Grungy Hat Journal has Disco fever

Aug 1st I added the small soft brown circles around the corners and filling in some spots. I am happier with it now. It feels good. I wouldn't promise its finished but it is at a good resting place. :) I have so many ideas for pages I am excited to start on them.

Seth Apter started a project called the Disintegration Project way back last fall and after taking part in it I have used some of my resultant treasure to create my new Hat Journal. This was the cover a few days ago. I am thinking it needs still a little something but it hasn't come to me yet. I know it will :) To see how this project first started go here.

And the back cover

I am a real hat fan and always have been I have so many ideas for pages in this new journal.

Here is the first page and inside cover.

I love Buster Keaton in his Pork Pie hat!

I went to Artfest in 2007 and decorated a top hat in Michael De Meng's class the Mad Hatter. It was an awesome class I loved it and my hat. It is a tribute to my crazy horse I had called Jazz. He was a dressage horse, hence the top hat. He loved to play with the hose especially when it was hot in the summer and he loved being sprayed. He was very dexterous with his lips and teeth and could open almost any latch, Velcro or zippered pockets, you name it he could open it. He was larger than life and liked to intimidate other animals or people if they let him. But he was a sweet soul and didn't have a mean bone in his very energetic body. Training him was a huge challenge. Extremely sensitive on one hand but ready to jump out of his skin in the blink of an eye. I found jumping actually calmed him down and he was really good at it. An astute technician that paid strict attention to the job at hand and tried to make each jump perfect. He was so athletic that I had complete confidence that no matter what he would get over the jump cleanly. What an amazing feeling! Oops sorry I got a bit off track there. Also on the hat is a bit, domino's, drawer pulls a vent and other silly stuff. Jazz had an amazing sense of humour for a horse and this hat also evokes the fun in his personality.

Newest Visitor to my deck

Isn't he adorable? The photo is by my in house pro Mr Tim Zurowski. It is a Pacific Tree Frog and there was not just one but two. Lucky for this guy I found him because he was originally under the pad on my bench where I sit all the time. There happened to be some leaves blown on it so I lifted it to shake it off and there he was. He is an entire inch long. After moving him gently away I went about watering my plants only to find another one in my sedum plant! How cool is that! And today 4 or 5 days later he's back again.

I have been getting lots of neat visitors, Humming birds to my flowers and sitting on things hanging out, a Nuthatch is coming regularly to the little dish of water, friendly wasps drinking too and all sorts of interesting bees and bugs are coming to the flowers. How wonderful, nature literally right at my doorstep :)

My First Give Away!

I drew a name for my Wine Gift Bag and Misty Mawn is the lucky winner!

And now for something completely different . . .

May I present Sacha from the Flying Wallendas! Daaaa, da da da, da da, da da da da, da da daaaaaaa,
Daaaa, da da da, da da, da da da da, da da daaaaaaa,

Daaaa, da da da, da da, da da da da, da da daaaaaaa,

Daaaa, da da da, da da, da da da da, da da daaaaaaa,

Taa Daaaaaaa!

Like my good friend Kellie who came over on Saturday I was inspired after 5 hours of arting. So I too kept working away. Did I say working? I should say playing. This little stuffy was given to me by Liz and it was sitting on my table in plain view of . . . the acrylic paint. That is all it took. LOL! I already had paint loaded in my brush so splat on it goes. Sacha also has some hand stitching which was quite fun. I drew his face on with a pen and added the leaf ribbon. I think he may get a few more embellishments before I call it completely done but I really like where he is at. Oh ya and I made him a trapeze out of a bit of dowel, thread and brass screw eyes so he looks like a pro! :)

Harry???

I am very pleased how this cover is working out for my journal. I love a journal to be fat with art but I like my journals not to have to fan open unnecessarily. This one is nearly half full now and it still has room to expand just to make level. I also really like the flexibility of the canvas and how it curves when you close the book. And the bonus is; it was easy to sew it together. :)))

Are you Hairy? Or are you Harry?

