Come and join Sarah Matthews and me in our April ArtFoamies Challenge throughout the month of April, 2021. Beginning April 1st, we will explore using our ArtFoamies foam stamps each day with color and pattern and so much more. Sarah and I have been collaborating on several projects this past year and also do a monthly Zoomcast called ArtCollab. We are loving this chance to work together, throw ideas around, and to find inspiration in this new adventure.
Follow me on Instagram HERE and Sarah on Instagram HERE for the daily April ArtFoamies Challenge prompts and to see how we interpret them and let our inspiration flow.
Here is the Prompt List:
Each day beginning April 1 on my Instagram page and on Sarah’s Instagram HERE we will post our take on the prompts along with some little videos too. You can either try the same things or just try and do your own approaches following along with the prompts. I so hope you will share what you do and if you post on instagram, use the hashtags #artcollabChallengeAccepted and #Sarah&NatsChallengeAccepted
I’ll also be posting my take on the prompts right here on the blog too, so you can keep up with us :)
Strolls through my hood get me out of my studio, they help me get unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and get new ideas to create something. It is part of my philosophy about Artful Adventures in Mixed Media – which is the subject of my book. Here are some photos that I gathered in the last couple weeks.
Mingus and my husband working on some chords- LOL . One of the things I love about cats is how they see everything with the eyes of a toy, prey or food hahaha – basically can I play with this pencil, can I hunt it, can I eat it?
These wooden entrances are just making me so happy!
Stencil inspiration – at an apartment building in my neighbor hood.
Secret Beach is open until the end of the Month and I loved coming here at low tide.
It was so good to be out even though it was crazy windy that day.
Little green hearts!!!
And this on a tree close to the beach looks like a sea shell – I thought that was cool!
A little bike ride to the edge of the river …this view is on my list of painting subjects. It was so good to be able to get out of the house on a bicycle again – I am missed my daily bike rides. Now that it gets warmer every day I feel much more energized and hopefully for what the year brings :) Hope you are all doing well! Are you exploring the outside a bit more too? Tell me about i!
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a post from Jordan Hill, who is sharing an art journal page that is uplifting and so appropriate. Jordan is using my Art Deco Empire stencil and this month’s theme: Life in Bloom – It’s been a long winter where we are and I’m dreaming of flowers and gardens and spring. Indulge us all in a project that focuses on one of Mother Nature’s most exuberant symbols of life: flowers flowers flowers!
Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing well! For this month’s theme of Life in Bloom, I knew I wanted to try incorporating it in several different ways. In the end, I’m quite happy with the way it turned out and I hope you enjoy following the process!
The first step in creating this month’s page was gluing down a piece of collage. I then blended it into the background with a light blue acrylic paint by slightly overlapping the paper with the paint. I chose a piece of paper that I felt fit in with this month’s theme of Life in Bloom; this particular paper is a scan of an eco dyed paper I did a while back.
Next it was time to add some pattern! I used Nathalie’s Art Deco Empire Stencil, some black acrylic paint and a makeup sponge to fill the background with interest. For this particular spread, I knew that I wanted the stencil to stand out. Since my background was such a light blue, black seemed like the natural choice!
This is where I decided it was time to add a face. Using some acrylic paint in a vague face shape as a base, I started sketching over the top with my trusty Prismacolor colored pencil in the color Black Cherry. This is one of my favorites for sketching, as it isn’t as basic as a black or gray, but is still dark enough for the lines to be clearly defined.
Next, I chose a supporting color of acrylic paint (I decided to go with primary blue for this spread) and started blocking in the shapes of the hair and shirt. I find that using the same color for these two elements is a good way to make your page (and character) feel cohesive. After I had blocked in the color, I then went back in with my colored pencil and reinforced the lines that I had lost when I added the paint. At this point, I also added a few extra lines in the hair to represent flowing strands.
Around this time, I was starting to feel as though the Life in Bloom theme wasn’t strong enough. In order to resolve this, I decided to use a piece of collage (another scan of some previous artwork of mine) to add various blooms around this character’s shoulders. I wanted the buds to look like they were growing from behind her, so I cut up the collage piece (which used to be one large stem) and added them in a way that was more fitting.
During this step I also used Nathalie’s Art Deco Empire Stencil again, this time with a cream colored paint, in order to add some patterning to this character’s shirt.
