Sunday musings

I seem to have a pattern here...been posting a creative art photo on Sunday for the last couple of weeks...
I guess I should make this a regular feature...so here is today's posting...

Cold, rain and gray today...but I am hopeful that spring will come...

Spool Valentines Art Party

take a vintage wooden thread spool...

        



















add a strip of patterned paper...a button or two...or maybe a bit of ribbon or twine...
              write your own secret message, rolled around the spool...

                     and you have a spool valentine.

Join me at this February Art Party where I'll show you how to make these tiny treasures...I'll supply everything from the old spools to a plethora of paper, buttons and ribbons...along with a dose of creative camaraderie and light refreshments...You don't have to bring anything but enthusiasm...

Registration is limited; the workshop will take place at my home in Everett.  Once you have paid your registration, I'll send out a confirmation email with all the details.

Spool Valentines
Saturday, February 6, 2016
1 - 4 pm
Everett, WA

$45 registration fee

Any questions? - feel free to email me at amy_duncan@yahoo.com
Don't delay...registration is limited...hope to see you in February!

Tin Can Treasures

I know...its been a while...needless to say, a lot has been happening here...but I'm trying to get back on track...with creating, with inspiring, with blogging...

And so...I've scheduled a fun Art Party...at my studio here in Everett...perfect for upcoming holiday celebrations...I know...the holidays are coming on way too quickly...but denying it won't make it go away...so whether you celebrate Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Winter Solstice or just a day where the sun shines brightly, I'll show you some creative ways to package up whatever treats, surprises, souvenirs or trinkets you may be giving.

You'll use vintage wallpaper, washi tape, old postage stamps, ephemera bits and well-loved hardware to turn ordinary tin cans into decorative containers...plus we'll be making pretty packing shred from discarded books and fabric ribbon from textile remnants...we might even create a tag or two...

The workshop will be held on Saturday, November 7 from 1-4 pm - exact details and directions will be sent to you with your registration confirmation.

SOLD OUT!
if you want to be put on a waiting list, email me at amy_duncan@yahoo.com

the slightest provocation

it doesn't take much...as I was rummaging through a stack of papers and ephemera looking for pieces to include in a giant collage I am working on, I spied it...an old library check-out card...

my mind started spinning...putting the card aside, I kept it out of the pile so I could return to it...

and spin the tale that spoke to me...

Having a few days off due to the holiday here in the US has given me hours of time in the workshop studio...which in the middle of winter is too cold to work in, but during the heat wave we are having, it is pure heaven...

Creating new pieces for my next summer show, Fresh Paint, at the Everett Marina, August 15 & 16...

And I must apologize for my tardiness in responding to comments...once again, there's a glitch with Blogger which is sending all my comments to some nether world that I don't have access to...I'm trying to tinker with it, but please bear with me...I do appreciate that you not only stop to read my blog, but that you take the time to comment...thank you!

Reconstruction

I've been working on collages for summer art shows...
and in keeping with my word(s) for the year, dig deep, I am doing just that...

I've dug out a few past collages that somehow didn't work...
and taking them apart...removing some elements, tearing apart others, cutting portions out...

and then combining the elements back together, strengthening the composition, adding in new objects, layering on paint or transfers...











This piece originally started out much larger with a long vertical orientation...I cut it apart and turned one of the cut paper portions on its side...other torn pieces were discarded or sanded down...

I've had the typewriter key image for a while...it was an transfer process on metal that went awry...forgot to flip the image before printing...but it was still compelling so I held onto it...and for good reason...

I thought I was finished with the collage but something seemed to be missing...the theme of the piece is "all in the day's work of a bird"

a feather tied on with jute twine was the last serendipitous touch...


















Reconstruction has been happening on other fronts too...with all the changes in social media, I've been thinking about the best creative outlet for me...re-examining what works and what doesn't...maybe you've noticed that blog posts have diminished...when I started blogging five years ago, this was the only mechanism for sharing one's inspired thoughts and ideas...though I love this format for more in-depth topics, it is not my sole platform any more...so my schedule for blog posts is going to change from 2-3 per week to 2-3 per month...but if you want a daily hit of four corners design, please hop over to Instagram...my user name is fourcornersdesign...its quick, its on the go, its a photo with a tagline...a little hit of eye candy each day...

and if you want to see my collage work up close and personal...please visit me at my upcoming show - 
Shoreline Arts Festival, June 27-28...I'll be in the Artist Marketplace...get all the details on the event here

Visiting an old friend

Just before christmas, I visited an old friend...of the metal persuasion...
my mint green cast iron Singer sewing machine...

