Blog: ArtFoamies

Which Direction?

I was thinking about how so many times in our lives we have to rethink the direction we want to head – always so tough , so many questions, so many uncertainties.

For this art journal spread I sketched the lady on the left with acrylic ink and a bamboo sketching pen, and colored her in with watercolor. The right lady is on a piece of painted deli paper which lets the background show through.

I added some stamping with my Stroll Through the Hood RubberMooon Stamps and stamped with acrylic paint and the MidTown ArtFoamies Stamp Set as well as the Mini Manhattan Positive and Negative Stamp set.

I sprinkled some golden ink over the spread and added the journaling. I do love how this turned out.

Different from my usually super filled pages- but still funky :)

Here are some of the supplies I used for this spread


Comments (2)

  • Joi@RR

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    Love this one Nat. Your gals are so abstractly done – in a great way and then the buildings are more “solid” – stabilizing. Love that some are black/white too. And the Mini Manhattan stamp is perfect symbolism for the “which way” – and perfect in the varying colors to show different choices. This is one that would be great on a huge canvas – so symbolic and the type of art that speaks! You always inspire me. Have a blessed holiday season. Xj.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you so much Joi! Wishing you a wonderful holiday season as well!!!<3

      Reply

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Each Day is a New Adventure – Marsha Valk

  

Hello from the Creative Squad! Today we have a fun art journal page from Marsha Valk.   Marsha uses my Mini Batik Pattern 4 foam stamp, my cute little Star Tag stamp , and my Torn Layers stamp to create a colorful page with this month’s theme: Each Day is a New Adventure – Be adventurous this month and try something new in your art-making! Use a new tool, medium, or technique that you’ve been meaning to try for too long now. Go on a new adventure TODAY!


Liquid watercolour Ecoline has been around forever. It’s a staple you can find in every Dutch school art room, and it’s very likely that the first time I ever used it was in kindergarten. I was very excited to see that Royal Talens was releasing Ecoline brush pens and I bought three or four colours the moment I could get my hands on them. I always intended to buy more, but once I had them, I couldn’t find a good use for them besides brush lettering, and I forgot about them.

Fast forward to last week. Ecoline brush pens were back on my radar, and I treated myself to a big set. With no intended purpose, just for play. Then I read this month’s n*Studio Squad theme… And it was the perfect excuse to break in my new pens!

Start with drawing some doodles with masking fluid. Leave to dry completely.

Apply Ecoline to the paper. Ecoline works just like watercolour, so you apply it straight out of the pen or from the bottle with a brush. Or you can wet the page with a brush first and then apply the Ecoline to let it spread. Wait for the Ecoline to dry.

Colour the Mini Batik Pattern 4 ArtFoamies stamp with an Ecoline brush pen and stamp the pattern on the page.

You can get multiple images from one layer of Ecoline if you lightly spritz some water (from a distance) onto the foam stamp in between stamping.

Rub away the masking fluid once the paper is completely dry.

Take a separate sheet of paper and use a pencil to draw a girl.

Use a China Marker or a crayon to add a couple of white stripes to the hair. The grease in the marker will create a resist when you apply Ecoline over it.

Add some interest to the girl’s outfit by stamping a couple of stars on her sweater with the Star Tag stamp and a permanent stamping ink.

Use masking fluid or post-it tape to mask off any areas you do not want to be stamped.

Then use the Torn Layers stamp to add texture to the sweater.

Finish colouring the girl with Ecoline and Ecoline brush pens. Add details with a black waterproof fineliner. Use a black ballpoint pen instead if you need to draw over the China Marker.

Cut out the girl and adhere her to the background page.

Happy November!


Thank you Marsha – now we’re super excited to try the Ecoline brush pens on my foam stamps too! In addition to her art journal, Marsha used the following supplies (some are affiliate links):




Play along with us too: I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next  “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

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Echo Chamber

In this journal spread I wrote “Like in an echo chamber a saddening, frightening and yet empowering #metoo echoed through the universe.”

I drew the left women with ink using a bamboo sketching pen and colored her in with watercolor- the right one is a painted on deli paper which I collaged into the art journal.

I stamped with some of my ArtFoamies stamps and acrylic paint and added some mars with Neopastels and a Charcoal pen.

Here are some of the supplies I used for this spread


Comments (2)

  • Gunvor

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    It’s a lovely spread and an important matter. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      thank you Gunvor! Yes- it is a very important matter-!

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Photos of the Workshop at Nathalie’s Studio

Last Saturday I taught my Stroll Through the Hood workshop here at home in an intimate setting and it was so fun to have 7 wonderful ladies join me. I used to teach a lot of home-workshops in Germany and I would like to do some small ones once in a while here too- this was the first time I did it:)

Here is the morning view before they all came- I had set up everything in our dining room/kitchen area

 

and lot’s of supplies were waiting to be used :)

for some fun urban sceneries.

And then there we are already in full force creating. It was so wonderful to have lovely people from Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and New York!