Then it was time to detail! This is one of my favorite parts of creating journal pages; it’s where everything seems to come together and starts looking a bit more finished. For the details on this particular spread, there were a few things I did. First of all, I added some shadows to the figure’s face using a slightly darker tone of paint, then I added some black line work to the facial features using an ink pen.
I also used the same color of blue I had used for the background to paint around my floral elements, further cementing them into the spread. Additionally, I added a quote in the upper left hand corner that I felt related to the theme of Life in Bloom.
Finally, for the last step, I reached for the Art Deco Empire Stencil one more time in order to add to the stenciling in the background. After adding the figure I felt as though I had lost a lot of the patterning, so I simply lined it up and filled in the rest of the background.
In the end, I think this spread fits the theme of Life in Bloom in the way that I hoped that it would, and I had a lot of fun playing around with the stencil in particular. I hope you enjoyed following the process!
Thank you Jordan – I love that quote and how you pulled your page together. Your character’s style – blue hair and how you used the Art Deco Empire stencil for her top is so cool!
Give it a try: you can find all my Stencils in my Online Shop and in addition to some collage pieces, here are some of the supplies Jordan used:
Don’t forget to check out Nat’s Creative Squad on Instagram too: Each week we post projects, ideas, and inspiration for mixed media art.
Super happy to announce this very special workshop that I am releasing today – Beyond the Paper. I’m teaching along with my amazing friends Birgit Koopsen and Marsha Valk in this 3 week online workshop that goes on sale today and begins on April 4th.
Let’s go Beyond the Paper: Join Nat Kalbach, Birgit Koopsen, and Marsha Valk for an online workshop that goes Beyond the Paper! We’ll be exploring exciting and original substrates to create on, that will invigorate your idea of art journaling and mixed media in general. Cardboard, Dura-Lar, Fabric, and more will be the foundation of our creations and we’ll discuss how to make the most out of these unique surfaces with techniques including foam stamping, printmaking, collage, stitching, and image transfers to name a few. To wrap things up, each teacher will bring some pages to completion and then show you a binding technique for pulling it all together. Learn more and register here.
The goal of Beyond the Paper is to inspire interesting, new ways to think about mixed media and to learn from the perspective and artistry of three different teachers. Also a special NEW foam stamp set, Triple Play will be used in the lessons and is newly released TODAY – for more on that, keep reading :)
Sign up TODAY for Early Bird pricing: Today, March 19th – April 5th, 11.59pm EDT this course is just $89 USD. After that, the course will be its regular price of $139 USD. Sign up now and get a fantastic deal.
Check out the promo video below:
Beyond the Paper includes 21 downloadable video lessons: 7 lessons by each of our teachers. The workshop will begin on April 4 and run for three weeks. Students will have access to a virtual classroom where they can comment on the lessons, ask questions, and share examples of their own work. A live webinar with the teachers will take place at the end of the workshop and students are encouraged to attend to learn more about the teachers, ask questions, and participate in some light-hearted activities.
I’m also excited to announce the new Triple Play foam stamp set!!! Birgit, Marsha, and I designed this 7 piece ArtFoamies set to be used alongside the Beyond the Paper workshop, but of course this versatile set is perfect for any of your mixed media activities :)
Each of us designed two of the triangle stamps that fit nicely inside the hex border. Can you guess who designed what? I’m sure some of you may recognize our signature style.
For a while I have been obsessed with creating patterns with stamps (remember April Patterns?) and this set really allows you to explore that like crazy. You can use just one triangle to make all kinds of designs within the hex…
Or try combining two of the triangles for a cool field of pattern…
And how about layering it up a bit?
And then just look what happens when you really pull out all the stops?
I hope you join us for Beyond the Paper, with your Triple Play foam stamps in hand! I always love teaching with Birgit and Marsha and this time we all bring so many different ideas to the table that I know everyone will be inspired to think waaaaaay Beyond the Paper!
Join us Friday March 26th at 12noon EST for the next LIVE Webinar episode of Spill your heART! Register here to attend.
Spill your heART – Once a month, you can join me and a panel of professionals to hear them sharing their personal stories and experiences in the arts. From past-life professions to finding time for art to discovering your creative style, each month we’ll be covering topics to motivate and inspire you to create and do what moves you.
