class.

It truly was a lot of Artvergnugen :)

I also taught my Master Art Express Art Journaling class which is taking Art Journaling a bit further and takes inspiration from different Artists imaginary traveling through Europe.

I loved all the different ideas and approaches the students tried out!

My altered book class Walk With Me was super fun as well and the ink drawings some of my students added to their books.

I did not take many photos as some of my students wanted to remain private – a request I happily follow- but here is one of Winkie and me. If you ever happen to be in a class room with Winkie prepare yourself for a life story ride that blows your mind. My favorite thing about teaching is, that besides that it makes me happy to see people being creative, what wonderful and interesting people I meet along my way. Everyone’s story is worth telling and I am truly grateful that I am meeting so many amazing people.

Hope to see you in one of my classes in the future. Check out my in-person-class schedule. I will be in Florida next weekend at Everything Scrapbook and Stamps and then fly in October to the U.K. to teach at a retreat with my friend Birgit Koopsen in Coventry – there are still a couple spots left.

 

Nat

Comments (2)

  • Karen Bearse

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    Looks like a lot of fun! Love all the colors & textures!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Love all the colors on that art and taking a class with you is on my Bucket List Nat.
    Enjoy your weekend.

    Reply

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La Boca – Painting

This painting which is also part of my book Artful Adventures in Mixed Media was inspired by the neighborhood of La Boca in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The instant I saw all those colorful houses, I knew I had to paint them some day.

This painting is 9″x12″ and I used acrylic paint, acrylic ink, marker, charcoal, and  collage elements on canvas.

I loved Argentina, it was such an inspiring trip – I would love to go back some day and discover a bit more of this huge country.

Wishing you a wonderful and colorful day!

Nat

Comments (4)

  • Karen Bearse

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    Ok so I really love this piece! Love how bright the colors look creatin contrast and movement. Love the charcoal. Especially love the bench! I dont know why but it is perfect!! Great job!!!

    Reply

  • Denise Spillane

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    Oh Natalie I live this. Your work is so wonderful. Love your style

    Reply

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Der Himmel über Berlin (Sky over Berlin)

This painting which also appears in my book Artful Adventures in Mixed Media was inspired by the city of Berlin and also a Wim Wenders Movie (Wings of Desire). Berlin is just a 1 1/2 hour train  ride from my home city Hamburg and I always love going there. If you do not know Wings of Desire- I highly recommend it. The movie is about invisible, immortal angels who populate densely populated Berlin and listen to the thoughts of the human inhabitants and comfort those who are in distress that feel alone and isolated.

Throughout the history of Berlin there are many thoughts angels could have heard and many that needed comfort – that is what I had in mind when I made this painting.

It is 9×12″  in size and I used acrylic paint, acrylic ink, spray paint, marker and charcoal on canvas. It is available for purchase- like some of my other paintings- so if you are interested, send me an email

Nat

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Smile :) -Positive and Negative Pattern Play

This is another board I made for the ArtFoamies booth at Creativation. It was a simple project, but when you are displaying for a trade show it is important that you have samples that show in a fast way how to use certain products- and here I simply wanted to have something that would show how the positive and negative foam stamps I created work.

I used the Santa Fe positive and negative Foam Stamp Set and stamped with different colors onto a black board. I love how much depth a bit of an offset stamping and the black background creates. For the top I stamped on some hemp paper which has a very different quality and texture. It also feels almost like fabric and it is quite durable. I love how different the texture of the paper makes the pattern look.

It is a very in your face project- LOL – so ….Smile ;)

Here is a list of supplies I used for this -some links are affiliate links:


Have a gorgeous day

Nat

Comments (2)

  • stephanie

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    Hi Nat – Is the hemp paper like color press watercolor? Thanks.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Stephanie, it is really hard to say – it is like handmade paper with a kind of fabric like feel to it -yeah maybe a bit similar to a very good and thick cold press watercolor paper, but then not as thick. NOt sure if that helps and makes sense :)

      Reply

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Live Life To The Fullest – Embossing with Foam Stamps

This is another project I did for the ArtFoamies booth at Creativation. For this project I used a square piece of hard board and glued down some corrugated cardboard here and there around the edges. (I just used pieces from an old shipping box). Then I painted the whole board over with black gesso and let it dry.

Using my Versailles Negative and Positive Foam Stamps I stamped first one pattern with Embossing Ink onto the middle of the background , sprinkled some Aged Embossing Powder on top, heated it up until it was molten and then repeated the same with the same Stamp until a tile pattern was created. Next I used the other Versailles Stamp Set and stamped also with Embossing Ink on top of the already embossed areas, repeating all stamps but this time with a different color of Embossing Powder. Oh my ….do I love this crusty, textured outcome !!!

 It feels really good and it looks even better in person. I used a gauge which I had found a couple years ago at a flea market and saved for a special project and mounted it to the board with Extra Heavy Gel Medium.

