or in German: Kann ich…muss ich aber nicht. A theme that I should take more serious sometimes ;)
I had heaps of fun with this one :)
The stamp set I found again while sorting through my studio – they were the first stamps I created back then for my Product Line eMOTions for the french company Sultane. I still love them.
Here is the whole list of supplies I used.
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Have a great day :)
Nat
Last Thursday my husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and as we desperately needed a break from packing, sorting, preparing for over-the-pond-move and working…my husband came up with the amazing idea of a short trip to Paris. I tell you…he is a keeper :) We got engaged in Paris and we spent several wonderful times there- so what better place to go than there. Thursday morning -we flew in in the crack of the dawn.
Paris is just so insanely inspiring – architecture, art, food …the river seine…makes you hum “Insane in the membrane” all the time… well…at least if you are as insane as hubs and I ;)
Insane amount of locks at Pont Neuf – after a wonderful picnic at the Seine with Cheese, Wine and Pate and of course a Baguette – all purchased at the Market in Rue Mouffetard. Very romantic…
Insanely cool street art.
Insane views of Paris from the escalator outside the Centre Georges Pompidou…which also contains an insane amount of wonderful artwork
Amazing special exhibition of Roy Lichtenstein’s work and life. The more fun as I finally grasp the humor and allusions in his work…especially references to Picasso or Matisse etc.
Loving this painting by Matisse Decorative Figure on an Ornamental Background – The pattern of the wallpaper and the rug and then this calm posture of the woman – It gave me goosebumps – so beautiful!
Insane Texture on this Oil painting by Antoine Pevsner Femme Déguisée – I couldn’t get away from it- you have to see it in real life!!!
On Rue de Rivoli …one of the most famous streets with many label stores – is number 59 – squatted by artists in 1999. The building had been abandoned for 15 years by then and the artists found a way to open it up, revive an empty space, create a place for artists to create and set their studios in there.
It’s now legalized and still open to the public who can come through and visit the artists.
Gotta love this staircase! Insane patina!
at a bar…pickled garlic. Insane…and sooo yummie! Reminded me of Portlandia “I can pickle that!”
Wonderful romantic dinner at Le Train Bleu – I made my husband shoot wine through his nose …I am a funny person…we might have been the bad table…we giggled too much. But hey- who cares..we are insane and married for 10 years ;)
Insane building- Musee d’Orsay – located in an old beautiful train station. It became too small when the trains got longer – and was fortunately saved from being demolished when the idea was formed to put a museum in here. The architecture alone is amazing – but the art is stunning too (no photos allowed)
Every corner a new interesting view
That was so cool- an insane look over Paris through the outside clock of the museum
And since Julie’s visit in July I decided rickshaws are the best way to view a city…we did an insane rickshaw ride :)
Insane fretwork facade on this building!
and less than 48 insane hours later…we flew out again. Insane in the membrane….Inspired, relaxed and refueled …bring the move on in 20 days :)
Hope you enjoyed the picture overload and got as insanely inspired as I was :)
huge hugs
Nat
First off- Happy 10th Anniversary!!
secondly..I’m INSANELY envious of your 48 hour trip! lol
Nat, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful trip! I have never been to Paris(never even out of the US(Canada) and your pictures were such awe inspiring highlights- I just keep going over them! So cool for you- Good luck and Happy memories on your next 10 years with your Hub!
xoxo thanks again Jackie
Happy anniversary; so nice to know you are still kids at heart! Enjoyed all the awesome pictures, especially the staircase!
Carmen L
Insanely AWESOME! Thanks for sharing!
It’s so nice to be able to laugh with your Hubbie after 10 years. They say that is one of the most important things that keeps a marriage strong. I’m sure you both were thinking, “Hey, lets go to Paris. Once we’re in NY, we won’t be able to go there anytime, on a whim.” Smart idea. Loved that “I can pickle that!” episode of Portlandia. Yep, I love you and your sense of humor!
