tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41198443284057595532024-03-14T10:16:15.084-07:00Carol LeighCarol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comBlogger2251125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-18891840019682083232021-02-15T06:55:00.002-08:002021-02-15T06:55:51.498-08:00AROUND THE YARD: February Snow!This past weekend the most beautiful snowstorm hit the Pacific Northwest. It approached slowly, with no attendant winds, no wet gloppy flakes, no power outages, no trees down. Nope. Just soft, dry, slow-falling snowflakes. Slow, but constant. And we awoke to pristine, footprint-free, acres of snow. Well, there were a few footprints where a couple of deer had walked through, but that just added toCarol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-49230837509162009682021-02-08T05:58:00.001-08:002021-02-12T17:17:27.150-08:00Giving care and remaining sane . . .When someone you love needs your care, of course you help. To make their situation as good as it can be. No question.In my case, it means suddenly doing things I've not done with any regularity (if at all) in the past 30+ years.Things he was better at than I, things he enjoyed doing (grocery shopping, for instance) that I loathed.And it also means being less selfish, being more other-directed. A Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-55774842313432589992021-01-31T07:25:00.001-08:002021-02-02T07:27:51.605-08:00This makes me happy!I sell prints of my work through Fine Art America/Pixels and usually never know who purchases my pictures. I get announcements from FAA letting me know what's just sold, the size, and the city/state in which the buyers lives. So when a buyer leaves feedback like this, it's always welcome, giving me a small connection with an actual person as well as insight regarding what they liked.Here's a Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-69644369473423687832020-12-31T08:00:00.001-08:002020-12-31T08:00:19.950-08:00Recent Work: "Digging for Gold" I've certainly got a circle motif going, don't I? Not only do I find them appealing, but in this case the colors are just wonderful. Ahhhhh . . .©Copyright 2020 Carol LeighCarol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-55566826682208852032020-12-21T08:02:00.000-08:002020-12-21T08:02:22.970-08:00Artist's block . . .Artistically, I'm stuck. I know it seems I'm always creating, and I've made a huge body of work, but every once in a while it all seems to slam into a wall. Everything appears uninspired.I keep on, however, trying to break through and make something different. Something good. But mostly it's all just crap.Like these pictures.Eventually it will pass and all will be well. But right now? Nope! Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-82996074901725357122020-12-18T04:30:00.001-08:002020-12-18T04:30:03.220-08:00Recent work: "Fenced In"When I first began putting this picture together, I liked the blue/ochre
complementary color combination, the cold/warm contrast. To hold those
elements together, I opted for the rich darker blue stripe along with a
touch of salmon and yellow. The abstract round form of a watch face then
holds everything together and marks time. Around the world we are
watching the seasons change, the days Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-8133484218703999682020-12-17T07:17:00.000-08:002020-12-17T07:26:46.960-08:00Recent work: "Yellow Enso Sun"The months have all run together this year. Does it seem that way to you, too? Although I continue to make new work, darned if I know when I did it (unless I check the picture's data). Here's one -- created in September or thereabouts -- that has a rather circular theme. More circles to follow (fair warning!). Yellow Enso Sun, created with hand-painted papers and a circle drawn with sumi inkCarol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-25178221503798111582020-12-16T06:59:00.002-08:002020-12-16T06:59:36.334-08:00Around the island . . .A few months ago I went over to Fort Casey to continue with my ongoing project of photographing the buildings, concentrating (obviously) on the smaller details, the textured walls, the signs of weathering and age. These are three iPhone images I particularly like.Pictures ©Copyright 2020 Carol Leigh Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-38583426171007837402020-12-03T07:50:00.002-08:002020-12-03T07:50:25.636-08:00It's a good day . . .It's a good day to be on Whidbey Island, sitting in the car, watching the raindrops form on the windshield, waiting for Chris to finish getting a haircut. Ahhhh!Image copyright ©2020 Carol LeighCarol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-20729661990885931722020-11-29T07:16:00.000-08:002020-11-29T07:16:09.772-08:00Positive Feedback . . .Fine Art America posts random reviews from their buyers and I take a look at them regularly -- to see what products are consistently good, what buyers might be complaining about, and to see if any of my pictures that people bought made them happy.This is one that made me VERY happy! Apparently my picture, taken from a ship in Alaska's Inside Passage, was one of four that she purchased recently Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-59928132761436741952020-11-27T20:58:00.000-08:002020-11-27T20:58:06.833-08:00Experimenting: Color or Black and White? Full-frame or Square Format?Original photo, full-frame.Last month we took the ferry to Port Townsend. It felt weird not getting out of the car and not being on deck during the ride, but it still felt good just to be out, you know?
