Blog: Art Journal

Painful Melancholy – Art Journal

Inspired by my trip to Japan I created this art journal spread. I used my new inkstone and inkstick to create some ink and sketch the woman as well as the markings.

I used my Embroidery stamps as well as the Stroll Around the Block stamps to create the pattern on the clothing and the rain in the background.

I painted the background with gesso and watercolor and the dress with a think layer of acrylic paint.

I like how this turned out. Here are some of the supplies I used.


Have a wonderful day!

Nat

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The Future is Now – Art Journal

An art journal page that I created after the marches last month happened. I love that Art Journaling can be a way of taking note of current events in a visual way – and as you know I am not much of a writer in my art journal because a lot of my thoughts and feelings are conveyed by the colors, paints and techniques I am using.

I spray painted the background in blue and then sprayed in red through my Santiago Stencil – I flipped it over while the paint on top was still wet to get a reverse pattern.

Some obstructed notes with a gold gesso and a thick brush and then I filled in all the areas with patterns using a white signo pen.

It was a nice and meditative time to fill in the page with white little patterns, marks and doodles :)

Here is what I used for this spread:


Nat

Comments (2)

  • Deb

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    Striking composition. Love the colors and the addition of the gold gesso. Different look for you to using block printing instead of cursive. Overall great art journal pages! Agree how meditative mark making can be. Inspired to go do some! Thanks.
    Deb

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    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you Deb! Yeah I rarely do use block printing but I actually like it …good reminder to use it more often :)

      Reply

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Photos of my Workshop in Oklahoma

Last weekend I taught my 3-Day Splash of Color Workshop at My Heart’s Fancy in Oklahoma. We started out with blank papers, filled them with lot’s of pattern, and imagery and then bound them into art journals.

We did a lot of gelli printing/mono printing the first day- look at those colorful pages

Love all the texture – yummie!

We used tons of my stencils and stamps- always tickles me to see a wall of my designs :)

And we had a ton of fun – I love spending a whole weekend with a group of sweet talented students!

Look at Marcia colorful gelli plate :)

Time flies when you play with paint and colors – the three days went by in a breeze

Creating the covers was a big hit too  – happy faces

and thinking faces ;)

Now how can you not enjoy a weekend with all those smiling peeps :)

And it was so much fun to see how everyone loved their newly bound book on the second day and working in it.

 

yummie patterns with my ArtFoamies – I always love seeing the color combinations my students choose. So inspiring.

We also did some transfers and they looked fabulous!!!

And we created some funky clothing and city scapes with my RubberMoon stamps.

And here are all the beautiful bound art journals – 78 pages thick- such a happy colorful sight!

Thank you to all the wonderful students – I loved spending time with you, creating, laughing, chatting, eating …and eating delicious homemade cake (thank you Lynda!) and sharing supplies and ideas. Thank you also to Maura and Lisa for having me once again – I always love coming back.

If you would like to take an in-person class with me, I am teaching in May two classes in Kentucky at Ephemera Paducah which will be super fun. I will also teach in Toronto (Canada), San Jose (CA), Boltenhagen (Germany) and Coventry (UK) this year. For more information check my In-Person Workshop page I would love to see you.

Nat

Comments (6)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Looks like a fun class and an awesome store to shop in!

    Reply

  • Maura

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    I must say that this was such a wonderful workshop. Fun, inspiring…. in one word – delightful! Thank you Nathalie. You taught us such wonderful things and we enjoyed having you with us again!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you Maura- it is always such a pleasure to come back and teach for you!!! See you soon again!

      Reply

  • Donna B.

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    Looks like it was a wonderful class!!! I envy those lucky students!!

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Wherever you go… AJ

“Wherever you go becomes part of you somehow”

I believe that the short trip to Japan has definitely become a part of me somehow :)

I played with my new inkstick and inkstone for the sketch and marks and added a piece of a paper bag from a store.

I had to use it- although I am not quite sure what it depicts. I flicked some gold with a brush and added the journaling with a fude pen.

Here are some of the supplies I used for this Art Journal page:


Nat

Comments (2)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Love the use of the store bag…I do that often from vacations.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Love that you do that too ! Sometimes the bag is a better treasure than the content- LOL

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The Wild and Tame – Art Journal

“The Wild and the Tame wrestle in me, neither win, neither want to.” Tyler Knott Gregson

Love this poem – so true!

