Blog: Art Journal

Different doesn’t Mean Wrong!

Different doesn’t mean WRONG!

Good reminder as I am doing a lot of things different in my art journal lately ;)

I liked the sketch so much that I didn’t wanna change it up with color or stamping, so I left it as is. I adhered some some washi tape with Gel Medium and added the Journaling on top.

The building is a printout on gauze. I manipulated the image which was taken in the neighbor hood in an amazing class a couple years several years ago with Natalya Aikens and I hoarded this piece of fabric. I decided it was time to just use it up :)


Nat

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Be Silly – Art Journal

Be Silly, be honest, be kind!

Fun using up a tag I made a while ago with my Versailles Stamp set and the Manhattan border stamp. For the background I stenciled some gold gesso through my Amsterdam and Versailles Stencil and colored the space in between with watercolor paint.

The building is a cut out from an old calendar print of my Highline painting. This was a fun and fast spread to do :)


Nat

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A Long Way – Art Journal

Little collage play in my art journal. I am enjoying using a lot of scraps and paper I collected and trying some different things :)

I sketched the 50s girl on deli paper and then pasted it on a flower painting in watercolor. I used several of my urban stamps to create a grungy look.

I love combining the romantic look with some grungy me – just my style ;)

I cut out some artwork from an old MoMA desk calendar as well as a part of one of my own old calendars which had some of my building paintings included. I like incorporating my own paintings on different scale into my art journal.

Here is a close up of the dress. I am having so much fun with this :)

Here are some of the supplies I used:


Nat

Comments (2)

  • Sue Clarke

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    What a delightful spread. I can picture you wearing this dress!

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    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you Sue! Oh yeah- I would love to have that dress too :)

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To Be Imperfect Means To Be Real

“To be imperfect means to be real” – I thought it was a perfect quote for a spread featuring an image transfer :)

I love how imperfect image transfers look and how they can lead to a grungy and interesting page. I wrote the journaling with a soft pencil as I felt that would fit best with the overall look.

I added some stamping with my Grannies stamp and also stamped some circles with a lid and made some marks with a stiff brush.

Here are some of the supplies I used for this spread


Nat

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Unfinished Thoughts – Art Journal

I am a mess of unfinished thoughts -oh so true ;)

The back girl is sketched out on deli paper and painted with acrylic paint, while the front one is cut out from a magazine and I just painted with Neopastels on top of it.

I used my Kassel stencil directly on the background but also used some deli paper where the stencil appeared after I had used it with my gel plate to do monoprints.

To tie the deli paper a bit more together with the background I painted partly over it and the background and then scratched some marks into the wet paint. I like the grungy feel of this.

Here are some of the supplies that I used besides various acrylic paints and inks:


Nat

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Well Behaved Women – Art Journal

This is another Art Journal spread using my great grandmother’s photo as an indirect image transfer. I love how the transparency of the image let’s the background come through.

Inspired by Klimt I added hand painted and also stenciled patterns with acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint. I also inked up just part of my Numerals stamp as I thought the triangle would make a great pattern stamp

I love how this came out and I wonder if my great grandmother actually liked Klimt – she for sure liked fashion – I have a nice stash of photos of her and she always liked to dress up.

I will post soon how I do indirect image transfers – they are fun and especially work with photos that have bigger areas of white so you have a clear area that works well with the background.

Here are some of the supplies I used for this spread


Nat

Comments (2)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Love LOVE Love this…colors, photos and quote!

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Don’t Judge – Art Journal

“Do not judge my story by the chapter you walked in on ”

Love the quote. So true!

For this art journal spread I combined a sketch of the flat iron building with some of my urban building stamps. I painted parts of them in the same color to make them look more cohesive.

For the collaged woman, I used a print of one of my paintings -unfortunately I chose a too dark print and the lines of my sketch get a bit lost here. I stamped on top of deli paper and mounted it on the print. I like the look. but again – I need to use light ink on dark backgrounds in order to make this work :)

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


Nat

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If you Stumble… Art Journal

“If you stumble, make it part of the dance”. I feel I do this a lot, especially when I create – it is freeing ;)

I had so much fun with this spread. For an assignment I had to paint a floral watercolor painting and I had tons of drafts and I felt it would be a good idea to use them up.

So I made the watercolor paper part of a collage for my art journal. I  sketched the lower part of a body with some ink and stamped over with some of my Stroll Through the Hood and Stroll around the Block stamps. I actually like those pants- LOL. In the 80s you would have not gotten into such pants but now I might reconsider ;) Would you wear them?

The watercolor paper collage is a bit too sturdy for the journal but I can live with that. It felt good to use those drafts up elsewhere instead of just throwing them into the bin.

I also painted some flowers directly onto the paper using acrylic paints and inks and Flow Aid to give it a watercolor effect.

For the journaling I started out writing with graphite and then went over it with a small brush and black ink. It is a great way to do brush lettering even though it is cheated – I can live with that ;) I really liked this- need to repeat, maybe a dress?


Nat

Comments (2)

  • Deb

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    Really liked this journal layout. Such a different style and different color palette for you. Liked the open white space on this particular layout. Overall a fun and refreshing layout. I like the pants too! Who knows maybe it will be all the rage. Natalie K clothes.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      thank you so much Deb! Ha that would be fun to have a fashion line :)

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Not in this Century – Art Journal

“She knew the world was hers….She also knew not in this century”

My great-grandmother as a cut out image transfer. She was a city girl all her life hence the city background.

I layered my Grove Street Stamp in pink over the Circle Drive Stamp – – I like the outcome- I need to play a bit more with layering the different circle designs on top of each other and will make sure to share.

I masked her off with post its to stamp the buildings around her and I like the look of combining the bold Midtown Foam stamps with the finer building stamps with my rubber stamps.

Do you use vintage photos in your art journals?

Here are some of the supplies I used:


Nat

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