Happy 10th Anniversary! I love your pics and the oil painting seems to have an eye that is staring right at me. Love George Clooney being a doctor for Snow White.
He is a keeper! what wonder art and views of the architecture. Now that’s the way to celebrate an anniversary. Xox
Insanely wonderful! : ) Happy Anniversary. I’ve wanted to go to Paris my whole life. My husband, who is Belgian, doesn’t understand this need, When we visit family in Europe in Feb., I am going to go and meet a girlfriend there. Thanks for the inspiration! I definitely want to check out that artists’ building.
Insanely wonderful!
What a wonderful weekend! Happy Anniversary!
So glad you had an insanely fab time!!
Happy anniversary! Thank you for giving us this photo tour of your trip. Well done and your husband does sound like a keeper. I really love the last photo, gad me giggling.
Happy Anniversary! I’m glad you had a great time in Paris. I would love to go one day. Thanks for sharing,
“I love Paris!” It is so beautiful. I found a wonderful paper shop near the Pont Neuf. I even bought papyrus there. Thanks for the wonderful tour.
Happy anniversary!
Looks like you’ve had the best celebration, lots of wonderful photos!
how romantic!
thanks for the pics. Beautiful
What a wonderful way of celebrating your anniversary! Thanks for pics from Paris, which gave me nostalgia from old times.
An Insane trip indeed! loved looking at your insane photo’s. I LOVED Paris so much when we were there, only for 3days sadly and I Soooooo want to go back. One of the drawbacks of living in Australia , everything is sooooo far away :(
Happy Anniversary
Mary
Happy happy anniversary! I loved seeing your photos!
Aaaah! Thanks for this lovely photo- trip! Paris is so special even for French people. And it is a lovers’ place. I live two hours away from Paris by train and did two short trips there last year with my son, one in August and one at Christmas and both were so inspiring! I didn’t know about the artists’ place in Rue de Rivoli; on my list for the next trip.
Happy anniversary! Glad you took some time off to celebrate. Great photos.
This video about 94 year old painter Hy Snell made me laugh (What’s an abstract?) and cry at the same time- beautiful video – and so many great things are being said in here:
“I am 94 and 1/2 years old and I am still painting wonderful pictures”…what is not to love about this! ?
Hugs
Nat
Thanks for the video, Nat! That men reminded me of my dad. He was still dancing three days before he fell sick and passed away three months after that. He was 99 yo, just five months short of his 100th birthday. He taught me to always laugh at life. I can hardly wait to see him again!
Carmen L
Amazing!! Loved it!
Made my day. Thank you :)
What a awe*some vid. I hope we both have the fortune to be 94 and still painting, experimenting, and being creative. Thank you for sharing this…I needed it!
So sweet! What an amazing attitude!
That was so wonderful…..made my day and I will be thinking about this for a long time. Thanks for sharing this!!
I always love the videos that you post Nat.
This one is especially wonderful.
“I don’t have time to tell you what an abstract is, I’m busy working.”
Priceless.
Awesome video, Nat! Would sure love to meet him…..great attitude and still looking forward, not behind, is what keeps him young!! Thanks for sharing here!
All the videos you post helps me to grow, I can’t get the noise out of my head of the metal faces being walked upon. Still go back and watch the Lion and listen to the words. Love to hear the music Hy is singing! You never fail to bring us great video to watch.
Just beautiful!
That was great, what a wonderful person he is.
I hope I am still painting at 94 1/2… Thanks for sharing this…
Welcome to my 5th Stencil Blog Hop! This time I invited 5 wonderful artist friends to hop along with me and show case my 6×6 inch StencilGirl Products StandUp Bass Stencil.
And I give away one StandUp Bass Stencil! Comment here for an entry into this giveaway! And if you also comment on all the other listed blogs I will give you an entry into the giveaway for each blog you comment on–how cool is that! You have six chances to win it. Leave a comment on each of the listed blogs and on my blog and let us know how you like the projects and I will pick randomly one lucky winner. You have time to comment till August 27, 2013 – midnight EST.
