Latest works: "Seaworthy" and "Piscatorial Perambulations"

I use all sorts of backgrounds in my photomontages, and here you see one that's compliments of National Geographic Magazine.

About four years ago I was playing around with a technique wherein you spray pages of National Geographic with an organic cleaner called Citra-Solv. The pages of the magazine stick together and after about 30 minutes or so you pull the pages apart to reveal how the ink has smooshed and moved and created interesting patterns. (I may be wrong about the waiting time, so don't rely on me for accuracy, but there are lots of tutorials online that show you how to do this.)

Anyway, I was on a binge! Magazine pages were drying all over my kitchen and the scent of Citra-Solv, which smells pleasantly like oranges, became really annoying by the end of the project! Once the papers were dry, I stashed them away to be used in collages.

Which brings me to this guy.

I pulled out the Citra-Solv papers the other day and noticed how this pattern reminded me of bubbles in water. Which made me think of fish. Which reminded me I'd cut out an illustration of a fish from a vintage fish identification book. I photographed the fish cut-out. Photographed the magazine page. And then I blended the two together.

Want to see another version of this same fish?

This time I used a different background, but one that was also created using the Citra-Solv/National Geographic technique. I liked the overall texture. I also liked how the fish (same fish as above) reacted with that texture. I then added a couple of fishy stamps from Iceland, another from San Marino, and made a postcard. (Yes, you and I see the fish stamps and think "island," as in "Catalina Island." But nope, it's pronounced "Iceland." Which actually makes perfect sense.)

So there you have it. Same fish. Different day. And if you ever see postage stamps that simply say "island" on them, you'll know they're actually from Iceland. Amazing what you learn here, isn't it?

©Carol Leigh