And the shark, it has teeth,
and it wears them in the face.
And Macheath, he has a knife, but the knife cannot be seen.
Then are some, who are in darkness
and others are in light.
And you see the ones in brightness.
those in darkness drop from sight.
– Bertholt Brecht –
I let my inner grunge out with this art journal page- loved it :)
Have a wonderful day
hugs
Nat
The last weekend I buried myself into the studio to work on this canvas – and it made me pretty happy – I think you might see I was inspired by all the wonderful colors I had seen during my travels.
The building is an old powerhouse here in Jersey City, which is boarded up and there is work going on there- so we will see . I do love this building – I find it fascinating and since I am a big fan of the Tate Modern in London, which is housed in an old power station – I can see an art gallery in here, art studios and some open public space…but probably it will be shops and lofts or a mall – who knows.
I played with all kinds of acrylic media and techniques-I was in my happy happy place :)
Here are some photos I took during the process
Here are the supplies I used:
Have a powerful day :)
hugs
nat
This is so beautiful nat! Love it!
Beautiful and amazing canvas!
You gave the old powerhouse building a life of its own. Amazing color and your artistic style feels like that building is old.
Can’t wait to see what you will do with the building when it is finished and in “working” condition.
Your work is powerful.
Yes, I can DEFINITELY see the inspiration from your far east trip in this beautiful canvas, Nat!! And I have never wanted to take a trip to Jersey City before you moved there, but you have given me the urge to do a walk-about and see it like you do!!!
Wow…this is another detailed and gorgeous one Nat.
I made this card for my trainer Kim at the gym. We had a little surprise party for her since she is leaving and we all had a great time with her. In fact…she was a great motivator and kept me sane right after I moved from Germany. She is a big reason for being able to deal with homesickness a lot…having a daily goal to go to the gym and socializing with her and other neighbors has been good for me. Glad I will still see her though for kickboxing workout (yeah man…LOL…I am doing it …it is good for me ;) )
The saying on the card is actually by my trainer- I love that one…it can be adapted to many other things too ;)
It was a pretty big card…we all had to sign…while eating bagels, cream cheese and biscuits…hello carbs and love handle adding food – LOL :)
Here is what I used for the card
Have a gorgeous day
Nat
FAntastic Page!
What screws us up most in life…it’s the picture in our head of how it is supposed to be
-unknown source-
This is so true- in so many ways! When you create art or in your every day life.
Loving the colors and texture here -gesso – such a great medium to cover parts up and make everything more interesting. Love me some Gesso :)
Wishing you a wonderful day…with our without a picture in your head ;)
Nat
Isn’t that the truth?!!! Started along time ago when TV told us this is how real life is….
now it’s hard to unlearn that! Great post Nat!
This quote could be my mantra for goodness sake.
I get my idea of what life “should” be and get disappointed when it’s not.
I continue to work on gracefully accepting what life “is” and embracing that and forgetting the preconceived notions that my mind had issued.
Love this piece, Nat..truer words were never spoken!!
Fantastic AJ!
“I want to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light & frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing
as though
I had wings. ”
Mary Oliver
I do love this quote a lot – it resonated with me . And…the perfect page to add this beautiful stamp too :)
Here is a list of what I used for this spread
Have wings today :)
Nat
I really like the blue peeking through the yellow.
Nice spring colors.
Nat- I was going to tell you how I liked your page…and when i got to the last post and saw the final words- well, I love your page You make me smile! “)
“Slowly learning that there cannot be a constant go go go….
there needs to be stops in order to be able to harvest more!”
An art journal is a good source for reminding yourself on some things….I might have to revisit LOL. If you have been in one of my recent classes you have seen the beginning of many of my art pages – I often demo in my art journal certain techniques and then turn those pages later into a finished spread. I should do a before and after picture session to show you :)
Love the color combo here – green, dark purple, pink and yellow.
what is your favorite color combination lately?
Have a great day
Nat
Awesome job Natalie!
Fantastic page!
Nat, what a fabulous spread! I absolute love the message and your color combo is out of this world Delish!! Thanks for bringing it home! Hugs
That crackle stencil is on my wish list at Stencil Girl. Love the texture that it gives. I’ve been using a lime green, purple and golden rod color combo a bit here.
So excited about this class that I always wanted to teach on Acrylic Media- there is so much fun out there – I cannot wait to show you in this in person class at The Ink Pad on June 8, 2014!
Join Nathalie in a day class to explore all kinds of different Acrylic Media – from Dumbledore to Merlin, from Acrylic Paints to Acrylic Inks, from String Gel to Pouring Medium, from Modeling Paste to Stucco and other fun stuff. Learn their magic– and put an end to mystery on how to use these amazing helpers in your Mixed Media and/or Art Journaling projects. Learn not only how to use Acrylic Media and when to use them but also put your own spell into 3 abstract canvases during the class. You will for sure have as much fun waving your new magic acrylic wand in the future as Nathalie!