I used some of my old calendar pages with my prints as collage material – and then stamped with some of my buildings stamps. I am trying to make an effort to use more of the stuff I have been collecting for some time …what is the point to wait for the “perfect” moment- just make it the perfect moment and get some space back- LOL

I love how the prints of my painting blend in with the Stroll stamps. The yellow stripe on the bottom is washi tape – I just thought I needed to pick up the yellow of the painting again and I love the effect. Since it is washi tape with really low and bad adhesive I applied some Gel Medium underneath to make sure it sticks.

I added some Viarco Graphite for color inside the buildings- I love using those- the colors are just o beautiful.

Here are some of the supplies I used for this spread


Nat

Comments (4)

  • Sue Clarke

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    I have started to give any craft supply away that I haven’t used in over 3 years. That includes some of the “saving for the perfect” project items. Silly when I think about it. My washi tape does not stick in my art journal (over paint) so thanks for the suggestion of the gel medium.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      I hear you :) It is funny how we are all little magpies collecting shiny objects – but here is to using them :)

      Reply

  • Janene

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    I know what you mean about using/using up stuff you already have. I was thrilled to use up 2 glue sticks over the weekend. It’s the little things that make all the difference in my life. :-)

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Wow- Janene, that is a lot of glue sticks you used up!!! Go Go Go!!!!

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Home is Where you Launch – Art Journal

“But home isn’t where you land, home is where you launch!” (from An American Marriage by Tayari Jones) Even though I love living in the States and call it my home and I do not see myself going back to Germany and even though I do feel more like a European than being German…I guess home is still a city in Germany called Hamburg :) I think this is a feeling I share with a lot of immigrants and when I read this quote it really resonated with me and I knew I had to use it for an art journal spread.

I used one of my drypoint prints with the lady as a collage element – you can read more about the drypoint etching class I took here.

I stamped and layered my Stroll Through the Hood and Stroll Around the Block stamps and then colored them in with watercolor.

I painted the top of the background with golden gesso – and I really love how the gold and the watercolor play together.

Here are some of the supplies I used for the spread:


Nat

Comments (4)

  • Janene

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    I understand what you’re saying. I grew up in Southern California and still consider it my “home” even though I haven’t lived there in over 40 years (and I’ve lived in a couple of other places in between then and where I live now). When I visit California, I’m flooded with good memories of my early life there. But my new home is fantastic in an entirely different way. Kinda like the difference between chocolate and vanilla – both are delicious, but I’d never mistake one flavor for the other!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      I love your comparison with the flavors – that is beautifully put! thank you for sharing Janene!

      Reply

    • Donna B.

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      I feel the same way. I’d never thought about it before, but I also have strong feelings about the place where I grew up. In my case, I don’t even know anyone who lives back in my old home town or the surrounding area anymore, but if I were to go back there, I suspect it would still feel like my home.

      Reply

      • nathalie-kalbach

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        Thank you for sharing Donna- I totally understand what you mean about that it would be different but still feel like home.

        Reply

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Born To Sparkle ! Art Journal

Well….this was a failed attempt of trying out some foil that I had laying around forever. I applied some gel medium through my Art Deco Wallpaper Stencil and then burnished the foil on top. I was way too impatient and took off the foil too early so it didn’t apply everywhere and after a short disapproving snort I decided it wasn’t too bad – I like the sparkly mess ;)

For me creating is problem solving and if you decide there is no problem- problem solved ;) That doesn’t work always of course- LOL- but in this case it did ;)

Here are some of the supplies I used for the spread


Have a sparkling day :)

Nat

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Keep singing your own song! Art Journal

“No matter what people think of you, alway keep singing your own song.”

I used ink to sketch the dude …bad lip job but oh well ;)

I used some music sheet color painted with watercolors for the background of the guitar and stamped on top of the clothing with my building rubber stamps from various sets. For the skyline I used the patterned and solid side of my Midtown Foam Stamp Set and stamped the windows and doors on top.

This was a fun spread to create – here are some of the supplies I used:


Nat

Comments (2)

  • Sue Clarke

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    I absolutely love how you’ve been using the building stamps to make clothing patterns.
    I never would have thought of doing that and it makes for such an interesting look.
    Thanks for your continued inspiration Nat!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      thank you Sue! I am so obsessed with doing those building clothes- cannot stoppppp :)

      Reply

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Not Flowery – Art Journal

For not being a flowery girl, I did an awful lot of flowery stuff lately, huh? LOL.

This spread was inspired by a mural I saw in Birmingham, UK last year- can you spot which one in the post about it?

The background was spray painted over my Kassel stencil, and the flowers are painted with acrylic paints and gouache. For the face I used neopastels.

I like how all the different paint mediums look together and play with them.


Nat

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