Katie creating some wonderful sceneries –

Jill, Theresa and Linda fully immersed :)

And then there were Donuts …of course with a Halloween theme :)

Look at the gorgeous smile Linda gave me after I tortured here to look at me ;)

And here are her gorgeous pieces- look at all those patterns and colors- yummie!

Lea’s beautiful work in progress – i love the colors!

And Maria listening to Anne and creating magic!

And Anne’s beautiful work- I love her Flat Iron building so much!

It was a great day and so I will do a workshop again at my n*Studio :) Probably in February 2018.

If you want to join any of my In-Person Workshops a list of them is posted here. I will be this coming weekend at The Queen’s Ink in Maryland (Saturday is sold out but there are still a couple seats in my Mono Print Painting class open!)

I am also teaching my last workshop for this year in Salem, Oregon at Runaway Art and Craft Studio – December 2 -3 – which includes also the Stroll Through the Hood workshop I taught here at home :) I hope you can join me for any of those -I would love to see you!

Comments (6)

  • Linda Wyatt

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    It was a wonderful and creative workshop, and great to try out new techniques and materials. Also an easy trip across the Hudson so I would love to do it again ???❤️

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      It was so good to have you Linda- and oh yea- you are soooo close :) I will keep you posted :)

      Reply

  • Jill

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    It was such a fun workshop, Nathalie! I had such a great time learning some new techniques and getting to know everyone. Such a great experience working in such a small group!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Thank you so much for coming all the way! It was so much fun to have you! Hope to see you soon again!

      Reply

  • Jean Goza

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    The artwork that was produced in the class is stunning. Looks like everyone had a great time.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      It was so much! Cannot wait to hopefully see you January when I am back in San Jose Jean! :)

      Reply

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Bring It On!

I was playing with some color values and just painting them in my art journal and then I started seeing a city scape and added Atlas in front of the Rockefeller Center in NYC.

I stamped with my Grove Street Positive and Negative ArtFoamies Set and added some marks and definition as well as windows with Derwent Art Bars and Neocolor II (both are water soluble wax sticks) and white China Marker.

I added the journaling with a Fude Pen and a white Signo Pen. I love how this page just developed with no real agenda in mind and how all of a sudden I started seeing things.

Those are the most fun art journal pages to do for me when I am totally just enjoying playing with paints and media.

Here are the supplies I used for this spread:

 


Comments (2)

  • Sue Clarke

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    I love the colors and the feeling of this page!

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You Belong Somewhere Where You Feel Free!

Don’t we all? Loved playing with blue and gold – I am on a weird gold- high – not sure why, as it is not my favorite color, but I guess trends have gotten me too ;)

I stamped with my new Van Vorst Positive and Negative ArtFoamies in blue and gold for the tile background effect. For the city scape I used my new Midtown ArtFoamies set and applied rubbed lightly some Artgraf Chalks on top of the foamstamps. The Artgraf Chalks are water-soluble and make a gorgeous watercolor like effect when stamping. To activate the pigments and have them come off the foam stamp, I slightly sprayed a layer of water on top and then just stamped ahead.

Love how the colors blend. I added some marks with Neopastels and a charcoal pen and wrote the journaling with a blue and white acrylic marker.

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


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Chase Your Stars Fool!

“Chase your stars fool, life is short” – I toned down this very bright red, orange and yellow acrylicpaint-ed background with some gesso and added some stenciling in yellow on top using my Batik Stencil.

I stamped with my new Circle Drive ArtFoamie Stamp and black acrylic paint and added some stars with black archival ink using my Star Tag Cling Rubber Stamp.

I adhered a magazine image and painted over it with acrylic paints and Neopastels. I love how soft those Neopastels are and how beautifully they can be blended.

Here is a supply list with most of the materials I used to create this page:


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How to Catch your Breath

“sometimes the only way to catch your breath is to loose it completely.”

Love the the color combination -this makes me happy. I played with my new Grove Street Pos. + Neg. ArtFoamies and love the texture they created.

I painted the figure with Neopastels  and I love how they look together with the background I painted with acrylic paint.

I am totally addicted to the neopastels and I am hoping that the big set will be somehow showing up in December ;) HINT HINT

Here are some of the supplies:



Comments (1)

  • Sherry Canino

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    Beautiful and how true is the quote lol ❤️❤️❤️

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Chaos is a friend of mine

Seriously! LOL- how about you?

I love how this page turned out – it was a demo page for a workshop and there were different areas of color and stamping and I thought I will tie it all together buy using the same colors and embracing the chaos :)

I used my brand new Park Blvd Pos + Negative ArtFoamies as well as the Versailles Pos +Neg. and the Manhattan Border Stamp.

Now …off to getting ahold of some chaos in my studio …because honestly it starts to be not so friend’ly’ anymore- LOL.

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


Comments (4)

  • karen bearse

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    Oh yes same! My studio is currently being called the monstrosity!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      LOL- I read first “Monastery” – I like Monstrosity :)

      Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Great words for that colorful page.
    Chaos throws me off but it also makes me rise to the occasion.

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Sue, depends for me where the chaos is. I am actually in a lot of areas a crazy organized person – but not in my artmaking- LOL

      Reply

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