I really love how the Positive and Negative Stamps work with Embossing Powder- definitely something I will play more with .

Here is a little list of the supplies I used -some links are affiliate links:


Have a gorgeous day!
Nat

Nat

Comments (8)

  • marycheng

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    Great effect. Love the border. I must try foamies and add them to my collection.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you so much Mary. They are really fun and versatile to use, I hope you will give them a go :)

      Reply

  • Sherry Canino

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    That is sooo cool , I love the texture it created and even more awesome how you could use the positive and negative stamps together like that ❤

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Hi Sherry, thank you so much! It was really fun! Have a wonderful week! <3

      Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Love the gauge on that piece and the layers are fun (using the positive and negative).

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you Sue! Yeah the Gauge finally was used- LOL- I have kept it forever hoping for the right piece to use it.

      Reply

  • Donna B.

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    Wow, Nathalie! Love this!!! It looks wonderful! I’m going to try this with my foam stamps, too. Thanks for sharing –

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Yeah- give it a try Donna, it was really fun to do and it feels pretty cool. I think I will do this on my art journal cover too :) Have a gorgeous day!

      Reply

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CREATE – Fabric + Foam Stamps + Embroidery = Bliss

This is another Project I did for the ArtFoamies Creativation booth showing how to use my foam stamps with fabric.

I used a piece of raw canvas and treated it with Fabric Medium and silver acrylic ink to stain it. (if you are interested in the whole range of possibilities of Raw Canvas Staining check out the Download Video at North Light Shop). I let the canvas dry, then used my Batik Stamps 1, 2, 3, 4 with acrylic paint and stamped a pattern on top.

I added some embroidery using the stamp patterns as guidelines. And then mounted the canvas on a piece of black board to which I added a border with the  Manhattan Border foam stamp.

It was fun playing with the stamps and fabric and embroidery and I want to make a bag or similar this way. Or maybe a pillow- what do you think?

Here are the supplies I used – some supply links are affiliate links


Nat

Comments (4)

  • Cheryl

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    I love this. The colours & texture are stunning. Perfect for a pillow.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      thank you so much Cheryl! Yeah -I should def. make a pillow – my sofa could use some new friends :)

      Reply

  • Torsa Saha

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    Your work is magical!!

    Reply

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Photos of my Workshops at A Work of Heart in San Jose, CA

Last week, after attending the Creativation Show, I flew to San Jose and taught three classes there at  A Work of Heart

I stayed in a lovely little pool house and this was my view out of my room. I wanna come back in the summer :)

My first class was “Walk With Me” an Altered Book class and it was so much fun to see the student’s take on it

HA – I loved how Julie put my business card with me new book cover behind the window of her book cover :) FUN

It was such a sweet and talented group and I was really lucky because I was terribly sick last week. I was helped with medicine, fresh oranges and tea- thank you girls!!

Love the studio space- so much color- so inspiring. Below you see some photos of the “Mixed Media Collage – Play Transform” Class

So much beautiful collage paper was being made – color bliss!

Lots of pattern play too

And then on Wednesday I taught my whole day “Artvergnugen – Art Journal ” Class .

 

Look at the awesome tile pattern – yum

and heaps of layers were added to create beautiful art journal pages.

And since the weather was brightening up we could even experiment with spray paint out side – now that was super fun!

I think they liked it a lot ;)

Time to add some finishing touches to the pages :)

And slowly all came together – Art Vergnugen …the pleasure of playing in your art journal ;)

Thank you all for a wonderful time- you were truly inspiring and amazing!

And here is my wonderful host Andrea – Thank you so much for having me Andrea, I am looking forward coming back  :)

Do you want to take an In-Person-Class with me ?- here is where you can find me in

MARCH: 

Mono Print Painting with Nat Kalbach and Birgit Koopsen at The Ink Pad in NYC

 

Artful Transfers with Nat Kalbach & Birgit Koopsen at The InkPad in NYC

Color Crush – 3Day Art Journaling Class with Nat Kalbach & Birgit Koopsen at OOAK Artisan Showcase in Syracuse, NY

Check out more workshops this year on my In-Person-Class Page

Have a wonderful day!!!!

Nat

Comments (4)

  • Jean Goza

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    The workshop was awesome! Learned a lot and had so much fun. Thanks for sharing your photos. So much inspiration and beauty. Looking forward to your next visit to California.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Awe- thank you so much for coming Jean- it was so awesome to finally meet you after “meeting you online” . Looking forward to come back :)

      Reply

  • jbonomo

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    Thank you, Nathalie, for making two days of arting so much fun filled with color, inspiration, and learning what is possible. You are one fabulous talented teacher and tempting me to fly out for your upcoming classes. HA!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      AWE – thank You Julie! You girls were just so amazing ! I cannot wait to see you again in California or elsewhere :)have a gorgeous weekend!

      Reply

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