Art Journal

(self-)Respect – Art Journal

I am so excited- LOL- Hold your horses! This is the very first year in seven years, I actually started to play along with Creative JumpStart– usually there is just too much going on on the administrative side of organizing the workshop, traveling to teach and with CHA/Creativation that I just cannot play along. But ha – this year I am in! This art journal spread was inspired by the first video with Mystele in CJS18 – wow- she rocked that video. I used some of her ideas to jumpstart my own page and then went for it.

Mystele painted a gorgeous face – I used a hand carved stamp – see you can do whatever you want with those videos (get inspired by the technique, the material, the way the artist use things, the look, the colors…nameless options) but they do totally feed you if you are just willing to play- and Oh and I am willing this year ;)

My word for 2018 is (self-) Respect – and so it was a good page to do !

Are you in for Creative JumpStart 2018? If not you can still join – check it out !

Give yourself the permission to play!

 

Comments (4)

  • sue-sharp

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    Wow, I love the colours, and energy from this page.. and LOVE that hand carved face!

    Reply

  • cathsheard

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    To quote you “love love love” that you are finding time and space to JUMP as well :-)

    Reply

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It’s All in My Mind – Art Journal

I love how this page turned out. I had seen a page by my sweet friend Birgit Koopsen where she had used a black art journal and then doodled in white on top of it and that set off this page. I painted my art journal page with black gesso, let it dry and then added some white watercolor ground into the the middle area.

I then used different stencils of mine and used a white Signo Pen to outline some patterns on the black gesso

I stamped the different houses from my Stroll Around The Block Set with archival ink and then added watercolor and the journaling.

The watercolor ground gives a lot of tooth- so the watercolor looks a bit different on it when on normal watercolor paper- but I love the texture.

It was fun playing with different media and a different ground

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


Comments (2)

  • Sue Clarke

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    I love how the white pattern on black sets the background for the rest of the page.
    I must try this soon in my new art journal!

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Art Journal Flip Through 12/2017

Just in time for a new year I finished one of my art journals. I am keeping about 4-5 journals at the same time, sometimes I send one out to a publisher and then it takes a couple months before I get it back or I work in several at the same time – anyway- this one in the video started in 2015 and it ends in December 2017 – some pages make me cringe- some I would love to do similar stuff again.

Art Journal Flip Through 12/2017 from Nathalie Kalbach on Vimeo.

I think it is interesting to see how my style changed in one book and a good way to check on your progress :) Hope you enjoyed this!

Comments (6)

  • Catherine

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    Beautiful journal, very inspiring!

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  • maura

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    Cool flip through! Lots of different ideas in there. I swear one of those figures winked at me as you went through the pages, LOL!

    Reply

  • Lisa

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    Great journal! Is it the large Dyan Reaveley one? Are most of your art journals that size or do you work in smaller ones as well.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you Lisa- this is the letter sized /A4 sized Dyan Reaveley journal. I do mostly work in that size even when I make my own journal -and I always work double spread.

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If I knew… Art Journal

Do you ever wonder, what you would have done if you just knew ….?

I love the color combination, which I was inspired to used by a painting by Marc Rothko. I love breaking away from my usual color uses by exploring other artists and then use their color schemes or combinations.

Lot’s of pattern with acrylic ink applied with foam stamps and stencils.

Here are the supplies I used, besides acrylic paints:


What is your favorite color combination at the moment?

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Do it Anyway – Art Journal

Be scared and do it anyway …it’s a good motto don’t you think?

In a recent class I had shown my Valley Road Foam Stamps stamped with acrylic paint and then added some blocks of acrylic paint partly over them here and there for a background.

I tried out some of the Finnabair Alchemy Wax – love it- it actually dries permanently and you can see the red/brown areas on the art journal page which are created by rubbing some of the wax on.

I also made some marks with my new Tom Norton tool and walnut ink and it was all in all a playful spread trying out new supplies – fun, fast and educational :)

Are are some of the supplies I used besides Acrylic paints:

did you get some new art supplies over the holidays?

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Yes to new supplies and I’ve been making a paint mess on my kitchen table!

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Hope is what keeps us going – Art Journal

This started as a page where I had scraped off some paint at the back of my art journal and while the color combination was first not striking and now feel it works quite well :)

I painted over a magazine image with Neopastels and used my new My Home is my Castle numerals stamps as well as some of the building stamps from the Stroll Around The Block set.

I included the Hope – and Love Tag into the journaling. I like how the buildings stamped with white ink are playing well with the the marks and stamping of the background.

