“Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful!”
I used my pencil eraser for a dot stamp – a simple trick. My pattern includes the Grove Street stamp from my Large Circle Jumble set, the Fairview stamp from the Fantastic Small set, and my Fanfare stamp set.
A look at my background.
Then I added my figure sketched and painted with acrylic paint, ink, and a fude pen on deli paper.
Here are some of the supplies I used:
I’m celebrating my birthday with a SALE at nathaliesstudio.com! My birthday comes at a great time of the year – awesome weather, lots of time to spend outside with friends, and even a few firework shows! (ok that last one may be because my birthday is also right around a major holiday here in the US lol – Happy 4th of July everyone!) Let’s celebrate together!
Just use the coupon code NATDAY20 to save 20% off all physical products (excluding artwork and prints) in my online shop. The sale runs through July 7 at 11:59pm EST.
This is a great chance to shop for some of my Rubber Stamp designs and sets. The super popular Fan-tastic Small and Hex Set Large are both eligible.
You can also use the coupon for my mugs featuring my artwork – some designs are already on sale so it’s a great time to get a nice price.
And of course now is the time to stock up on some of my stencils while the sale is happening!
Visit the shop and save- my Nat’s Birthday Sale runs through July 7th at 11:59pm EST.
Hello and welcome to a post from my Creative Squad! Today we have Tania Ahmed starting us off this month with a delightful and easy decorating idea for the kitchen. She is using my Fantastic Large rubber stamps, my Van Vorst stencil, and this month’s theme: Food for Thought – Let’s take a lighthearted look at food! While the culinary world has become an art and a science in terms of preparation and presentation, sometimes it is the simplest foods that bring us the most joy. Simple fare or elaborate family traditions, we all have our favorite foods. What is yours?
The theme that we were given for the month of July is Food For Thought, which gave me plenty to think about what to make as my project! I decided on creating a place mat, which I think will actually make a perfect present for someone special! :)
Watch my video tutorial:
I stamped Broadway Fan Stamp and Park Avenue Fan Stamp in alternating colours and lines. They are so easy to line up and even if they don’t line up perfectly, when you see the overall design it adds to the handmade charm, so I like to think! ;) At this point you can add stitching over the lines to make it extra fancy or even use a permanent marker to add more details.
I liked how the colours looked very patriotic so I kept the same blue ink for the stencil. I created a mask and cut it out, and taped it down on my canvas. I then taped down the Van Vorst stencil and applied my ink with a makeup sponge.
After making sure the ink was completely dry, I finished off the edges with some iron on adhesive and if desired you can add some felt or more fabric to finish of the back of the mat.
And lastly, I enjoyed my new place mat with one of my favourite meals: pasta! My cat Billi also makes an appearance in the video as she is my assistant, always supervising my filming or editing making sure I am working hard :)
Thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy the video!
Thank you Tania! Wow we feel really inspired to try making some of these quick and easy placemats ourselves!!! And also now we are hungry :) haha. You can find all of my Rubber Stamps and my Stencils in my online shop. Here are some of the other supplies Tania used:
Feel inspired? Working on something yourself that you’d like to share? I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
“I didn’t come this far, to only come this far!”
I received the Scribble Sticks set 3 as a thank you for playing along in the Ranger Designer Challenge in January. I wanted to test them out with my foam stamps. Here is my Funky foam stamp getting a bit of blue…
I wet the foam stamp back and applied the scribble stick and then stamped for the blocks of color. I did the same with the front for the designs.
Here is my Groovy foam stamp design.
Here is a bit of my Gnarly and my Jazzed designs. I loved the colors in this new set – they work perfectly with these foam stamp patterns.
Pretty interesting effect with the back of the stamp too – nice texture. And who doesn’t need a bit of motivation to keep going for more?
Here are some of the supplies that I used:
Wonderful and I have those stamps and scribble sticks…woot woot.
A couple weeks Kim and I went to the city to see the Joan Miró exhibition at MoMA.
It was a real treat – and left me in a very good mood. It started out with these interesting still lifes from 1922-23
The one above is a still life with lamp, sliced tomato and an iron stand. I just love the way he painted the tomato – yes I am a weirdo LOL.
One of the striking things in the early work for me was seeing the colors but also the similarities to some work that I recently saw at the af Klint exhibition. Amazing!
