Thursday, September 12, 2013

Nathalie Kalbach’s Elephant Blog Hop!

Nathalie Kalbach's Blog Hop

I love elephants.  They are the largest land animal.  They feel deeply.  They are compassionate,  loving, and form strong family bonds.  Even with their lumbering gait, there is something very graceful about them.

It's no surprise that I jumped on the chance to try out Nathalie Kalbach’s gorgeous Elephant Stencil from Stencil Girl Products.






I decided to make an art journal page using this stencil.












Recently, Louise Nelson used embossing and watercolor to create a beautiful layout using Nathalie's stand-up bass stencil.

http://louise-justloolabelle.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/nathalie-kalbach-stencil-blog-hop.html
I loved this technique, and decided to give it a try!





I started with an empty full page spread in my Global Arts watercolor journal.  (Imagine - an empty full page spread!)  This is my favorite journal to work in when I want to start with an empty white page.  I love the thick, watercolor paper. 









 I decided to turn the stencil around so that the elephant was walking from left to right.  Because I love the look of them walking in a line, I decided to start one elephant partly off of the left side of the spread, and have another elephant walking off the side of the right hand page. 



I taped Nat's lovely elephant down and stamped the openings with Versamark.   Normally, I don't bother taping down my stencils, but with this technique I wanted to be careful that the stencil didn't move around. 















I covered the pages with UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel), and melted the UTEE with my heat gun.




I scribbled around the outlines of the elephant and inside some of the openings with gelatos, Neocolor II watercolor crayons, and Derwent Inktense blocks





I used lots of water to saturate the pages and blend the colors.  When the colors were dry, I used a baby wipe to clean the color off of the embossed areas.  I love how this looks!  Thank you Louise Nelson!









I felt like my elephants needed a little grounding on their page.  At this point I had no idea what the page would be about -- I was just having fun playing.



I masked off part of one of the stencils from August Stencil Club.  Something about these shapes reminded me of elephant footprints!












I used a cosmetic sponge to stencil the "footprints."  But now, they looked like a path.  Suddenly I knew what this page was about!  I've been thinking so much about where I'm going with my art, and how to blend the mixed media work, licensing and stencil designing that I do.   I've been trying to be mindful about how I spread my artistic energy. 



This quote by Henry David Thoreau is one I've been saving for a while -- looking for just the right image with which to pair it.  I should pursue the paths that I can walk with love and reverence.  I hand lettered it on my page (I forgot the love part, but oh well...), and used one of the hands from my Hand Stencil for Stencil Girl to point the elephants on their path.   (The Hands Stencil will be test driven on 9/26 - so stay tuned!)

I added some journaling (which I blurred for this blog post), and I was done!

Thanks Nat for inviting me to be part of your hop!  Be sure to stop by and check out all the other wonderful creations created by some very talented people!  And every blog in the hop you comment on gives you another chance to win Nat’s Elephant Stencil.  That gives you 7 chances to win!  She’s randomly choosing a winner on September 18, at midnight EST.

Jessica Sporn (that's me!)

And... the winners of my ATC giveaway are:  Micki, Butterflycrafter, and Christine Kiehl!  Send your snail mail addresses to me at jessicabethsporn (at) gmail (dot) com and I will get your trades out to you!

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

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57 comments:

  1. wonderful Jessica.. I like this so much and I am fascinated by your painting with leaves .. and I enjoyed your new video about making a Journal on you tube!

    fabulous art Jessica!

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  2. Love the pages. It is light and airy, which I didn't think was possible with this stencil. So beautiful!

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  3. Everyone has such different techniques. Fun stuff.

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  4. Your journal page is stunning! Love how you created the page - thanks for haring the steps. Great quote you've used as well.

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  5. Thank you for the tutorial! I love your elephant page!

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  6. Fantastic footprints and now a pathway to art heart...I thought at first they were hand carved stamps....really like them. Your majestic elephant has given you a special gift. xox

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  7. I love how this evolved artistically and emotionally for you.

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  8. I love how you give color! is amazing y love your page!