Episode 2: Beginner’s Mind – Join Nat and Karen as they discuss a concept from Zen Buddhism, Shoshin, the Beginner’s Mind. Learn how to adopt a beginner’s mindset to unleash more creativity and fun in your art journey. Whether you make art for a living or just for fun, come explore how your thinking might be affecting your art. Join in HERE.
Here is a little more about our special guest panelist:
Karen C. Auld is a coach, consultant, writer and inspirational speaker. She is the WAIT Loss coach, specializing in BUT reductions. As a corporate consultant, coach, and catalyst her mission is to help people get rid of their big BUTS and live their vision of excellence. Karen teaches mindset and goal setting classes for entrepreneurs at colleges and via small business development centers. Karen provides both individual and group coaching services to her clients and is a Certified Success Coach via Dr. Robert Holden. As a consultant she works with Fortune 500 corporations in the areas of management systems and environmental compliance.
Hello friends, This month’s theme is flowers. We are still under a few inches of snow here in New Hope, PA, so this project was exactly what I needed to get me thinking about more mild temperatures and flowers popping up.
I decided to combine the theme of flowers with a project that I have been longing to do. I love sending happy mail, cards of all types, especially birthday cards. My list of people and their birthdays is housed on sticky notes in my studio.
Birthdays are also in my phone of course, but I like to have an “at-a-glance” look at all the birthdays for the month. When the spirit moves me, I make cards in advance. I have wanted a place to keep a list of the birthdays by month and a corresponding pocket for the cards I make in advance. So basically, I wanted to create a Birthday Book! Old fashion you might say, but it will work really well for me.
Last month, for my blog submission, I made a piece of layered paper. When it was finished, I wasn’t sure how I would use it, but I knew the right project would speak to me.
This months theme created the perfect opportunity. I found a book on my shelf that was made in the foothills of the Himalayas of Nepal by local craftsmen. It’s a gorgeous book with beautiful textured paper and the cover was lovely in it’s own right, but I decided the layered paper from last month would make the perfect cover.
As I looked at all of Nathalie’s beautiful stencils, I chose to use them as a background for my flowers, but I wanted the right balance of letting the stencils shine and highlighting the flowers. I found the best way to do this was to make the flowers simple, mid-century modern designs, and only include a few on each page. And some pages, just spoke for themselves without the flowers.
To go with the theme, I chose an old garden book, removed pages, and applied a small amount of gesso with an old brush just to give the page a little more strength. Once they were dry, I sprayed Distress Ink Stain in Old Paper, Mustard Yellow, and Festive Berries. Next I drew the mid-century modern flower designs on these pages using Black and White Posca Pens and embellished as needed. I cut out the flowers; some were the whole flower, some were just the heads since I knew I was going to attach them to the page with my sewing machine.
I created a template for each month of the year, printed it on card stock, and attached it with Matt Medium to the left-side of the spread.
Now it was time to use Nat’s stencils. I tried a variety of different mediums, but in the end, I chose Pan Pastels because the effect matched the organic feel of the pages. The only thing about Pan Pastels is they smudge easily and bleed onto the adjacent pages. It would have been difficult to apply a fixative to these pages because of their weight and textural nature. This messiness doesn’t bother me; as you all know by now, I’m not about perfection! If I were giving this as a gift, I would need to figure something out to eliminate this issue. (I would love to hear your ideas for this.)
I used a makeup sponge to apply the Pan Pastels to Nathalie’s stencils on the right side of the spread. (1 stencil for each month of the year) Throughout the book, I used the colors from the cover to make sure the book had a consistent look and feel. Here are Nat’s Art Deco Summit and Hamilton stencils used.
Next, I sewed on the flowers with the sewing machine. (which honestly, wasn’t all that easy since I was working in a bound book) I like to leave the long strings attached — I just love that look, but of course you can cut them if you like. If you don’t have access to a sewing machine, you could use the Matt Medium to attach the flowers and draw the stems with Posca Pens or whatever mark making tool you have in your stash.
After each spread, I skipped two pages (1 full spread) so that I could attach pockets to keep the cards that I make in advance. I love to recycle and reuse. I receive several Stampington Magazines every quarter. I love going through the pages; the pictures are beautiful, the weight of the pages is perfect, and of course there are lots of good ideas. The issues are hard to part with, but I pulled out some pages with pictures that spoke to me and attached them with packing tape to the pages where I was going to keep the cards. So basically, I created a pocket for the cards.