Edited on August 31, 2013: The winner is Cyndi from CeeCee Studio, Congratulations. Cindy, please email me with your postal address so I can get this stencil sent out to you 
, Nat
Here are my friends joining me this time :
Louise Nelson: My rocking friend from Australia- cannot wait myself to see what she has up her sleeves this time :)
Carmen Sanchez: Cuchy always has the most fun ideas – she is a wonderful artist from Madrid, Spain
Carolyn Dube: rocks the stencils on the StencilGirl Products Creative Team!
Michelle Hernandez: did a wonderful project last week already with my typewriter stencil- I cannot wait what this amazing Scrapbooker is doing this week
Maria McGuire: another stencil queen and the Creative Team Leader at StencilGirl Products
Why a StandUp Bass? Well…that is what I see when I walk into my husband’s music room next to my studio. I love this instrument. It is massive and beautiful and I love the sound of it too. I thought it can represent so many things like music, art, harmony, it is a good birthday card theme etc.
Here is what I created for today:
This is a gift card holder. I created it using two manila tags and here is how:
Starting with Tag 1
After you used the chalk through the stencil on tag one- you have a lot of access of chalk on top of the stencil
and here is the other side of the gift card holder after spicing it up with some fun stamps etc.
Here are the supplies I used:
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Now hop on over to my friends and check what they did and comment for some changes to win the stencil :)
Have Fun
Nat
Nat – LOVE your stencils! You’re so talented. Would LOVE to win any of them! I hope U pick my name…
Grandma Nancy Sapp
Nat, it looks like I just commented, but it was back in August. Thanks for the second chance to win the cello. I love the technique you used of double stenciling!
Carmen L
cal8007 at aol dot com
Love the techniques! I especially like how the bass looks when using a second color and offsetting it a little and stamping.
What an amazing technique, Nat! I believe in not wasting anything! Love the gift tag and the stencil for what it stands for!
Hugs,
Carmen L
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 .
Again symbols, landmarks and typical Hamburg-related things on this canvas.
I painted with Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic Paints, Markers and Spray Paints.
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
Ready for one more new stencil? My new 9×12 inch Arabesque Stencil that I designed for StencilGirl Products is in the house :)
I love background stencils- and I wanted one that is swirly but also a bit grungy…and this is what I came up with.
I had lot’s of fun turning this into a little spanish themed art journal page while teaching in Madrid :)
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huge hugs
Nat
Are you ready for the 2nd photo of the Second Round of Whatevers? If you missed what the Whatevers is all about or want to see all the past photos and takes…check it out here.
Click here to see what Cat, Vicki, Martha and Cuchy made out of the photo and which story they tell.
Here is my take:
Journaling:
He was good, really really good. No wonder he became the mayor of Stompville. He was able to manipulate people so they’d believe everythin g – like that they meant the moon and the sun and were the only ones!
I used my Oldtimer Stencil with StencilGirl Products and sprayed on Watercolor Paper. Then I traced a little bit with an ink pen, cut the car out- cutting off also the top of the car. I colored in the white spaces of the car with Derwent Artbars. I applied the three behind the car. Fun – It looks a bit comic style- collage ;)
And here is the photo of this month’s Whatever for you:
Here is how it works
Nat
Welcome to my 4th Stencil Blog Hop! This time I invited four wonderful artist friends to hop along with me and show case my StencilGirl Products Typewriter Stencil. It is a 6×6 inch stencil.
And I give away one Typewriter Stencil! Comment here for an entry into this giveaway! And if you also comment on all the other listed blogs I will give you an entry into the giveaway for each blog you comment on–how cool is that! You have five chances to win it. Leave a comment on each of the listed blogs and on my blog and let us know how you like the projects and I will pick randomly one lucky winner. You have time to comment till August 20, 2013 – midnight EST.
