Blog: Art Journal

Girls in Style or…The Whatevers

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Are you ready for the next photo of the Second Round of Whatevers? If you missed what the Whatevers is all about (basically they are photos that my friends and I found on flea markets etc. and that we give a new life and story) or want to see all the past photos and takes…check it out here.

Click here to see what Cat, Vicki,  and Cuchy made out of the photo and which story they tell. Martha cannot participate this month- we are thinking of you hon- get better soon!

Here is my take on this month’s photo:

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“They were united by their love to create art and their extremely exquisite taste of bathing fashion. Nobody could deny that they were a fine group of women!”

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I had a great time creating the background with some collage elements. And this month’s photo made me also laugh big time :)

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And here is the photo for you in case you want to play along this month:

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Link up you projects with this photo here:

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Here is how it works

    • Vicki, Cat, Cuchy (Carmen), Martha and I and I have made a one-year commitment to each other and picked twelve photos with Whatevers whom we will give a story.
      • Every month – if possible always on the 15th –  each of us will do a post with an individual story that goes along for us with the same photo.

       

       

 

    • If you want you can play along and we will have the photo for you to download and show us your version of The Whatevers. The photo will be posted at the end of our blogposts- not on Facebook!

 

    • There is no rules to the story itself- it can be funny, sad, uplifting, breathtaking- WHATEVER

 

    • There is no rules on the length or the form of the story– it can be a short sentence, an essay, a poem or a soap opera – WHATEVER

 

    • There is no rules on the artform you choose – it can be a scrapbook layout, an altered art project, an artjournal page – WHATEVER

 

    • Here is a rule though: if you take the photo you have to link back to us and show us your story.

 

    • These pictures are from our personal stash and are for personal use for you only! If you want to use them for a publication whether a book or magazine in print or digital form please ask for permission!

 

    • If you want to participate we’ll have a linky list for each Whatever Post.

 

 


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Have a gorgeous day!

Nat

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Nat

Comments (4)

  • cuchy

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    extremely exquisite taste… NO DOUBT!! HAHAHAHA
    Colourful as we are :)

    Reply

  • Cat

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    I love the background!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Cuchy had way too much fun with this one.
    Fun photo to work with Nat.

    Reply

  • Vicki Chrisman

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    Very Very cool Nat!!!

    Reply

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About Two Faced Witches and Bouncing Bows

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I found this picture that we used in our first Whatever again (The Whatevers is a Storytelling Project where friends and I use found photos with unknown background stories) – and somehow I used it up for this new story :)

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“Glen was the first person in his family to recognize what a two-faced witch his sister was…she was pretty good in hiding her evil self behind the big bouncing bow”

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here are some of the supplies I used:

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Have a gorgeous day!

Nat

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Nat

Comments (2)

  • Amante del Papel

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    Amazing page!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    I just love how you manage to put an evil twist to the Whatever photos.
    Nice way to reuse this pic.

    Reply

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Courage is the quiet voice or Art Journaling Page

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“courage does not always roar. Sometimes Courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying ‘ I will try again tomorrow'”

Mary Anne Radmacher

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This is so true on so many levels – sometimes this is the hardest to find the courage to try again…but I am on it , trying every day ;)

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I used the Creative Palette by Stampendous and one of my templates in my Signature Stamp Sets with Stampendous and did some Mono Printing for the background. The letters are old Rose Mokka letters from my stash – the company does not exist anymore- but boy did I love those letters and hoard them. Time to use them up ;)

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Have a beautiful day filled with Courage!

hugs

Nat

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Nat

Comments (2)

  • Amante del Papel

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    Your pages are amazing! and the phrase so true!!!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    I actually used some of those letters (recently) that you sent me ages ago with your paper line. I especially like how you used the white pen to make the letters stand out. It’s been so long since I’ve done that that I had almost forgot that “trick”. Have a colorful day Nat.

    Reply

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About Sparrows, Pigeons and other Sayings

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“A sparrow in the hand is better than a pigeon on the roof…as we Germans say!”

Sometimes it is good to remember that ;)

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this is another quick art journal page fulfilling my urge to create something on a very busy non-studio day. I created the background with a brayer and Acrylic Paints, stamped over with some white acrylic paint and added the little bird that was a left over from one of my classes at the Ink Pad. Albert’s pants got a new pattern by applying a thick Liquitex Acrylic Marker…using them more like a stamp.

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And there you go…funky Albert with a huge sparrow in his hand ;)

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Thank you for swinging by and have a gorgeous day

nat

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Nat

Comments (2)

  • Amante del Papel

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    this is so great!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Hope you have a gorgeous day as well Nat.
    I just played in my art journal and thought of you since I used one of the templates that came with the stamp set.

    Reply

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I Regret Nothing In Life or … in my Art Journal

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I regret nothing in life except what I have not done.
Coco Chanel

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No reason to drown in a sea of blue ;)

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Lot’s of layering blue acrylic paints, spray paint, stamping, stencils, gesso and then starting over again.

Do fun things today!

Nat

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Nat

Comments (3)

  • Denise spillane

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    Beautiful!

    Reply

  • Amante del Papel

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    I love blue, is amazing!!!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Now these are the colors that come to mind when I think of your work.
    (Not that I don’t also enjoy the variety of the other colors that you use. Like reds and orange.)

