Blog: Art Journal

Speak Carefully – Art Journal

“The words you speak become the house you live in!” In other words, speak carefully – a good motto but definitely a tricky one to always follow :)

This was another study for a new painting. On the left I spread gesso through the Manhattan stencil and on the right I spread gel medium through the Santiago stencil. I wanted to play a bit with stencil texture underneath the painting or around it to see how it would look.

Once the gesso and gel medium dried I added thin paint over both sides and then wiped it off the surfaces before it totally dried – as the gesso and the gel medium resist the paint longer. I am not sure if I like it as a surface to draw on though – it really makes it hard. Better to think first of where I want the image to go and then spread out that area for the background… but that is why I love an art journal to play with such things!

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Alive – Art Journal

“Go where you feel most alive”

I created my background with water based spray paints, acrylic paint, and my Art Deco Summit stencil. I went back in with one of my Hex Small rubber stamps for the black lines, and used my pencil eraser for the dots.

This was a neighborhood scene study, and I sketched this block of row houses with acrylic markers.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

Comments (2)

  • Petrin Diaz

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    Dear Nat: I love the combination of colors, which remembers me of historical buildings here in San juan, P. R.

    So long time i have not contacted you, because had a big problen with Internet after H. María. Now i cannot reach my classes! My identification with your company: elenajuga2015 – Grandscraperona. Can this be fixed? Hope the personnel in charge can do something about, because i need to revise those classes!… Thanks in advance, hoping everyone is healthy around!

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  • Sue Clarke

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    I so love these colors Nat. The rich tones of the building and the pastels on the right hand side that scream beautiful spring day to me! Thanks for all your inspiration!

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Be My Neighbor – Art Journal

“I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you, I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.” – Fred Rogers. We didn’t have this program in Germany when I was a kid but I’ve come to know of it now that I live here in the US. Definitely gives you warm fuzzy feelings :)

My background is Daniel Smith gold gesso – love this stuff. And then I stamped with Moonlight Duo inks and my Fan-tastic Small stamps and Fan-fare stamps.

The hood scene was sketched with acrylic markers and painted with gouache. I like the matte gouache contrasting with the high shine of the gold gesso.

Here are some of the supplies I used: 

Nat

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Girls are Watching – Art Journal

“Every time a woman looks in a mirror and criticizes her body, a girl is watching.” -Gloria Steinem

For the background I used my Space Age Modern stencil on both pages – with embossing powder and acrylic paint. I love all the texture and I think it’s a nice balance with the white showing through too.

I sketched the figure with ink and kept it very loose in style.

And here my quote with a bit of color too to tie everything together.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Art Journal Flip Through – March 2020

I wanted to share a little Flip Through video of my newly finished art journal. 

I keep about 4-5 journals at the same time so they are always filled with an eclectic mix. This one highlights some pages I made using my last batch of new stencil designs as well as some pages that you may recognize from some of my Online Workshops.

Do you keep several art journals at once or do you work through one at a time?

Nat

Comments (2)

  • Christine Kiehl

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    Loved the journal flip through. I like the style you mostly used with this one. I keep several journals at a time also. Not all of them are art based. I love to create with words mostly. Happy March! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you so much Christine! So interesting to hear that you also have several journals! Happy March to you too!!!

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Linked not Ranked – Art Journal

“We are linked not ranked” – Gloria Steinem  This was neighborhood stroll inspired and a study for a painting. I love putting the the first idea for a painting into my art journal. 

I used markers, spraypaint, and my Hex Set Large rubber stamps. It’s vibrant – just like my hood :) Pretty wild LOL

I will show the paintings I maid on canvas in the next couple days.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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In Need of Zen – Art Journal

“In these crazy times I need to create my own zen!” I was listening to the news and needed to create a calming art journal spread.

I cut out some shapes from tyvek and then stenciled with acrylic paint.

I added in my Kyoto stencil with pink gouache. All happy colors, trying to find some zen :)

I embraced the calm of open white space and then used a Dewent watersoluable pencil for the journaling.

How do you find zen in your art journal?

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Simply wonderful Nat.
    I find zen when I play with texture and layers in my art journal or on canvas.

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Whistling – Art Journal

“Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush!” It hasn’t been much of a winter yet here but I am always more excited for warm Spring weather than the cold :)

For my background I used gouache paint and a cosmetic sponge with my Art Deco Summit stencil. 

I went back and forth with the two colors. I like this stencil because it combines some fine detail with larger areas of color.

My Fan-tastic rubber stamps fit in there quite nicely. Here I used one of the small Fairview stamps.

For my quote I used a Derwent watersoluable pencil and then went in with a wet brush to oomph up the lettering.

I added some dots with the back of my pencil.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Inhale / Exhale – Art Journal

“Inhale the future… Exhale the past.” 

I was playing with my new Posca fine markers in this art journal spread that is kind of a study for the Good Vibes Only and Good Vibes Only Mini paintings. For my background I used my Kyoto, Tokyo, and Signals stencils layered on top of each other with acrylic paint and gouache.

I am loving the Posca Markers -I used to use the thicker ones all the time when still living in Germany but when I was an Ambassador for Liquitex I had to switch the markers. While I love the Liquitex Markers I miss having some thinner yet intense markers and I just thought I should buy those even though I might have enough markers for the rest of my life. I love them – they are so opaque and beautiful and flowly- a bit rough to use on textured surfaces as they easily “spritz” but on flatter surfaces a breeze. Def. glad I bought them. The white Posca Marker is not hundred percent convincing me yet, but I have to try again as it might be due to the Gouache paint that I used on some areas which gets reactivated when wet.

Here are some of the supplies I used including the Posca markers:

Nat

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