Are you ready to unlock new realms of artistic expression? Our acclaimed workshops, Beyond the Paper and Time Traveler, are embarking on their final journey, and this is your last chance to join us on this transformative experience!
Beyond the Paper: Join us, Nat Kalbach, Birgit Koopsen, and Marsha Valk, as we go beyond traditional substrates and explore exciting mediums like cardboard, Dura-Lar, and fabric. Discover innovative techniques such as foam stamping, printmaking, collage, and stitching. Plus, get your hands on a special Triple Play foam stamp set designed by us!
Time Traveler: Embark on a journey through design periods with Birgit, Marsha, and Nat. Dive into Flower Power, the Roaring 20s, and more, infusing historical motifs into your artwork through gelli plate printmaking and bookbinding techniques.
Starting today, April 23rd, indulge in our last-chance sale with irresistible discounts:
I had fun playing with some Spray Paint and my Downtown Stencil (you see some grungy remains of a blotted Space Age Stencil as well)
The photos is from an old album with a lot of double nature photos my great aunt must have taken on one of her trips – she didn’t write anything about it down- but I can see the beauty.
“Sometimes you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory”
This is a photo I found and to be honest, I have no idea where it came from – was it from a box of my great aunt, was it something I found at a flea market? In any event I found it again, put it on my work bench for later use and accidentally had some spray paint get on it…making the image even more blurry. ..hence ..this is the store how this page with it’s quote came along ;) I used my Downtown Stencil for the background – moving it around and spraying it over with acylic spray paint in different colors. I also used an old napkin with a german beer quote and some snippets I had in my stash. I love rummaging through my collage drawer to see what could fit my idea for a page.
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because and only when they are created by everybody” Jane Jacobs
I used another page of the 2022 Artist Almanac calendar with my artwork – at the time I am writing this blogpost I am not sure if the new – 2023 Artist Almanac Calendar is still available in my store- but check it out if you are interested – I had a lot of fun playing with the 2022 version.
The page is based on this original artwork “Highline”
Acrylic Paint, Spray paint, marker 12×16″ – Available for PurchaseFor the background I used my Star Struck Stencil and some Liquitex Spray paint. I filled in some of the grid with green acrylic marker to pick up the green in the collage paper.
The page a day 2023 Artist Almanac calendars are here in my shop and ready to ship to you! Supplies are limited, so grab yours as fast as you can :)
The 2023 Artist Almanac, if you haven’t already heard, is a page a day style calendar and each page has different artwork by one of the 19 participating artists:
Nat Kalbach, Birgit Koopsen, DeeDee Catron, Tina Walker, Shawn Petite, Megan Whisner Quinlan, Leaca Young, Tiffany Goff-Smith, Kristin Petersen, Amanda Spence, Lisa Goddard, Arlyna Blanchard, Anna Karena, Seth Apter, LaQuisha Hall, Roxanne Padgett, Denise Lush, Renee Mueller, Ann Barnes
As you tear pages off, they become collage papers, so that means 365 different collage papers for all your mixed media creations. It’s a pretty awesome idea and I was stoked to be one of the artists chosen to participate.
Last year I sold out of those puppies in about 24 hours, so hurry up if you want to grab yours.
“We are living in modern times and yet we are dominated by medieval minds.”
Isn’t this the truth.
For this background I played with my Buenos Aires Stencil and Star Struck Stencil using Acrylic Spraypaint. I outlined some of the areas with acrylic marker to add some colors that were used in the painting in the collage calendar page.
I remember when I created the original painting that the colors were unusual to use for me and yet I still love the painting- which is for sale here: Highline Original Painting also available as prints.
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a post from Jordan Hill who is sharing an art journal page with a special self portrait technique to take on our theme this month: I am a Collage – We are all complex beings with many different facets. Create a “self portrait” piece using collage to represent parts of yourself, either literally or in an abstract way.
Happy October, everyone! I’m really happy to be here and sharing this project with all of you! When I was presented with this month’s theme of “I Am A Collage”, I immediately had an idea for a technique that I wanted to experiment with, which is quite different from things I’ve done in the past. I hope you enjoy following along with me!
I started this page with a self portrait I had already drawn and a piece of tracing paper. You could just as easily use a photograph to achieve a similar result, but I really liked this drawing and wanted to work with it. I then placed the tracing paper over top of the self portrait and drew the portrait in chunks. I did one chunk for the face and neck, one for the shirt, one for the glasses and two separate pieces for the hair (the left and right sides). I don’t end up using the glasses.
Next, I cut out the individual pieces of tracing paper to create patterns. I then selected some scraps of paper, traced my patterns onto the back of them, and cut them out with scissors. For more intricate pieces, you might consider using an X-Acto knife.
Once my pieces were cut out, I added a few more details onto the pieces using a black ink pen. This allowed me to add in the facial features and some folds and wrinkles to the sweatshirt without as much trouble as a lot of fiddly paper bits would have given me.
I then selected a page in my journal to work on. I ended up going with this one because of the quote along the left hand side of the page. I actually used this same quote on the Creative Squad project I did back in April; it is from a show/manga called Haikyuu!! I figured that it would be fitting to use something that is that important to me as part of this month’s theme.
Next, using two of Nathalie’s rubber stamps (the Empire Triangle Stamp and the Arts and Crafts Motif Stamp), I added some texture and interest to the background. I used the Arts and Crafts Motif in the lower left hand corner, and used the Empire Triangle Stamp to create a pattern across the background.
It was then time to add the focal point. Using the different pre-cut scraps of paper, I glued them to my background in layers, overlapping where necessary. I used a glue stick to adhere my pieces.
After my collage pieces were adhered to the page, I added more details to the pieces. I outlined some areas in solid black in order to help them stand out against the page and used a few Crayola markers to add color to the face. I also gave myself a nice Halloween-esque skull choker, which was part of the original self-portrait.
Finally, to finish the page off, I added a thought bubble shape using black acrylic paint and outlined it several times with a white gel pen. I haven’t added anything inside this thought bubble yet, but I think it will be a great place to add some journaling in the future. I hope you enjoyed following along with the process of this page and that you consider trying this technique for yourself in the future!
Thank you so much Jordan! I love how you created the self portrait and how you added different elements with various amount of details – it is a perfect example on how complex we are as human beings – we do have many facets.
Give it a try: you can find all my Rubber Stamps in my Online Shop ; here are some of the supplies Jordan used:
Looking for more projects? Follow the Creative Squad on Instagram here.
For my background I used an old credit card to spread Golden fluid paint and then a Catalyst tool to spread Liquitex soft bodied acrylic paint onto the page.
The small hexagon shapes were stamped with my Hex Set Small rubber stamp set and Moonlight Duos on watercolor paper, then cut out and glued down. I added my journaling with Posca markers.
“A Crossroad. What a pain in the ass spot to end up in.”
I started by stamping one of my Mini Motif foam stamps in a circle with grey ink…
then layered a second Mini Motif stamp on that in teal…
and then finally added the rubber stamp Mini Motif stamp on top, using the Versafine in grey again.
Next I added the Versailles rubber stamp from the Floral Tile Large set for a pattern – it reminds me a bit of all those Minton tile patterns I have been seeing lately while looking at house accounts on instagram.
I did my journaling with a water soluble sketch pencil.
Hi Nat,
I would like to order this. Please advise when I can order.
Thanks,
Tara
Reply