Just a note about the packing tape: I sometimes use packing tape to pull paint off my gel plate. I often get wonderful bits of grunge and I save the grungy packing tape. (who wouldn’t!) It has all kinds of uses. Again, I wanted an organic, textural feel to this book and so this grungy packing tape was just perfect, not only to keep the pockets in place, but to enhance the organic feel of the book.
I now have a place to keep track of all my birthdays and the corresponding cards as I make them. This makes me so happy!
Thanks so much for reading this blog and for walking with me on my mixed media journey. If you aren’t already following me on instagram and facebook, please consider doing so. I love keeping in touch with each of you.
Thank you Robin – what a fabulous way to organize everyone’s birthdays!
Give it a try: you can find all my Stencils in my Online Shop and in addition to a journal, magazine pages, a sewing machine and a printer, here are some of the supplies Robin used:
Don’t forget to check out Nat’s Creative Squad on Instagram too: Each week we post projects, ideas, and inspiration for mixed media art.
I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve been writing some thoughts in my monthly newsletters – thoughts on creativity, making art, and being an artist – along with some other info about what is going on around here. In February I shared the following – a topic that I then hosted a webinar about along with some other artist friends who also weren’t always full time artists. You can check that Spill your heART webinar out here and then be sure to sign up for my newsletter HERE for more of these :)
10 Years of Being a Full Time Artist
As the 10th Creative JumpStart comes to an end, I realized that I actually quit my career as a paralegal in January 10 years ago.
I remember how I asked my boss for a meeting and how my heart was pounding when I sat down to tell him that despite loving my job in this pro-bono/legal aid office, I wanted to be a full time artist and quit my career of 17 years. I remember how relieved I was when I spoke those words, and how wonderful it was when my boss said that he was sad to see me leave but that I would have his full support. Just a couple months before, they let me have an art exhibit in the law office and throw an opening party. I was very fortunate to have worked there. It was a good place and while I might not miss the stress of being a paralegal, I do miss the office and the people.
I gave myself 3 years to work it out and to see if I could sustain myself as a full time artist. I had 3 years to build up my little n*Studio, teach, consult, write and above all make art. I decided on 3 years because I figured that if I failed, I might still be able to deal with the changes in law to fall back into my paralegal career. My father died when I was a baby, and my Mom was a hard working single mother, so while I had a lot of support from my husband and friends about this decision, having a Plan B was necessary to calm the nerves of my family as well as my own honestly.
Now 10 years later I am still at it and I love love love my work: I love making art, I love teaching, and I love writing and organizing events like Creative JumpStart. Has it been hard at times? Very, but I have also learned a lot, not only about art making but also about me and about life. And above all, I have met so many new wonderful people, students and other artists. What a blessing this has been. My heART is full!
And so I thought, what better topic than “I wasn’t always a Full-Time Artist” for the first episode in my Spill your heART webinar series. I invited three other artists to chat with me about past careers, our paths toward our dreams and tips we have for anyone who might think about becoming a Full-Time Artist. You can watch a recording of this webinar and learn about upcoming webinars here on my website.
I also hope you will join me every last Friday of the month, when I talk to different guests on “Spill your heART”. If you have a topic you would love to have an episode about, let me know!
Congratulations Nat and best wishes for the next 10 years.Hope you go from strength to strength. I especially love your “stools through the hood” feature. Well done.
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a beautiful final post from Emilie Murphy who will be moving on from the Squad at the end of March. We have loved having her on and sharing her gorgeous style and talent for illustration with you. This month Emilie is using my Art Deco Summit, Art Deco Wallpaper and New Orleans stencils and our theme: Life in Bloom – It’s been a long winter where we are and I’m dreaming of flowers and gardens and spring. Indulge us all in a project that focuses on one of Mother Nature’s most exuberant symbols of life: flowers flowers flowers!
Hi there!
Can’t believe that we are already in March. Time flies, for sure, despite the long and pretty cold winter we had this year. I can’t wait to see the first flowers blooming. Let me show you, today, how I made my art journal page to illustrate the “Life in bloom” theme of this month.
To start my project, I used my Gelli plate with my favorite warm colors using a sheet of 8.5×11 white cardstock. I first applied the paints by mixing them a little bit with each other, I then laid down the Art Deco Summit stencil and pulled the print. I mixed acrylic paint and ink to get a kind of washy look.
