Journal 52, Week 36: Hide Out

Chelle's Week 36 prompt for Journal 52 is "hide out," which can mean many things and be interpreted in several ways.  I'm practicing hiding out in my hide out behind my window, Art Journal Journey's September prompt, in a house similar to some I'll be making for my Houses altered book.

This is the attic and the window that sits across the entire front of my imaginary house.  I'll walk you through this entry since it's too dimensional to scan.

I started by measuring the vintage sheet music I planned to use as the attic.  The used file folder is my substrate.

I cut the roof, eaves, and roof wall out of paint chip samples, then checked that they would fit properly on the house.

I used a post-it note to mask the window and I cut a semi-circle to represent the decorative transom I wanted to place above the door that would not be seen from the attic window.  In the end, I didn't use the piece I cut for it, even after I masked off the area.

Using my handmade shimmering mists, instead of misting,

I brushed the ink on the page.


Using a sharpie, I outlined the transom and the window.

I allowed the mists/inks to dry,

then I reapplied the mask to the window and used some gesso to subdue the color.

The beauty of this technique is the inks/mists are reactive and when the gesso wet them, they were reactivated and spread through the gesso.  You can see some of the sheet music is now obliterated by the gesso, but the colors still come through.

Next, I cut the window.  I was planning to cut a double window, then decided it would be easier to photograph it if I allowed it to raise from the bottom, as seen above. 

I am craft knife challenged and bleed just looking at one of those murderous instruments.  It was even worse because I had a dull blade in the knife.

I keep saying I have "word processing" mentality which means I edit as I type.  Unfortunately, I can't do that when I write and I should learn to write out the words I want to add to the journal before I place them on the page.  Could be another reason I'm not fond of writing words on my art.

I wrote the message wrong.  I had planned to write "I hide behind the big window in my attic where I dream of making great art."  What came out was not what I was thinking when I started writing, but by the third word, it was too late to correct the sentence.

The house number shown on the transom represents the J52 week number.

Before I glued the house to the page, I sewed all the pieces together, including the chimney I also cut from a paint chip.

Materials used on the page included my used file folder as the substrate, paint chips, sheet music, handmade shimmering mists, sharpie, black ink pen, vinyl letters, and thread.

Be sure to check out Art Journal Journey where my internet friend Corrine at Sparkle Days Studio is this month's host of windows.  And thanks for joining me in my hide out.  There's always room for an art friend, follower, and reader to join me.