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Art Stroll: JCAST Flagship Gallery, New Jersey

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In October the Jersey City Art & Studio Tour 2016 – JCAST – took place and this was the third time I participated since I moved to the States. The flagship gallery in an old warehouse in JC was hopping and bopping with fun artwork and I was stoked to be part the group show.

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I had thirteen paintings displayed – a series called “Urbanomics” and it was fun to see my family and friends coming out for the show

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There was a lot of beautiful and inspiring artwork around – and I love getting to know more local artists and their work – there is so much talent here- it is mind blowing.

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Unfortunately I forgot to jot down the name of the artist above. I loved it- the colors are actually different colored lights projected on the wall – the black lines of the geometric shapes are duct tape.

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The paintings and the mural are by Blair Urban.

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Lot’s of beautiful artwork in every corner.

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Nupur Nishith, Panchtatva, acrylic and ink on canvas . Loved how intricate and colorful this was and Nupur explained to me the different elements of the painting.

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Susan George, Ink on paper. Susan is my neighbor and I love how she made those paintings with ink on paper- inspired by zentangle and traditional mandala – every detail of these paintings were so perfect- it was amazing.

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Tom Wilson, Blue Room, acrylic, enamel, speaker cones, epoxy – loved the use of material and lines and colors.

 

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Juan-Ramiro Torres, Elan Vital, acrylic on canvas – I always love Juan’s paintings – the texture and forms – beautiful.

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Dylan Egon with an installation of his iconic imagery.

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Lina Hsaio, Mutant 1, Mixed Media on Wood – I love Lina’s work- her mix of materials and play with visual and actual dimension is stunning.

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Monique Sarfity, Pushing Buttons, Keyboard Mosaic – this was really fun  !

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Monique Sarfity, Brown Bird on My Shoulder, Scrabble Mosaic – as well as that.

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Meghan McKee – this encaustic piece was my absolute favorite of the show – I so want to own it. Meghan does beautiful artwork and I definitely will source her out more :)

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It was a great show and I am already looking forward to next year.

Do you have a local Art and Studio Tour where you live?

Nat

Comments (8)

  • Nupur Nishith

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    Hey Nathalie, I happened to see this post today. It was great meeting you at JCAST. You are very talented. i loved your site. Its really beautifully presented. Thanks for including me in your JCAST story. Hope to be in touch in future.
    Nupur

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Hi Nupur, it was wonderful meeting you! Hope to see you again in JC :) Love your work!!! Nat

      Reply

  • Peg Hewitt

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    Wow, what a fabulous art space! I love all the booths and the variety of art is so broad. Lots of ideas and inspiration there!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      So glad you enjoyed it Peg! good to hear from you too – hope all is well in Australia :) Nat

      Reply

  • Nancy Faulls

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    Hi Nat!
    Thanks for sharing. Maybe I will drive up from Delaware next year. I am in South Carolina for Thanksgiving so I missed the 22nd Southeastern Delaware art studio tour. It would have been so cool to see our local artists in their own creative spaces.
    Nancy

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      That would be amazing Nancy! And yeah- hope you will see your local tour in 2017 – but hey- Thanksgiving in South Carolina sounds like a great place to be too :)hugs, nat

      Reply

  • Judith

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    Thanks Nathalie for this lovely little art exhibit — it cheered up my morning after 2 weeks of feeling sad about the election. Art does heal, in many ways! Please keep them coming, always a joy to experience the work of others and honor their efforts across cultures, styles, and materials!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      HI Judith, I am so glad I could cheer you up a little bit! Big hugs to you! Yes art does heal- I have been doing a lot o art the last couple weeks! Have a wonderful sunday!!! Nat

      Reply

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Art Journal: The Wand Chooses The Wizard

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“Honey, just remember: the wand chooses the wizard” – what a fun quote.

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I painted the background in different purple tones and shades with acrylic paint and then used the Santiago 9×12 Stencil on top with some grey and also some purple.

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I used acrylic markers on top of a magazine image and added some detail with a black pen and a pencil.

