I rather like Jane Davenport’s style of art, and have a few of her books. So when I saw the Whisical and Wild Happy Hour Art Journal, I was very intrigued.
Unlike the books I already have from Jane, this is not really a “how to” book. It is more of an adult colouring book, with a few fun twists.
The book is 9” wide and 10.5” tall (22.6 cm wide x 26.5 cm tall) and has 96 pages.
The book starts with a quick forward from Jane, and then details of the contents of the book and how to get the best from it.
Next comes a page about “The Importance of Creativity” with a Time Sheet for finding your “Happy Hour” (time when you can create).
And then on to the colouring/journal pages…
The Colouring Pages
What makes this book rather unusual is that the colouring pages come in a few different varieties, to allow you to experiment with different media and effects.
The bulk of the pages are smooth, wood-free paper. Jane saus this is “wonderful for penciles, pens, and other dry media”. It certainly is very nice paper and I have used pencils, pastels, gel pens and water based felt pens on it. It can take a wee bit of wetness, so a little gentle watercolour should be ok. Just put a sheet of card behind the page so you don’t accidently bleed on to the next page, just in case. There are 23 of these pages.
Next there are 8 pages made from kraft paper. This is a pale brown colour, a nice vintage look. It is quite thin and Jane advises not to get it too wet, but for dry media such as pencils it works really well. An exciting alternative to plain white paper.
Then there are 8 pages of Mixed-media paper. This is heavier, wood-free paper that is perfect for marker pens and light watercolour. It can take alcohol markers too.
The last colouring section is 4 pages of off-white watercolour paper. This is heavyweight and (as the name suggests) perfect for wet media such as watercolour paints, markers and all sorts of inks and other soggy media.
Some Nice Extras
The end of the book has two sheets of very brightly coloured origami-style, lightweight paper. This is very thin and can be easily torn and used for layering in collages etc.
There is also a sheet of 11 glossy stickers. Five are line art and you could colour them with alcohol or paint markers.
Ready to Use Elsewhere
Each page is perforated near to the spine so you can easily remove it, either whilst colouring, or to use elsewhere. You could reuse the finished artwork as wall art, journal covers, wrapping paper, cut it up to use elements in projects and much more.
Plus all This
The colouring pages are on the right of each two page spread. On the left side (the reverse of the colouring pages) are coloured pages with an assortment of designs that you could use as they are, or add to. Obviously you would need to choose between using the colouring page or whatever is on the reverse.
What You Can Do With This Journal
What I like about the designs in this book is that they lend themselves to all sorts of techniques. You don’t have to just colour them in with markers.
Many feature open areas that are just asking to for Zen doodles or other embellishments. There is plenty of white spaces around many of the designs so you could add more details or patterns.
The ability to easily remove the pages and use them in other art projects makes the journal very versatile.
The Artwork
The artwork throughout the book is very much classic Jane Davenport. The colouring pages all feature Jane’s trademark style of pretty girls with an assortment of animals and birds.
Another Journal is Also Available
Jane has created another other Happy Hour Art Journals. This one is called Whimsical Girls. It also has an assortment of paper types in one book. I suspect I will need to get this one before long!
Links to Whimsical and Wild by Jane Davenport on Amazon
Here are links to the book on Amazon.com (top) and Amazon.co.uk. If you buy from these links, I may receive a small commission from the shop for sending custom their way. This is at no cost to yourself. Thank you.