I will bring for all Students:
Liquitex Pouring Medium, Liquitex Flexible Modeling Paste, Liquitex Paint Marker, Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish, Liquitex Acrylic Inks, Liquitex String Gel, Liquitex Ceramic Stucco, Liquitex Super Heavy Gesso, Liquitex Natural Sand, Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel – and depending on weather and location – even some Liquitex Spray Paints
Some sneaks?
Find the supply list and other information on this class at The Ink Pad here – I would love to see you!
have a gorgeous day!
Nat
Please do this on-line class on this, it looks amazing!
great opportunity!
I was working on this canvas for quite a while- I had a love-hate relation ship with it while I was working on it- it was a very demanding project.
The street is partly what you see when you go out on my street, a neighborhood in Jersey City which years ago was a totally different neighborhood. Jersey City has not the best reputation …which reminds me on my old hood in Hamburg, Germany. When I moved there my family would call me every time something bad was shown about it on the news (about every other day) worried if I was ok. Today it is a thriving and gentrified area, unfortunately driving the “old” people out of the neighborhood as they cannot afford it anymore. People like me are part of the problem. Jersey City reminds me a lot of my old hood how it was 15-20 years ago.
I think about these things a lot when I do my art – I love to create projects showing houses or neighborhoods. Things change…for the better and for the worse- there is no black and white.
Deep eh? Oh well…LOL – take a closer look then at the canvas ;)
I want to create a couple more of those canvases in a series.
I mostly worked with Liquitex Acrylic Media and touched it up here and there with Derwent Artbars. Here is a small list of come of the supplies I used for this Mixed Media Canvas.
Wishing you a wonderful day :)
Nat
I think this one is very special. I love the colors, the lighting, the mood of it. I was surprised to read it was a hard one for you to do. It does not look overworked in any way. I love it.
this one is great. At first, I thought it was a forest.
Love your gorgeous colors, and those posts at the bottom of the steps (stoops?) look soooo cool.
Klasse, – ich denke, es gibt genau die Stimmung wieder …………….. und ich hoffe, du hast es im Mai dabei. Es passt super *hüstel* ;))
LG Ursula
This is an amazing piece! I love your choice of colors and the architecture is just right. Love it! I would like to see the series when you are finished!!
WOW! I really love this… the color & the style… this is really a beautiful piece.
So lovely, boy I would be thrilled if I could paint something like this!
What a beautiful canvas, should be in a museum
I so love this canvas. I would buy and put it on my wall without hesitating.
Wow, this is beautiful. I am thinking that New Jersey, just like Germany, should be the next exhibition of your work.
Barb
North Carolina
Really good art AND pretty to look at too!
Ooo I love the feel if this, street scenes are great, super work
Happy craftin
Rebecca
WOW this is gorgeous! I can’t wait to see more.
Wow Nat- I love these pieces you are creating- just gorgeous!!
Wow Nat, you’ve crossed the line and are now doing ART in a major way. Please take this for what I mean. You’ve always done art with paper and more but you’re mixed media and such has reached a new level IMHO/ Hugs, Sue
Oh wow! I love this!!!
I do love this quote by Robert Frost:
In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life:
It goes on!
In my head I do know that…I just wish I would remember to feel that way every time something stupid happens ;) I think it is interesting though that oftentimes I set my heart on something, be disappointed when it doesn’t work out and then in retrospective I look at it as “oh good thing that didn’t happen!” I am a very positive thinking person but boy do I pout and scull if things do not work out- LOL.
Are you the same or are you good in shrugging obstacles in life off?
Have a gorgeous day
Nat
Hi Nat, love reading your blog & seeing your work. You crack me up sometimes! Especially today where in your list of items used you included your finger! Too funny! Hope you are enjoying living here in the states now. I hope to someday make it to NY & meet you & Julie. If you ever want to come visit Florida I would be happy to have you stay at my house! I live in Cape Coral which is next to Ft. Myers which is on the FL west coast south of Orlando.
Dahlink….do you mean pout and scowl?? This may be my new mantra…Life goes on ….not pout and scowl!!
hahahha…yeah I guess I mean scowl ;)
I love the yellow color, this one of my favorites pages!
THose words are so true and I to forget and throw a fit now and then that life is not going the way I want it to be. Then I have to remind myself that I am here to serve and that he knows better then me where my life is suppose to go and when I really look to see what is happening it is an amazing day and I am in an amazing place!
I expect things to be a certain way and when they’re not I get disappointed. I pout for a bit but then realize that everything happens for a reason and life will indeed go on. Lovely quote to use on an art journal page Nat. I especially like the pink in the lower left corner as it brings “hope” to the page.
Comments (2)
Amante del Papel
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I love black and yellow, this combo is awesome!
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Sue Clarke
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I don’t usually like that much black but this is great and of course goes with the quote. I would have to say that you took a “bite” out of this art journal page. Have a relaxing weekend Nat.
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