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Love the worn painted look and the stencil gave it a lot of dimension.

Here are the supplies I used for this art journal spread- some are affiliate links:

supplies


Hope you are wearing a great wand this week :)

Nat

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Inspired by… Valparaiso, Chile – Exploring Street Art & Colors

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Valparaiso was definitely my favorite while in Chile. Big seaport city, a declared UNESCO World Heritage Site, colorful and fun to explore. Did you hear: Colorful?!

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An amazing amount of street art and painted houses along the winded streets of the hills.

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The cables are kind of as crazy as in the U.S.  lol – – but I was smitten by the colorful stairs.

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There was just so much to see and take in

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Valparaiso was once called “Little San Francisco” and streets like these made me understand why :) As you stop every 2 seconds too look at something colorful and amazing you make your way way up there – good workout to walk off some of the delicious empanadas we had for lunch.

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How fun is this lady?

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and I so so so loved the colors and imagery and patterns here

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And some fun mark making patterns

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swoon

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More beautiful flowers set next to a beautiful blue house – BAM like color explosion

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I loved that the hydrants were yellow and not red.

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Look at this row of houses all in different colors

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and a door bell plate

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and the mixture of corrogated metal, wooden door and graphity – I love the texture, the colors and the feel

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Some interesting houses – loads of balconies

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Amazing!

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Inspiration EVERYWHERE

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and it was so green too

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but I did feel for the gas cartridge delivery guy – ouch!

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And so slowly we made our way down – had some seafood close to the harbor and went back to Santiago.

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This day in Valparaiso made me super happy – I am smiling writing the post and looking at those photos again. Hope you enjoyed the photos as much :)

Nat

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Good Things Just Keep Happening – Michelle Rydell

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Today, Michelle Rydell from my Creative Squad is sharing a stunning art journal spread using this month’s theme: “Good Things Just Keep Happening.” I invite you to join me and my Creative Squad this November, in the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, to remind ourselves to be thankful for even the smallest things. Every once in a while it feels nice to slow down and recognize the good stuff that’s all around us. What Good Thing happened to you today?

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One thing I can always count on to make me feel happy is nature. My hubby Michael and I went to Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park in October. The mountains are gorgeous that time of year, and the Elk are in their rut (mating season), so you can see them out and about in large numbers; and hear the bulls bugling. We’ve fallen so in love with the elk and the mountains, that we’ve made this trip three times.

For my page, I decided to use just one stencil – Buenos Aires – and experiment with different ways to use it. And, I decided to make the page as a tribute to the beautiful, beloved elk:

Here’s the way the spread looked before I started. On the left is part of a fold-out Jayhawks poster, and on the right is a magazine page that I had previously painted on…

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I started with a coat of yellow acrylic paint…

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After the paint set for about a minute; I rubbed a baby wipe thru the stencil on the right side of the page; and then sprayed some mist through the stencil on the left side to balance out the colors…

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Then I did some all-over stenciling with acrylic paint in orange and pink, and let that dry completely…

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After that I put a coat of turquoise over the whole thing; let it sit for a minute; and then rubbed a baby wipe through the stencil again; only this time I just used one little part of the design, to create circles to let the warm colors show through…

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A little doodling with a white paint pen here and there…

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I printed out a pic that I took of one of the elk, sized to fit the page; and then got another idea…

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I wanted to represent a harvest moon behind the elk; so I took a large circle I had previously cut out of a sheet of cardstock; and used it to make a large red backdrop for the moon…

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Then used the Buenos Aires stencil to add an orange and pink pattern…

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I fussy-cut the elk, pasted him onto the page, added a mound for him to stand on; and finished the page with a quote that sums up my feelings about nature. Here’s my finished page…

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What a glorious, beautiful page!  And I love how Michelle used my Buenos Aires stencil in so many different ways to create different effects in the layers of background.  In addition to a photo printout, card stock, and some glue, here are the supplies Michelle used to create her page – some links are affiliate links:

supplies



Play along with us! 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 “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

Nat

Comments (5)

  • Sharon Fritchman

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    Fabulous journal pages, Michelle! I love your creativity! Just amazing!!!!