The Hunter (Catalan Landscape) 1923
I always loved Miró’s quirky little shapes and pictographs – do you see the fish sticking it’s tongue to catch the mosquito?
This painting called Dutch Interior I from 1928 is based on this 17th century painting depicting a lute player in a domestic interior.
Miró had bought this postcard reproduction of the work by Hendrick Martensz Sorgh at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and then mapped out his version below.
It makes me itch doing something fun like this as well :)
In a way some of his paintings are like painted collages.
“Birth of the World” 1925
Joan Miró said that The Birth of the World depicts “a sort of genesis”—the amorphous beginnings of life. To make this work, Miró poured, brushed, and flung paint on an unevenly primed canvas so that the paint soaked in some areas and rested on top in others. Atop this relatively uncontrolled application of paint, he added lines and shapes he had previously planned in studies. The bird or kite, shooting star, balloon, and figure with white head may all seem somehow familiar, yet their association is illogical.
Describing his method, Miró said, “Rather than setting out to paint something I began painting and as I paint the picture begins to assert itself, or suggest itself under my brush.… The first stage is free, unconscious. But, he continued, “The second stage is carefully calculated.” The Birth of the World reflects this blend of spontaneity and deliberation.
This painting was way ahead of it’s time and received more love in the 50s when artists like Pollock and Frankenthaler would fling paint and wash raw canvases.
Relief Construction – 1930. Oil on wood, nails, staples, and metal on wood panel. In the summer of 1930 Miró moved away from painting to explore the possibilities of relief sculpture. Made from pieces of wood and metal that could easily have been found at a carpentry shop Relief Construction combines organic shapes. Miró identified the vertical metal spike as the neck and the head of the curved white toros like form. The red disk covered with sharp nails, he said was the sun.
how fun are those? I loved especially Miró’s book illustrations
Woman – Opera Singer- 1934 – Pastel and Pencil on flocked paper
“Painting” 1933 – do you see the cat?
Eyes – looking at you out of his paintings ….
and this and the next and actually EYES everywhere!
I love this one so much!!!
So striking with the red and black !
Interesting assemblage using rope.
Still life with a shoe – 1937 was kind of a shocker- I mean doesn’t that looks like something ultra modern and not from that time with the colors used?
And this sculpture- I mean seriously LOVE
It fascinated me how he very lightly used color – like a wash on the background and then painted so bold and with black and bold colors on the top.
Mirò said once in an interview: “I always have my feet on the ground and my eyes on the stars”
Another gorgeous sculpture.
Portrait of a Man in a Late Nineteenth-Century – Frame – 1950 – Oil on canvas – is one of my favorite paintings in MoMA’s permanent collection. According to Miró his childhood friend Joan Prats came upon an ostentatiously framed, pompous portrait by an unknown painter and sent it to him as a joke. The sitter’s pose and costume, his upturned gaze of inspiration, the devotional medal and ribbon on his table, and the rose garden outside his window typify the bourgeois taste and assuredness of the late 19th century. Within this orderly, rational and humorless world, Miró mischievously inserted his own creatures and signs. As if tot suggest the man’s puzzlement at this unexpected interruption , he punctuated his forehead with a small swirling form.
Hope you enjoyed this little Art Stroll. Kim and I did for sure and I cannot wait to head out to a museum soon again :)
Thank you for sharing, awesome work. I like the Hunter and the one that has what i think looks like a tiger face.
Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed this.
Love is Love is Love
I stamped out a rainbow flag in my art journal using a whole bunch of my rubber stamps – they are all in the links below. I’ve been really into using colored ink pads since I got the Moonlight Duos. They work great with my rubber stamp sets and if you remember to clean your stamps in between colors you can get really clean colors.
I finished the page with my Love Knots and Star Tag stamps, and my message with a Fude Pen.
Here are some of the supplies I used, including all those different stamps:
“The most important decision you will ever make is to be in a good mood.” – Voltaire
I used my Ink Splat Mixed Media Chip here with golden gesso to make a nice thin area of texture on my page.
In the background I used my Far Out foam stamp and my Mini Batik Pattern 1 foam stamp with acrylic paint.
If only it were that easy Voltaire :)
Here are some of the supplies that I used:
As Barry Neil Kaufman says, happiness is a choice.
I LOVE these colors together Nat.
The textured gold “dots” are delightful!
Tania, thank you for that easy to follow video.
I love the colors that you chose for the place mat.
Reply