Here are some of the supplies I used for this art journal page.


have a wonderful day!!!

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Home Away from Home

Today: Dreaming of a little home away from home to soak in some sun, relax and let the world go round without me!

Don’t we all have days like that :) ?

I used the numerals stamp from my Home is my Castle stamp set and stamped it on tape – love the look. I also stamped my art deco stamp from the Stroll Around the Block stamp set and then added some of the Cardboard stamps around it

Some stenciling with the Chicago Stencil and some marks with a soft pencil. I love when the cardboard kind of looks as it comes out through a torn layer of paper, which can be easily achieved with those stamps by only partly inking and stamping them.

Here are some of the supplies I used


Wishing you a wonderful Monday!

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Clack Clack Clack – Art Journal

Strolling around the block :) I really love this color combination which is not my usual suspect

I drew the lady with acrylic paints and neopastels and boy- do I want that jacket – LOL. I stamped with some of my Stroll Around the Block houses and made a lot of marks and patterns.

I love how the Neopastels also create a nice textured look (blue line)  in comparison to the smooth look of acrylic markers (red lines and orange x’s).

And of course played with the contrast of colors here too.

Here are some of the supplies I used for this spread


Hope you have a wonderful day and maybe even some time to stroll around the block today :)

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Workshops at Runaway Art & Craft in Oregon

Last weekend I made my way to Oregon to teach at Runaway Art & Craft – look at this cool view I had from the plane of Mount Hood!

It was so lovely to meet Christy the owner- she has an amazing store – you have to check it out when you are in the area. Can you tell I loved her:

And such a cool classroom as well – spacious and well organized and hey…a brick wall …you gotta love a brick wall as well!

Saturday I taught my Stroll Through the Hood Workshop and a Master Art Express Art Journaling Workshop

Loved all the cool color combinations people started out with on their Ampersand boards in the Stroll Through the Hood Class.

 

Love this gorgeous swirly sky and the patterns on here

 

So much fun to see the different interpretations .

Loved how this was stamped with the back of my ArtFoamies Midtown Stamps and then using the door stamp from My Home is My Castle stamp set as a window- as well as my new art deco house.

It was so cool to see all the new stamps in store as well – it was the first time I was using them in a workshop – woot woot.  A lot of them sold out but she might still have a couple!

 

 

We even did a group photo- yeahhh!

Loved the art journal classes as well- loads of pattern play and color exploration.

Look at all the stencils and stamps- It is still a weird thing to see- seriously!

Here is my wonderful sunday crowd – they were so much fun too!!!

This weekend made me super happy- I just love hanging out with people that love to create and smile a lot :)

Art Journal Spread before some color hit it

 

Thank you so much to all the students for coming to the classes and spending such a fun and wonderful time with me and thank you Christy for having me! I hope I will be back some time :)

If you want to take a workshop with me in-person – some of my 2018 workshops are posted here – some i still need to add – I would love to see you ! I am super excited that I will actually be also teaching in Europe 4 times next year, I will be teaching in The Netherlands in April,  in the U.K in June together with my sweet friend Birgit Koopsen, in Germany in September, and in the U.K again in November with my wonderful friend Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. More infos soon :)

Comments (6)

  • Jackie P Neal

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    Nat,
    Such awesome photos you shared here! Obviously you taught well and these ladies were so inspired- the artworks they made are beautiful!
    My favorite photo is the one that shows all of your stamps and stencils!! What a feeling that must be to see that and to know you have realized a dream! Congratulations to you on all of your endeavors!
    Off to Rubbermoon to see your new stamps- I am so syked! (sic)
    hugs & love,Jackie

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Awe- thank you Jackie- it is indeed always a weird feeling to see the stuff in a store- kind of a like a pinch me now moment :)
      hugs and love right back :)

      Reply

  • Clavell

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    You set the tone for FUN, Nathalie! I loved your exercises in color theory and your encouragement to find our own style by exploring the work of our favorite Masters! You are a wonderful and gifted teacher! ♥

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      It was so wonderful to have you Clavell! Loved what you did with the boards and your flower -exercise was so beautiful. Have a wonderful holiday season and hopefully next year again :)

      Reply

  • Pam Hansen

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    The weekend was so awesome. It was so much fun, definetly lots of smiling and learning going on in my corner! Thank you for sharing your artsy goodness, smiles, talent and time with us.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Pam – it was so wonderful to meet you- I loved having you in class and going full in with all the creative inspiration. Have a wonderful holiday season and lots of time for artsy goodness :)

      Reply

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