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  9. The poem is so perfect with the Elephant March stencil! Great color and technique too. I wouldn't have thought to there would be so many ways to incorporate Nat's elephant stencil in to my art, but this blog hop has opened my eyes. Thanks for sharing your art:)

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  10. Love the look of the white elephant against the watercolours! Wonderful page!

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  11. Love these pages. The stencil looks such fun and I love the idea of the embossing medium.

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  12. I love the elephant procession in your journal pages - great technique and thanks for showing how you created this!

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  13. Fabulous page! Love the quote and how fitting it is for your elephant path page.

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  14. Very cool technique Jessica! Love how you also incorporated the other stencils for the elephant to "walk" on! That is my FAVORITE journal and use it everyday!

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  15. Awesome! Love your journal pages!

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  16. All artists has shown beautiful pieces, but this one stole my attention!...Love it!...tfs

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  17. love the softness of tour colring

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  18. Beautiful! I love how the elephants are walking right out of the book. The stones are wonderful too, and I do love the sentiment. Hope all is well.

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  19. I love the path and that they seem to be happy to be on their way.

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  20. Beautiful page and I loved to see the creative process.

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  21. I am so new to art media/journaling, etc and am awed, inspired and amazed at the wonderful talents and how readily they share it. This technique is so amazing! All the different interpretations from this stencil. Gotta have one.

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  22. This turned out fantastic!!!!!!! I love the "footprints".

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  23. thanks for sharing all the wonderful step by step photos. fascinating to see how it all evolved into such a great journal page!

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  24. It just goes to show how versatile stencils are. Great effects.

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  25. I love your technique using the UTEE and gelatos. This is a very cool layout!

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  26. The combination of the quote with the stencil is brilliant, and your colors and footprints and other markings are just perfect...I love it all!

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  27. Beautiful Jessica love your colors and use of the stencil!

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  28. Beautiful results and great quote Jessica. Happy PPF, Annette x

    http://nettysartadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

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  29. Beautiful work Jessica! Love the texture you created with the UTEE!

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  30. Great journal pages, the detailed elephants are fabulous and I love how you have them walking off the page. Love the added journalling and wonderful pop of colour too. Thanks so much for joining in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. Tracy x x

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  31. Great to follow your creative journey. Love the path you made for those lovely elephants. Gorgeous pages

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  32. thanks for all the step outs-love your color palette for this piece Jessica!

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  33. Love the stencil and the pages you created. thanks for the step by step tutorial.

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  34. I love the footprints. It goes so well with the elephants walking on and off the pages. Very clever. Thank you

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  35. LOVE the effect you achieved!!
    <3 J

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  36. Really love the elephant parade you showed us!

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  37. Beautiful pages! Your use of stencils is very effective here.

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  38. Great art work! I love the elephant parade you created! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  39. ewww weee I really love the colors of this spread. maybe because they are my favorite colors ever.
    what a great way using clear embossing on that and the color around the elephants. turned out super

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  40. What a fabulous page...I love the path stencil...so cool...and who doesn't love elephants..they are so sweet...and great mothers!! Really fun page with a great quote!

    Hugs Giggles

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  41. Love this post. Sharing tutorials is like giving a gift to your readers; we not only get to see the end result but join you in the creative process. I am so grateful when an artist invites me along on their journey! Thanks!

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  42. Fabulous journal page, thanks for the step by step. Love the stencil and the colours you used

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  43. Great tutorial and fantastic art as always Jessica. Thanks for sharing:)

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  44. Love, love, love the way you embossed and water colored the elephant. just Fabulous thank you for sharing. This was a wonderful blog hop! honey hugs bz

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  45. Love the versamark through the stencil tecnique! I bet I can use that on my canvas too! Great quote - love it!

    Carmen L

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  46. This is gorgoeus- love the the outcome and the colors. Beautiful! Also the quote is amazing. Thank you so much for playing along my new neighbor :)

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  47. Good grief, I love elephants too. I entered my baby elephant this time. Love the technique that you used and your detailed instructions. Thank you. Blessings, Janet PPF

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