Remembering Mom

As the calendar page turns to May, one cannot help but be reminded of Mother's Day...
          and to think about Mom...

My mom passed away 8 years ago but still holds a strong influence in my life...
she taught me a love of sewing and a desire to create...
           to make do with what one had at hand and to take the initiative to figure out problems...
           to try new things and not give up when the going got tough...


In my bout of purging earlier in the year, I unearthed a box of clippings, photos and mementos...I came across a photo of my mom and dad in the early years of their marriage...and decided to play around with it...
and I'm thinking about having it printed up so I can hang it in my studio...SocialPrintStudio has some great metal prints...perfect for my metal mania...

I like this photo mostly for the expression and attitude of my mom...young, fresh, full of anticipation. My parents settled in a small Wisconsin town and that's where I spent my childhood...and throughout the years, my mom continued to have a healthy dose of anticipation for what was up ahead...whether it was raising 6 kids in a small house, moving across the country to Oregon when my dad lost his job, rebuilding her life in a new town after my dad died and finally coming to live with me in her final years.  She wasn't one content to sit by and let things be...

Unfortunately, I don't have many photos of her...I guess we were always so busy that one didn't think about stopping a minute, reflecting on the moment, and taking a photograph to capture the day...

So to honor her memory, I'll take the time this weekend to stop and reflect...shoot a few photos...
and be filled with anticipation of all that still lies ahead...

Summer vacation

Summer vacation...the sweetest words of the English language...

I'm going on a summer vacation...with my sister...to visit siblings, friends and the old hometown in Wisconsin...
sans computer...so I'll be taking a little hiatus from blogging...

But I'll be posting photos of my finds/adventures/inspirations on my Instagram page - http://instagram.com/fourcornersdesign#
I invite you to come along on vacation with me...

Happy Halloween!

I'm not much for celebrating halloween...but with all the bombardment of halloween images, I was inspired when I caught sight of my stack of vintage cabinet cards lying on my studio table...there's just something about these century old portraits that lend themselves to telling a story...add in a snippet from an old novel...and a black crow...and the plot thickens...

Have yourself a spooky day!

Art at home

A few weeks ago, I posted about changing up things at home...after 10 years, it was time to do a little
re-arranging. 

The set of vintage Paris postcards that had been hanging in our living room belonged to my mom...she gave them to me shortly after we moved into our present house.  The cards were a gift from a wartime beau who was courting her...he knew that she had a postcard collection so he brought back several Paris images when stationed overseas.  And though he did not win her heart, she did keep the postcards...and 60 years later she relayed this story to me...

Changing the artwork in the living room to an eclectric bird theme meant the postcards had to move...they had been hung in a symetrical grid...duplicating that arrangement might prove difficult.  I had read several times about the tip to make a newsprint template when hanging art...I decided to give it a try...

I wanted to move the postcard display to the dining room...since the cards were mounted on white watercolor stock, the lightness of the prints would brighten the room.  I measured the wall and determined a rough placement...I cut 9 paper templates and armed myself with plenty of blue tape...

A level was extraordinarily helpful for this project...in fact, I find my small level (with a magnet on one side) one of the most useful tools I have...soon I had my grid laid out...

I had one extra of the frames that I used to mount the postcards - this was helpful in finding the exact designation of the nail hole since I could line up the frame with the paper template and make a mark in the same location for each template.  I simply hammered a small nail into each mark, removed the paper template and hung each card...again using the level to ensure everything was straight and aligned.

And soon all nine postcards were hung...

The lightness and whiteness has made the dining room brighter...and the postcards are still on display, a daily reminder of my mom.

And I can lay testimony to the newsprint template technique for hanging art-
it saved time, effort and frustration...a triple hit!

linking up to Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special...there's always a good tip or two (or more...!)

Time is running out...

Just one more week for my postcard sale going on over at my etsy shop...

8 different designs...package of 4 postcards for $2.25 plus shipping...

sale ends Saturday, February 4, 2012...stop on by to have a look...

Make a holiday memory

During the summer high season of junking, I found several old cameras...which provided the inspiration for my holiday vignette at Faded Elegance...