I took a couple of photos of buildings at the boat yard. Why? I found the way they intersected stark and interesting. [Currently I'm having trouble with Blogger putting photographs where I Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-2218608915749278362020-11-26T07:44:00.001-08:002020-11-27T06:48:40.441-08:00Recent Work: "Time Out"When I go back and see the art I've made, there are some pieces in particular that I'm especially fond of, and this is one.I made it in March of this year, as the pandemic was gaining traction. We didn't know what to expect, we were isolating ourselves, and time stood still, became meaningless.So this mixed-media picture began with a big circle, a circle which is a photograph of a watch face. Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-16472907896264600482020-11-24T06:45:00.001-08:002020-11-24T06:45:25.092-08:00Around the yard . . .It's been a particularly good year for seeing pileated woodpeckers (actually, perhaps in part because we installed a suet feeder on the back deck -- duh!) and they are still around! (I took this photo the first week of August.)The birds are pretty big, with a wingspan of slightly less than 3 feet. But they're relatively small when compared with a raven (4.9 feet) or a bald eagle (7.5 feet).The Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-8807044244137135982020-10-28T08:13:00.001-07:002020-10-28T08:13:17.759-07:00Beauty in simplicity . . . It's a good time of year to wander around outside and find lovely things on the ground, little jewels of beauty that most people will never notice.So when I saw this leaf, I thought of it as a gift, a little story about the changing seasons, our changing lives, and the passing of time. Copyright ©2020 Carol Leigh Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-23883158997361852392020-10-14T07:42:00.000-07:002020-10-14T07:42:10.429-07:00RECENTLY MADE . . . A ZINE!A month or so ago I made a little book, a "zine." It was fun to do and I envision making more. I have another in progress but, with my ever-shortening attention span, I've begun doing other things. But let me show you this book, my first. I kind of like how it turned out, even though I really was clueless about what I was doing at the time.The zine was done on one side of a piece of paper, foldedCarol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-7150484904595928872020-09-08T12:37:00.002-07:002020-09-08T12:38:17.512-07:00What I'm Working On ... WHAT I’M WORKING ON . . .This is a three-panel, two-sided, stand-up collage. It’s folded like an accordion book, but “book” is way overstated for what this is!I lived in Japan for one year as a pre-teen. I visited Japan for 10 days in 2014 (when I was much, much older). That’s my entire physical connection with the country. But about 15 years ago, Japan kept popping up in my head, and then Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-31399911172930088152020-09-05T17:02:00.000-07:002020-09-05T17:02:09.785-07:00AROUND THE HOUSE . . .Because we're "isolating in residence," I spend a lot of time just wandering around the house with the iPhone, looking for things to shoot. Sunlight coming through the skylight over the stairwell looked pretty good, so I created a few simple compositions, liking the overall monochromatic look with just a bit of blue here and there. Lots of angles, too, to play with.CopyrightCarol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-6998416950883045022020-08-04T11:59:00.000-07:002020-08-04T11:59:06.811-07:00Around the yard . . . A cavorting deer!These are terrible photos in that they're out of focus, not sharp. I was shooting through a dirty window at an animal that was at a distance. BUT THE EXPERIENCE WAS SO COOL!
I am walking past the living room window when I see the white buck. I pick up the camera that's sitting nearby, pre-set to f/5, ISO 800, underexposed by 2/3 stop. I take a few shots . . . am getting ready to change my Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-30026201526051322982020-07-17T10:20:00.001-07:002020-07-17T10:20:50.682-07:00Around the yard -- downy woodpecker
A little downy woodpecker waiting his turn
at the suet feeder. What you DON’T see is him slowly sliding down the
slick metal shepherd’s hook. Woodpecker toes just aren’t made for
clinging to slippery metal things!
©2020 Carol Leigh Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-83650073195489855302020-06-30T10:14:00.000-07:002020-06-30T10:14:38.004-07:00Not one, but TWO white deer . . .
Five days ago, "our" white deer (born May 2019, attacked by coyote -- probably -- mid-July 2019) visited our property. You can see the scar there on his right haunch (and when's the last time you used the word "haunch?") which in this picture doesn't look like it's totally healed. Bad lighting, so you can't see it as well as you might.
He's also noticeably a guy -- see the nubbins where Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-7012456567482629572020-06-29T10:42:00.000-07:002020-06-29T10:42:45.199-07:00Then and now . . .
Then and now...
Sitting at the dining room table two years ago and then sitting at the same place this morning.
Nothing except the placemat has changed and yet, and yet . . .
Life has gotten smaller in that we go pretty much nowhere. But life has expanded greatly in that our health concerns are all-encompassing and our world view is bigger.
Negative elements are played down. Small Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-57923593523218745682020-04-29T06:04:00.001-07:002020-04-29T06:04:27.313-07:00Strange times call for strange pictures ...
I haven't used a "real" camera in months, and it feels weird. Being "isolated in residence," my time has been spent primarily indoors. Yours probably has, as well. I shall say no more about that.
What I've been doing, however, is riffling through old photo files, making physical collages, and blending them together somehow.
This is one example, and, frankly, I'm not so sure about it. Perhaps Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-44155071889273013042020-04-23T15:29:00.000-07:002020-04-23T15:29:16.399-07:00Around the yard . . . newly-hatched juncos
We have newly-hatched juncos now in the nest just outside the front door. Three eggs were laid; now there are three chicks, just three days old.
Sorry for such a terrible photo. Taken with the iPhone in great haste, not wanting to disturb the parents too much. Better ones to follow . . . I hope!
©2020 Carol LeighCarol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-53735212259201577702020-04-19T07:18:00.000-07:002020-04-19T07:18:38.763-07:00Happy Pollen Days!
Happy Pollen Days!
When the light is right, we see clouds of this
sticky yellow stuff poofing out of the trees. It is everywhere and on
every thing.
Chris’s little pickup is now a yellowish grey. And
no visibility through the windshield. Pollen buildup on the side window.
Not that we’re going anywhere...
But I love the blue/yellow color combo on a water main cover I noticedCarol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119844328405759553.post-11125260584823061952020-03-29T04:30:00.000-07:002020-03-29T04:30:10.555-07:00Root beer 5 cents . . .
During my "at-home-isolation," I'm making the best of my time by experimenting with a variety of things, looking at older photos and tricking them out on the computer, as well as spending time in the studio making collage papers and new collages.
No rush. No pressure. No "have to."
So I came across this sign I photographed in a barrio in Tucson maybe six years ago. After playing around with Carol Leighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17795175430154077595noreply@blogger.com