    Reply

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Photos of my Workshops at the Baltic Sea in Germany

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It was such a fun trip to Germany and see friends and family but mainly to teach again at the Ostsee Scrap Event in Boltenhagen at the Baltic Sea. Just as last year it was a really intimate and gorgeous 3-Day event with round about 25 wonderful students located in a holiday village with a 2 minutes walk to the beach.

I had a blast. Thank you to all my students for coming and being open to try new things and dive right into paints – you rocked it :) Also thank you to Daniela for another amazing event – as last year I had a great time and the organization was exceptionally well done. And last but not least: Thank you to Liquitex for supporting the event and my workshops with wonderful materials – it is not a secret that their products are very dear to my heart and that they make it a breeze to get the results you are going for in your art work!

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Since my students were mostly scrapbookers and a lot of them were dabbling for the first time into Mixed Media, I made sure they understand the essential message of this weekend …which somehow they really took to heart – LOL. They took this photo of me (thank you Sandra!) “It is not your life, it is just paper!” so overcome your fear of trying things and if they do not work as you want them , so what?- get over it! ;)

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We started with a fun mono printing workshop, adding loads of texture and layers and just to loosen up :)

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and soon the whole room was covered every where with prints and papers and booklets and they liked just playing and trying new things.

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Here is Dani the wonderful organizer, who also made sure we would eat loads of yummie German food in between…oh man I filled up on sausages and German cake- LOL…I guess I missed that ;)

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Next up was a canvas workshop – here is another photo collage I stole from Sandra :)

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We used mostly Acrylic Paints and Acrylic Inks by Liquitex to get a nice background and then worked with my Stampendous Stamps and found objects on top of it.

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It was so much fun to see them play with different colors and motifs and incorporating my stamps in different ways. Pure bliss and I heard some canvases are already hanging on walls :) Here is a group photo

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In between I was able to dip my toes into the Baltic Sea with Andrea Gomoll and Janna Werner, who also taught there. Melanie Hoch was somewhere…she was another wonderful teacher at the event and kept hiding from us ;) just kidding ;) It was wonderful to spent some time with all three of them – I find it always super special to meet other creative teachers and exchange thoughts and support each other.

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The last workshop I taught was an art journal technique workshop and the girls were ready for it on the last day :)

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We used a lot Acrylic Paints and Acrylic Markers Markers as well as my Stencils by StencilGirl Products and my Stamps by Stampendous.

 

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that was it…if you made it with all the pictures till here…you need a break and should do some art ;)

Have a gorgeous day

Nat

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Nat

Comments (4)

  • Natalie Strauß

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    Sooo schöne Fotos.Ich schwelge immer noch in Erinnerung.Die Workshops waren so klasse.Bis hoffentlich ganz bald.
    Lg Natalie

    Reply

  • Sandra

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    The weekend was so much fun. Just love how you teach :). Hugs, Sandra

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Yes I made it all the way through and now I will go play in my art journal.
    Those canvases are awesome and I especially like the pic of you and the other lady with “duck lips”.

    Reply

  • Seth

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    Great work made by everybody and it looks like all these workshops were a lot of creative fun.

    Reply

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A Thousand Dreams …in my art journal

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A thousand dreams within me softly burn

Arthur Rimbaud

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The format of my new art journal is fun- but it is hard to photograph the double spread – I will figure it out ;)

I played with Liquitex Pouring Medium and Acrylic Paints and Inks to see what happens, loved the effects and saw flowers- which I then outlined with a black pen. I added a thin layer of clear gesso over the pouring medium parts as in an art journal otherwise the pages will stick together like crazy and destroy parts of the pages when you try to open it again. Works quite well and you do not loose too much of the shiny-ness.

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Also loved playing with the templates included in my Stampendous Wired Stamp Set. I heard that some people do not see that there are template stencils in the stamp sets, there are :) – don’t throw the packaging away with them!

Have a gorgeous day!

Nat

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Related articles across the web

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Comments (2)

  • Amante del Papel

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    Is just amazing!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Clear gesso…another supply that I now “need”.
    That red flower is so natural looking. I like how you designed it with the black ink.

    Reply

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Among Mad People or …Art Journaling Keeps Me Sane

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“But I don’t want to go among mad people”, said Alice. “Oh, you can’t help that”, said the Cat “We are all mad here”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carrol

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I smothered the background in paint and let it all out  – MAD ;)

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Have a gorgeous day and go make some art today!

hugs

Nat

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Nat

Comments (2)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Wonderful quote with nice bright colors!

    Reply

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New In-Person Classes added for Seattle & New York City

I am super excited that my friend Birgit Koopsen from the Netherlands will come to the States and we will teach together a second year at an Artfusion Event -this time organized by The Ink Pad in New York City.

Here are the details for my class on September 28, 2014 – 2.30-6pm

Walk With Me – Altered Book Workshop

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You can sign up here

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After teaching at the upcoming Create Mixed Media Retreat in Somerset, NJ,and Create Mixed Media Retreat in Dallas, Texas  I am thrilled to announce that I will also teach at the Create Mixed Media Retreat in Seattle, WA October 24-26, 2014

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If you want to check if there is other workshops close to you where I teach this year- check out my Workshop List here. If you want me to come and teach at your store or a retreat you organize- please contact me – I would be happy to work something out with you.

Have a gorgeous day

nat

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Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    TEXTURE GALORE CANVAS looks awesome!
    You are one busy artist Nat.

    Reply

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