I decided to focus on a simple christmas, without a lot of fuss or frill...red glass ornaments in a large glass vase with a sprig of holly...

well loved linen tablecloths, topped with a small plaid cotton tablecloth is perfect for a holiday gathering...
I like the layered look on a tabletop and the cotton paired with the linen is a great mix of textures...

cozy stockings sewn from my felted sweater remnants (details on their construction later in the week)...

blanket balls made from wool blanket scraps...would be easy to attach a length of yarn and hang from a christmas tree...

child's mittens and old aluminum cookie cutters are ideal simple ornaments...

Want to see it all...well, you'll just have to stop in at Faded Elegance...
the grand kick-off to the holiday season is Friday to Monday, November 25th-28th...15% off entire stock of vintage and antique, tons of inspiration and charm, even cookies to munch!  And Saturday November 26th has been designated "Shop Local" Saturday, a national event where you patronize local stores in your community...sounds like a grand idea to me!

Making a memory

My studio has turned into Santa's workshop...I'm busy preparing for my holiday vignette at Faded Elegance...my theme is "Make a Holiday Memory"...has a little bit of a 50's vibe with a good measure of junk attitude thrown in...

I'll keep you posted on projects as they progress...and Faded Elegance will reveal all of its holiday glory on Friday, November 25...meanwhile, back to the workshop...

The madness lives on

Before we go any further, let me explain...that's metal madness...my obsession with metal things that are rusty, worn out, dilapidated and finding a new use and undiscovered beauty in their being.

You might remember my post on metal wire springs made into vases...as I was scrounging around for more springs, I came across a couple of rather large springs...they wouldn't do for vases...so what else could I concoct?





The process begins...metal springs...

old painted boards, cleaned, sanded and waxed...

A couple of double point tacks and my trusty metal hammer (great for working in tight spaces!)...

Pilot holes are always a good idea...

that way you make sure the nail/screw/brad is in the position you want...

Label holder secured with trimmers tacks...

And you have the ideal photo display...

Closeup detail of how I attached the spring...

Being Friday, I am straddling two link-ups...Thrifty Thursday at inspired by charm and

Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors...twice the fun, double the inspiration...

Cabinet card curiosities

As part of The Altered Page blog hook-up, Buried Treasure, I'm re-posting one of my favorites.  The aim of Buried Treasure is to discover artist's blogs that you may not have seen...in the morass of the internet, its easy to get buried!  The criteria was to re-post a favorite past post...its interesting that the one I picked is related to getting ready for the Fresh Paint art show in August...of which I'm currently in the midst of prepping for this year's 2011 show...In the weeks ahead, I'll be posting some previews of my current work which is a take-off from these past collages - so please check back! 

But for today...visit The Altered Page - Buried Treasure for the complete list of participating artists...there's sure to be many gems waiting to be discovered... 

Over the years, I have accumulated quite a collection of cabinet cards.  I'm not quite sure why I collected them but the expressions of each subject conveyed something to me - I was curious about these men and women.  To get you up to speed, here's the definition of cabinet cards from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_card

Surveying their expressions, I wondered what these individuals had to say - what were their lives like, what were they thinking when their picture was taken, what happened afterwards...  So I decided on an art project that would attach a story to each picture and embellish each assemblage with vintage found objects.  Since I have many old books including interesting narrative novels from the early 1900's, I looked through these texts to find the words that conveyed the story that I imagined from the photograph.

I've been having a great time - the melodramatic scenarios that I have chosen to accompany each photo are a hoot!  And the 3-D effect from including vintage materials in the composition adds a textural element.  I also like the fact that I'm using old frames that had been cast aside since losing their glass.  Here's some examples-

and the close-up of the text...

These three beauties, and a dozen more, will be for sale at my booth at Fresh Paint, the art festival at the Everett Marina on August 21-22.  Additional details are at the Fresh Paint website at www.freshpaintfestival.com.  I'll be in Booth 81 - stop by and visit me!