Next, I started to build my background by applying white paint through the Art Deco Summit stencil again.
I kept adding layers with my warm colors, alternating between the pattern stencils.
I added some dots with the rubber tip of my pencil.
Once I was happy with the look of my background, I doodled some flowers and foliage.
I covered all my background except the floral pattern with a cool color to make it pop out. I absolutely love this technique. It allows seeing through the different layers of the background, making it more interesting.
I once again used the Art Deco Wallpaper stencil and applied some white paint through it in order to add some texture to this plain background. I just love this pattern.
I toned down a little the white paint to embed the pattern to the background.
I added some splatters with yellow, black, and white paints. It’s not really visible on the picture but I also traced my quote with a pencil.
I outlined my quote with a permanent black pen and I finished coloring the checkerboard pattern with white gel pen. I reinforced the whites with a white posca pen when the white was not opaque enough.
I added some depth and shadow to my floral pattern and to the letters of my quote with a PITT pen marker. I also added some extra pink splatters.
I could have stopped there but I found my art journal page too flat, so I decided to use some Glossy accent to give some dimension to my floral design. I didn’t put it everywhere. I just applied some on the center and inside petals of one of my flowers and on the leaves. I let the glossy accent dry completely.
I finally finished my art journal page by bending and folding the paper in different directions, where I applied the glossy accent in order to create some cracks. Isn’t it cool? I think it gives an interesting look. Be sure to apply a generous layer of glossy accent to get some nice cracks.
Hope you enjoyed this project, which ends my collaboration as a Creative Squad member. I just can’t thank Nathalie enough for giving me this opportunity to be a part of her team. It has been such a wonderful and pleasant experience in my creative journey. I really enjoyed working on every project I made using Nathalie’s wonderful products. The possibilities playing with them are endless. Of course, I will still be around on social media for the next coming of team member’s projects. Hope you will do, too!
Have a good rest of the week!
Thank you Emilie for this beautiful reminder to be a bit more patient! And, thank you for all your posts over the past year. We have loved seeing you style and learning more about you as an artist :)
Give it a try: you can find all my Stencils in my Online Shop and here are some of the supplies Emilie used:
Follow Nat’s Creative Squad on Instagram too: Each week we post projects, ideas, and inspiration for mixed media art.
Emilie. Another gorgeous spread! I love all the layers you used in this project. We are sorry to see you go, but we’ll stay connected through social media for sure.
I’m so excited to announce a new project that I have been quietly working on now for months with my friend Sarah Matthews: ArtCollab
Here’s the deal:
ArtCollab is a monthly zoomcast with the two of us: Sarah Matthews and Nathalie Kalbach (and occasionally other special guests too).
Each episode we get together, collaborate on all sorts of unique artsy projects, share our process and offer updates and sneak peeks along the way, and of course we chat about all stuff art-related (and topics that go way beyond that too).
ArtCollab is a real life look into the process of creating, collaborating, and the ins and outs of living an artistic life that is touched by others.
Our first episode “The Beginning” can be viewed now – please check it out! Also there is a Podcast version that can be found HERE.
ArtCollab Episode 1: The Beginning: Get to know us! We are artists Nathalie Kalbach and Sarah Matthews. In this first episode of our new ArtCollab zoomcast we begin with a little bit about ourselves and how we came to work together. Then we dive right in to what ArtCollab is all about – 2 artists, collaborating on any number of artsy projects, insight into how that works, how we work, and a look at what magic comes out of it all.
In this episode we share a book exchange project that we created and explain how along with our artistic marks, trust, respect, and friendship also played a major role. We reveal to each other the finished books for the first time. The emotional reveal highlights all the best aspects of any artistic collaboration: enrichment, inspiration, excitement, and the motivation to do it again!
Here is a look at those book projects:
New ArtCollab zoomcasts will be live and happen every first Tuesday of the month. Sign up for my newsletter HERE or Sarah’s newsletter HERE to get all the details for upcoming zoomcasts.
Join in for an entertaining and inspiring interlude into the world of two artists who are working together in conversation and practice!
This was fun to watch, you two are so good together! Your collab had me wiping the tears away, too. Looking forward to more of the Sarah&Nat/Nat&Sarah zoom casts. :)
Why does Secret Beach close at the end of the month?
That scene (last photo) will make a terrific painting!
I got my package today…thanks.
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