Edited on August 21, 2013: The winner is Lura Brown, Congratulations. Lura, please email me with your postal address so I can get this stencil sent out to you , Nat
Here are my friends joining me this time :
Martha Richardson: I know Martha now for some time- we worked together on a design team and she always blew me away with her amazing projects.
Maria McGuire: She is rocking it now for several blog hops- she is awesome!
Corrine Gilman: I discovered her because she is a member of the StencilGirl Creative Team and boy do I love her work – it is so beautiful!
Michelle Hernandez: Michelle is an awesome scrapbooker who makes me laugh a lot with her humor and who I finally had the pleasure to meet this summer in NYC
I designed this stencil because I love typewriters. When I grew up I had this gigantic old office typewriter from the 40s which I used to write my first novel on. The novel never made it to more then 11 pages, when it was replaced by a new idea- but anyway- I loved my typewriter. I am also one of those people that learned proper blind typewriting and I am quite quick and good at it – LOL. I bought a nice old one at a flea market and it must weigh a thousand pounds. There is a lot I connect with typewriters: vintage, office, notes, letters, work, messages….
Check out some samples I did already here:
Here is what I created for today:
It is a crazy art journal page ;) I do love to use random pages in my art journal and scrape off leftover paint, try out on an small area a little technique and often times I get this huge dimension and depth in a background which is ready to finish. I used the typewriter Stencil with some acrylic paint that stenciled through onto some marbleized paper.
I cut out the typewriter – added a slid through which I put a piece of canvas with with a “note to myself” tag and then mounted it on small 3D Foam Pads. The journaling reads “Seriously don’t take others or yourself too serious!”
I also love using the typing keys of the typewriter by itself for mark making -and you can see I did it throughout the spread but also around the pages as a frame.
Here are the supplies I used:
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Now hop on over to my friends and check what they did and comment for some changes to win the stencil :)
Have Fun
Nat
I just found your site through another site..love blog hops and how they lead me to wonderful inspiration! wonderful! love the blog hop!
Oh, what a lovely stencil! I am a secretary and also learned how to type at home on such an old mechanical one. It was painful for my smallest finger, because sometimes it slipped between two keys. Nice, colourfull artwork. Greetings, Cindy
This is one very happy riot of color… LOVE it and the typewriter is awesome as a solid sturdy base on top of all the rich layers of color.
you just keep getting better and better. i love all your stencils but i have to say that this has to be one of my favorites, i have always loved old typewriters and you did just an awesome job making a stencil out of this one. i will go to all the other blogs cause i love seeing what they did with it and get to meet new artists that i might not have ever found besides thru you. remember we met at CHA last year?? i sure am hoping that you are coming again in january. would love to see you and of course give you a hug. thanks for doing these blog giveaways, i cant afford to buy much living on disability so it is uber cool to have so many chances to win. you are the best! much love. xoxo
Congratulations Lura- you are the winner of the typewriter Stencil- please email me with your address- so we can send you out the stencil! Nat
Love the stencil! Some years ago I made a quilt from a photo of vintage typewriters. Would love to get my hands on that stencil and use it in some quilts too! Thanks for creating it and sharing.
textilerecycler@yahoo.com
I love typewriters too so fun to see them as art now!
I hope I win the stencil it would be way fun!
So excited about my new 9×121 inch stencil called Elephant March that I designed for StencilGirl Products (and yes- the art journal page is called elephant waltz ;) )
I do love elephants and I had such a blast creating this stencil. I also wanted the pattern of the elephant blanket to be possibly used just as is – so it is like a two in one stencil.
You can also get a peak at another stencil I just released in the background ;) but more about it later.
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I hope you like the Elephant March
huge hugs
Nat
Comments (4)
Sue Clarke
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Great colors and I still love the few scraps of paper that I have from your eMOTions product line. Put some in my art journal a few weeks ago and still have one little scrap left. LOL
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Jean A Marmo
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So bright and bold!
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Kirsten Alicia
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Wow, gorgeous artwork.
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Raffaello
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stunning !!!!
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