I really hadn't seriously sewn in quite a while...part of the reason due to the fact that my sewing table was piled high with stuff...unfinished projects, garage sale finds, leftover materials, etc, etc, etc...
I had a few projects in mind...so after spending a couple of days of clearing off the table completely, I was ready to go...

I love to sew...I have sewn since I was a young girl...my mother was a seamstress and my grandfather a tailor...there is a certain calmness that I feel from the rhythm of the stitching, the hiss of the steam iron, the satisfaction of creating a functional item...

So it probably comes as no surprise that sewing paraphernalia is one of the things I collect...













The past week I participated in a monthly "contest" on Instagram called 7vignettes...sponsored by Jen of Interior Addicts, it is a daily photo prompt that occurs the first seven days of each month, with the objective to photograph whatever your interpretation of the word prompt is for that day.

I had dabbled in past month's competitions but really hadn't given it my all...this time I thought I would commit to all seven days...and with sewing on the brain, I thought I would give a creative thread to all of my vignettes centered around sewing...the quest for items began...and I was quite surprised by some of the treasures that I unearthed...

Day 1 - the theme was sparkle
nothing more sparkly than rhinestone buttons, 
coupled with the sheen of metal and the shimmer of pearl...

Day 2 - the theme was yellow
I had no shortage of yellow measuring tapes on hand...

Day 3  - the theme was blue
the gigantic scissors that the Southern Man's daughter brought back for me when she was in Turkey was an instantaneous choice for blue...along with my vintage mattress ticking that I am hording...

Day 4 - the theme was green
colored dressmaker's pins on white linen...simple but classic

Day 5 - the theme was pink
I adore silk thread...especially when its wound around old wooden spools...
I was quite surprised that I had so many spools of pink thread since its not a color I use...

Day 6 - the theme was rainbow
there's something very nostalgic about rickrack...had to supplement with seam binding for the orange and the violet...but the mnemonic of ROY G BIV stuck in my head all day...

Day 7 - the theme was black and white
digging deep into one of my metal storage baskets I found a treasure trove of notions I had totally forgotten...
this compilation features many of them...which I will keep out so I can incorporate them into a future project...

Having now cleared a space and become reacquainted with my old friend, we will be back together creating...

linking up with kim klassen's Friday Finds...where my find is what was hiding in my own studio...
I just had to re-discover it for myself...

and by the way...I'm having way too much creative fun on Instagram...you should join in...
and follow me...find me as fourcornersdesign...

Unconventional gift wrapping, part 2

I had two conditions for holiday decorating this year...to spend no additional funds on anything needed and to keep it simple...these gift wrap ideas satisfy both conditions!

It started in the fall...I had a lovely bouquet from farmer's market that dried beautifully...yarrow, rose hips, stattice I think...I didn't want it to go to waste...clippings from the yard...lavender, birch twigs, dried poppy heads were added in...

A snip here, a wrap of wire there, a bit of salvaged ribbon...
I ended up with about 12 arrangements...

I knew that I wanted some for gift wrapping...but the rest I stuck among the branches of the christmas tree...

Onto wrapping...I had this roll of paper I bought over a year ago at the Habitat for Humanity store in Yakima (one of my favorites places to shop when I am visiting my sister)...the texture and the lines drew me in...and there seemed to a sheen to it that was appealing...

It was $10 for the roll (a splurge for me) but with 500 square feet, it seemed worth it...and I loved the label...

Next up was gathering something to tie up the presents...can't beat a big cone of string...and a roll of japanese knitting ribbon that my friend Sue gave to me (a freebie she picked up at a yard sale)












Keeping it simple...wrapped present with paper, wound around 3-4 lengths of the knitting ribbon...
tied on one of the dried arrangements...

I love the texture of the ribbon with the subtle stripes of the paper...



















Next gift...wrapped with paper...used stickers instead of tape...so much prettier...

the tag is a remnant of torn muslin...the image of my noel bird composition was added with a bit of iron-on transfer paper...just print out your image with a ink jet printer onto the paper and iron it on...its that simple...























Last gift...I constructed an "envelope"...since the paper was heavy duty, I knew that it would hold up to the sewing machine...

oh look...someone is getting a copy of Inspirational Quotes Illustrated!

After sewing the sides, I used my pinking shears to add a decorative edge...

To secure the flap of the envelope, I punched a hole in the body of the envelope (with a cutting board in between so I wouldn't punch through the back of the envelope) with my awl and then inserted a paper fastener...






















Likewise, I punched a hole in the edge of the flap, threaded a length of string and then secured the flap by wrapping the string around the paper fastener...a quartet of french postage stamps in holiday reds and greens add the final flourish...

Festive gifts...a treat for the eyes before opening...
Linking up with Funky Junk Interiors Party Junk...its not too late to be inspired for the holidays...