A Model Sanitarium...

A Model Sanitarium

"Sometimes I think I need to have my head examined"

"Hands down"

Here are some photos of my explorations in my XL Moleskine journal. No prompts, just what comes to mind when I am left to my own devices and just let go...

Enjoy... please click on any pic for a larger view. Have a creative weekend & get out and make some art. I spent a couple hours enjoying some 74 degree weather here in Long Beach, CA.

Long Journey

Long Journey
Originally uploaded by bkasstle

Playful Journey unfolded. This is from my first class with Orly and her Saturday morning Art Journaling group. This cronicles my journey from Kalispell, Montana in 1984 to present day, living in Long Beach, Calfiornia, with a few stops along the way....

Remember, click on any image for a larger view...

4 Helping Us See

This two page spread is for Orly Avineri's 2009 Art Journal Round Robin. Here is a link to her original post regarding the Round Robin. Orly is a wonderful supportive artist and friend. She has been published in Artful Blogging. She is going to be teaching at Teesha Moore's Journalfest this fall. I am attending her Art Journaling Classes at Harmony Works on Wednesday evenings. Click on the image for a larger view.

The eyes are a gel 'skin' image transfer I did using Regular Gloss Gel. I printed the image on plain cardstock and applied the Regular Gloss Gel and waited over night. Once it was dry I spritzed some water on the paper, rubbed off all the paper and then cleaned up the image transfer. It was actually really easy to do and you get a wonderful result. I then applied the 'skin' to my journal page with Soft Gel and it worked like glue.

My pages also include scrapbook paper, vintage ephermia, stenciling and spray painting & glimmer mist for some shine(and grunge)... enjoy! Give image transfers a try.

2 pages, plastic lace placemat

2 pages, plastic lace placemat
Originally uploaded by bkasstle

These pages may end up being backgrounds but I like how complex they are as is...enjoy!

Inspired & my Large Visual Journal.

Good morning! I have been overwhelmed by the traffic and comments to the blog since joining Seth Apter's Buried Treasure on The Altered Page . "Thank you!" does not do justice to how much I appreciate your kind words. You can click on any photo for a larger view of it.

This page uses one of my favorite wall stencils above Afro Girl's head and some lace cut number scrapbook paper, Afrom Girl is from Stencil 1 book.

This page uses dragon from Stencil Me In and wrestler from Stencil 1, a Tim Holtz mask on the top. I tend to do pages in twos, I am going to bind these loose ones in a book.

I have large 11" X 14 1/2 " Journal I have been using as a visual journal. It has been so fun to just spray right on it! At first I was first a bit hesitant but I just jumped in and it is working out to be great!

These pages use a lace plastic placemat on the left and stencils from Stencil Me In book.

This page uses bug stencils from Ginny's Small Studio and a stencil from Stencil 1 book, punchella. Everything has been oversprayed with Glimmer mist in copper. I love how it came out all grungy and aged.

The inside cover, with punchella and stencils from Stencil Me In & Stencil 1 books, Heidi Swapp masks.

This page is only a spray painted background. All of my pages start out like this before I spray on them. Have a great day and go make a mess and make some art today!

Family Stencils Part 1

The first of my hand cut stencils in my Family Series. This is of my sister Sheila, it is her high school graduation portrait. I will probably recut it again I was not too happy how her right eye turned out. I have not had time to do anything creative in a while so it felt good to do some spray painting.

I certainly enjoy spray painting in my beautiful back yard on a nice summer evening.

Care For A Cup 'o Tea?

These are some tea cups for an itty bitty book group I belong to. I did some stenciling for the background and then added my image, I also added some Tim Holtz Crackle Paints to them as well. These were very labor intensive because I had to cut out each individual image, front and back. They were a LOT of work but worth it in the end. I just sent them off. I can't wait to receive my book when they are finished, I will show you when I receive it. Click on each image for a larger view.

Great Grandpa Barley!

This is a some artwork done with a stencil I cut of an old picture of my Great Grandpa Barley on my father's side. I still need to do some work on it and I need to get better at scanning these but you get the idea...

Please Mum, could I have some more...

I sleepie.... I have to go to work.... For you here is some more of my stencil art. We are learning how to cut sun rays. I also cut the California Republic stencil. I am learning how to use a stencil burner, and by accident how hot they are... OUCH!!! DO NOT TRY THAT @ HOME!!! Take my word for it.

Some will have more added to them but I wanted to post more... These are actually going to all be part of an art journal. I need to add a bit more stuff to time and a bit of journaling.

Have a great weekend!

It is what's inside that counts...

At last working on some stencil journal pages... I love exploring more color and making "mistakes"... enjoy. I took advantage of our 99 degree weather yesterday and did a LOT of spraying. The bottom two pics use my first hand cut stencil. Wonder who that character is?

Covers for me journal... Arg....

Ok It is 3:45 am and I am soon off to work! Here is a pic of my stenciled covers. You can't really see it clearly but the center picture on the left is North and South America and the right pic is the rest of the globe. I used stencils from Heidi Swapp, and http://smallstudio.typepad.com/, also a lace placemat for the border, and some punchella for the top pics. Then I applied repeated coats of Maya Mists and Glimmer Mists in copper, gold and red. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did creating it. Have a great day.

Everybody's doin' it!

My friend Mary Ann at dispatchfromla.typepad.com is teaching an online class all about stenciling! From using pre-made stencils to making and cutting your own. All in her marvelous style! I am so excited to start!