If its on my art table it is going to get painted.

I am loving this teal and Chocolate combination.

All the Skinnys

I couldn't resist buying this package of watercolour pages in this unusual size. I love the format (4 x 14") and found the lovely decal ed edges irresistible.

Journalling Away . . . . . .

Croak!!!Lately I have been very smitten with the texture from bubble wrap. The crow page is cheese cloth, acrylic paint, pastels, white gel pen and white Permapaque pen.

The Wild mind is done with a black sharpie and pastels. The lettering with a Pilot Parallel pen.

A gnarly old tree appeared out of the golden light. I think something is flying in the sky but I can't quite make it out. :)

I never thought I would like felt pens again but I am having a lot of fun with the black sharpie over acrylics.

Reckless Abandon!

This is one of my favorite works. I have dug this up in response to Seth Apters challenge.

I love doing art with Reckless Abandon! Trying abstract painting with Reckless Abandon

My paint pots

Jessica Wabbit

Oriental Poppy Seed Heads

Canvas Pocket Freshly dug up

Hat Journal gets Grungy with the Disintegration Project

For more information about Seth Apters fabulous Disintegration Project click on his icon above.

I am using a cardboard 3 ring binder for my new Hat Journal. The first layer is using a lot of my buried treasure which was atlas pages, German blackletter, a paper towel, linen and some abandoned layout of the letter "T". To that I added a bit of drywall and masking tape. I love how random bits of paper end up with interesting words that seems like kismet! The small piece of paper at the top of the right side says "ding. Yet how much lively imagination"


Layer 2 is Gesso scraped on with a card but left a bit thicker to have the bubble wrap texture show up.
Layer 3 is Golden Fluid Acrylic paint in Quinachridone Niko-Azo Gold

Stay tune for more layers to come. Meanwhile I prepped the inside with the Quin gold and filled in the center with Gesso and textured it with a card.

Seth will be having a big revel at his blog Aug 1st. Check it out to see what all the other artists will be doing with their buried treasure. I have no doubt that it will be very inspiring!

Rose by any other name

Digital collage ~ having fun trying to blend different elements.

I have a whole Galaxy!

My new spare art table. My hubby was just going to toss out this old door. Naturally I rescued it and add a couple of saw horses and presto a table! When Kellie was over on the weekend doing art I spontaneously started painting the top and it just kind of turned out to be some distant galaxy. :) I will probably develop it a little more but it was really fun to do.

Wild Fun with Friends

My friend Kellie and I got together on Sunday and had a blast making art. I love working with someone who inspires you. We had such a great creative charge off of each other. Thanks Kellie!We both got new journals and started working on them.

This is the folder inside the front cover. At our Mad Hatter Tea Party we made this wonderful paper. I used it on the cover and both pages. Zeke appeared to me from the abstract designs in this piece. Zeke loves a good cigar! (LOL)

In this piece I saw a knight and he ended up with a wild head piece on his helmet.

My First Give Away!

A gift bag for a bottle of wine. Its nothing fancy it is just a paper bag from the wine store that I have recycled. I used acrylic paint, drywall tape and a couple of brads and a gel pen. I had fun with it and played and like the result. I hope you will too! The front and back are completely different. I don't think the photos really do it justice. You can of course see more detail if you click on the images.

Feel free to tell your friends about it. Just leave a comment and your email by Sunday July 26 and I will put all the names in a hat and draw a winner. I will mail it out by July 31 my birthday. Thanks to all the supportive comments you leave I do love to hear from you. :)

Some things I have been working on . . .

I redid the top of my lap pillow. It was falling apart.

I painted and stamped on my birdies and beaded new hangers for them.

Journal pages July

The horse was added in photoshop. I think I will add it for real in the form of a inkjet transfer.

Sweet memories of my very best friend Copper.
We had so much fun and did so many many things together. You couldn't ask for a better friend.

Meet Gable

Gable happened yesterday when I started playing with a Sharpie on my already painted page.