    Reply

  • Marit

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    Just fabulous Michelle! LOVE the big ‘moon’ with the pattern!

    Reply

  • Jean Goza

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    Wow! What a stunning page.I love all the color and the elk. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

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Art Journaling Live 3 – DVD and Download

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In June, I went to Arlington, Texas to teach together with MaryBeth Shaw, Jodi Ohl and Gina Rossi Armfield an Art Journaling Live Class which was recorded and is now available as 2 DVDs in my shop and also as a Download from the North Light Shop.

The cool thing is that you get four teachers and four art journaling classes in one. Here is the sneak of my part of the class – I was first up early in the morning:

Hope you enjoy it!

Happy Art Journaling my friends

Nat

Comments (2)

  • Joi@RR

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    Oh my stars – what a FABULOUS FOUR you had to have been Nat! Your students must have been on cloud nine. Good you got to go first and then enjoy the rest of the day too! Thanks bunches for the wonderful video sneak peak. LOVE it. Xj.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you Joi, yeah the nervous feeling of the morning was worth it being able to just relax and play along with the other three classes later :) Nat

      Reply

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Upcycled , Recycled: Stenciled Coasters Project

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These coasters were so much fun to make. A couple years ago, someone had given me those coasters, which were pretty, but not quite my taste. Time to upcylce and recylce!

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I painted all coasters in the same color  mix of two different blues with acrylic paint and let them dry.

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Then I grabbed the Buenos Aires, Santiago and Toledo 4×4 stencils which fit exactly onto the coaster. For some coasters I simply placed the stencil on top of the surface and stenciled with a different acrylic paint color through.

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For some I layered some color directly on top of my blue background and then placed the stencil in the wet paint surface and removed paint through the stencil with a baby wipe.

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Once all the stenciling was done and the paint was dry, I coated the coasters with Pouring Medium. I let everything dry overnight and gave them another coating with Pouring Medium to seal the surface off and also to give the coasters some depth and sheen.

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And here you go – the different coasters

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I gave those to my sister in law and she really loved them as they are in her favorite colors. Now …time to make some for myself…maybe for Thanksgiving .

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Here are the supplies I used to make those coasters – some are affiliate links:

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What have you put aside to upcylce or recylcle, but haven’t gotten around to do it yet?

Nat

Comments (2)

  • Joi@RR

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    These turned out so much more YOU Nat! Perfect way to showcase your stencils. Xj.

    Reply

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Inspired by… Santiago de Chile

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My husband was invited to give a talk and a workshop at a conference in Chile. So I went and met him in Santiago de Chile for a little vacation. A day later than planned, as my trip wasn’t starting off very pleasantly. I missed my connecting flight in Houston after sitting three hours due to insane thunderstorms on the runway here in Newark, had to go back home after watching an entire movie on the plane and arrived 24 hours later than planned at my destination.

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But …I was determined to not let this start ruin the trip and as soon as I woke up after a 16 hour flight at 8am in the morning and crossed along the Andes to land in Chile I was super excited and ready for new adventures for the next five days.

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It is spring in Santiago right now and the temperature reached already about 91 F (33C). The flowers and colors everywhere were just so beautiful!

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This is a gorgeous door of the main cathedral in Chile – I just love how modern and happy this looks.

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We climbed up the Santa Lucia Hill from which you can see the snow covered Andes far away and have a beautiful view over the city

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Found a beautiful little church on top of the hill too – which made us feel as if we were in a small village and not in a big and buzzing city.

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I loved this broken tile pavement near an artisan market.

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And there was a lot of street art too.

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And more views from another hill in the city

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with this statue on top.

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And a lot of yummie good food – Ceviche – a fish salad with corn , cilantro, lime, red onions, and sweet potato – delicious and definitely something I will make next summer and Pisco Sour …a very delightful cocktail – and some Empanadas …nom nom nom.

