Sketchbook pages

I recently indulged in a luxury sketchbook from Renaissance Art Fine handcrafted leather books. I had been hankering after a certain kind of rare sketchbook which could not be found commercially and finally found it in their books. My book is black with antique green marbled end papers and filled with Arches Text Wove paper for the body of the book. I feel very inspired by this book and it can take the vigor and the unusual materials with which I paint. Here are my first few pages...
The title page. I gold-leafed the white side of the marbled paper.

Then a spontaneous painting made with acrylic paint, tobacco, leather, silk, dried lavender flower buds, printed t-shirt material and paua shell fragments.

A ship flying the flag of frugality sails toward an island where a lonely man curls up in a very small cave. On board are the Gamblers. Acrylic paint with silk, paua shell, cotton/linen, kuba cloth, playing cards and reproduction 18th century gazette.

The flag (a fortune from a Chinese fortune cookie) tells us what we should do.

A mermaid floats on her back and gazes serenely at the stars above. She is oblivious to the warship on the horizon. She knows how to chart her own course. Acrylic paint with gel medium photo transfer and mica.