Progress

Its been a productive week...getting new pieces finished for my upcoming art show, Fresh Paint.  Here's a sampling of what I call my "inspiration squares"...a digital reprint of one of my photos mounted on a painted cedar fence cap with a background of original vintage paper...using anything from old dictionary pages to scraps of antique maps to snippets of wallpaper gives each square its uniqueness...

and speaking of inspiration...thanks to those few who gave me ideas on what to do for inspiration on my if you had 5 days and $1000 post...it only seems right to send out something special to each of them...a packet of my notecards...using the same designs pictured above.  So Jane and Jenifer - send me your snail mail address so I can pop these packets in the mail to each of you.  Jenell - I already have your address...you'll be getting a packet too.

BTW...still don't know what I'm going to do...but I'll keep you posted...

Preserving memories

We all have them...a box of old photos, a drawer with ticket stubs and dated birthday cards, a yellowed envelope with a faded address...mementos of past events.

What to do with them...how to save them...what's important...who will care...when will I have the time...

I have been working on a project for a friend over the last couple of months...she had lots of "stuff" that she wanted preserved somehow...would I be willing to make a collage using her "stuff"...it certainly seemed right up my alley...I said yes.

There was a lot of stuff...just sorting through all of it took some time.  And as I sorted, I developed a plan...it wasn't going to be possible to have just one collage...so instead I opted for several collages, each with its own mini-theme and composition.  The finished collages could all be hung together or in whatever groupings the friend wanted.

As is my style, I've been incorporating more than just paper into the collages...I think that there's more depth and interest when other objects are included...

I encourage you to take out those old photos and dig up those dated birthday cards and do something with them...it doesn't need to be a grand work of  art.  As I was sorting through the piles of my friend's stuff, I found it made sense to organize by theme and by color.  You can't go wrong if you use at least one of these elements as a commonality - form, function, color or theme.  Then put your collage together...I used inexpensive canvas frames for the foundation and primarily used Elmer's glue as the adhesive.

But why wait until you have a boxful of memories...start today with an art journal that blends your everyday ephemera with your thoughts and reflections in the present moment.  I've recently picked up a copy of The Journal Junkies Workshop/Visual Ammunition for the Art Addict by Eric M. Scott and David R. Modler.  Its a very basic approach to starting a daily journal that marries the visual image with the written expression - and you don't need to be an artist - you just need to be yourself.

Simplify, simplify

I've started working on a new collage series.  Its a much simpler design - I call it the "3 x 3" series - three color blocks, three pieces of original ephemera, all tied together to tell a story.

I wanted to return to the idea of squares...the origin of my company's name, four corners design, stemmed from my first designs that used a square as its primary graphic element.  If some of you have been following my work for the last ten years, you may remember that my original website used coordinated color squares for the layout.  For some reason, that design element speaks to me...so I wanted to return to squares (and rectangles!)

I also desired to simplify the collage elements...instead of layering elements over one another, I wanted the unique and individual ephemera to stand out.  I have quite a collection of original vintage elements that deserve to shine on their own.  Having found my new love with the gloss medium technique described in my previous post, it seemed the ideal match with this new simplicity.  And continuing my recycled/reuse ethic, I am using scrap pieces of wood for the foundation of each piece.

At the beginning of this post is "worker bee" - its size is 5" x 6" and has a portion of a weekly time sheet from the 1940's.

Here's two more examples from my new series...

"let me have wings" is 8" square and has a book spine from a 1941 novel combined with a bird card from the Arm & Hammer bird series.

"the joy of gardening" is 8" square and features a vintage seed packet with an original old photo and a snippet of vintage wallpaper.

I'm hoping that I'll have these new collages for sale at my re-vamped etsy store...but its proving to be a bit of a challenge to get my old store up and running...but I'll keep you posted when I have the grand re-opening!

Red & green is not just for Christmas

I love the combination of red & green - especially in the summer.  The green of bright leaves and the brilliant red of poppy petals is classic.  I took this photo in my garden and then manipulated the image on my computer.  I've been using this process with several of my new artistic card designs - I love how the colors pop.

Likewise, I put together a red & green vignette at my spot yesterday at Faded Elegance.  These vintage diner dishes are perfect for a picnic - they are indestructible!

You can see just a corner of the green bistro table I made
- there's a matching bench too...

Just a few of the metal type words left...this is a great combo

be sure to stop by Faded Elegance soon - there's lots of inspiration for summer fun and entertaining.