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There were demonstrations on the street every day by government workers because of the privatization of pension funds and due to those strikes the museums and other public places were closed the whole week. I was able to go to some museums before our flight home on the last day- and will of course share an Art Stroll with you soon :) We also had a little earth quake which could be felt by the conference attendees and my husband in the university (it was a 6.4 magnitude earth quake about 50 miles away and shook the building quite a lot – luckily nothing bad happened) while I two blocks away stepped accidentally into the middle of the demonstration and if it shook- I must have thought it was the police tanks- LOL – I did not realize anything. And yes- I was safe – these were very peaceful demonstrations!

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This was my favorite graffiti not knowing that it had a deeper meaning too. I just loved this guy and the dimension and the shadow and then later in the museum I found photographs from the turn of the century of the last living members of a tribe called Selk’nam and in those photos one of the body paintings for ceremonies and head gear was like the one in the graffiti. One wasn’t allowed to take photos of the photos- but I found a pinterest board with some of the images if you are interested. It filled me with a lot of sadness that the Selk’nam tribe in these photos taken just a bit over a hundred years ago is now extinct.

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Here is more street art from Santiago

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These two were close to the Museum of Fine Art. I found them so unique and different in their colors, of course the symbols etc. and I wish I had the key to read the deeper meaning to those.

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Hope you liked the little trip to Santiago- there is more to come from my trip there – stay tuned .

have a gorgeous weekend!

Nat

Comments (9)

  • Judi

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    We went to Chile in 2007. Truthfully, I felt safer there than in my own country the USA! Several people reached out to help us without us asking for assistance. We had a wonderful time there visiting several cities including Santiago. It was memorable!!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      judi that sounds wonderful, which other cities were you at? Nat

      Reply

        • nathalie-kalbach

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          Thank you so much for sharing Judi! Valparaiso was my favorite. But that was all I saw- Santiago and Valparaiso – I guess I have to come back :)

          Reply

          • Judi

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            We hate flying long flights so I doubt we will go back but we have great memories of that trip. Chile was one of my all time favorite countries we have visited. We felt very safe and cared for by the very kind people living there. I hope you get a chance to return to see more. Take care.

            Reply

  • JoAnn

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    Thank you for sharing and I love your new website.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you so much JoAnn- so glad you like it :) Have a wonderful weekend!

      Reply

  • Carolina Nicewarner

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    Natalie,

    Thank you so much for the window into Chile. That trip is on our bucket list, something we both want to do before we don’t have time left. Do you feel safe during your trip? We lived in Venezuela for 3 years, about 12 years ago, and the people were so so kind, and the country was gorgeous. Unfortunately, since we left, there have been many changes and travel there is not suggested, which is so sad.

    Cannot wait to see the rest of your pictures…

    Carolina

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Hi Carolina, glad you enjoyed the post. Yes- I felt safe- I mean of course as in every city you have to be aware to not flash your belongings around or keep your bag close to you etc. Pickpocketing is an issue. But other than that I did not feel more unsafe when being in NYC. Everyone was super helpful and nice and I had a very positive experience. Hope you will have a good time as well.

      Reply

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Make a Mark Tag

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I made this tag for fun and will use it either as a gift tag or put it into my art journal. I stamped with the Art Foamies Batik Pattern 1 and Batik Pattern 3 Foam Stamp and Acrylic Paint and then tried my new Varco Art Grafs out – I have to show you those soon- Oh man the colors are so yum! They are graphite blocks and are awesome for drawing, painting and writing.

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Loving the mixture of the acrylic paint and the graphite. I guess time to film a Creative Icebreaker with those soon :)

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

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Hope you make your mark today :)

Nat

Comments (4)

  • Jean Goza

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    The tag is awesome! Great color and texture. Would love to know more about how you use the Artgrafs.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Hi Jean, thank you so much! I make sure to use them very soon in a video and tell more. Still exploring them a bit more- I love them already :)

      Reply

  • stephanie

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    Very cool! Did you do a wash of paint(s) for the background?

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Hi Stephanie, I stamped with the acrylic paints and the stamps directly onto the tag and then used the ArtGraf Varcos and did a wash – they are super pigmented and made the stamped areas really pop.

      Reply

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