August was a good month for me at Fine Art America, and I am so grateful. Here's what sold during the last two weeks of the month and a little bit about each one.
Jan and Ira G. brought me a big bundle of Chinese lanterns when they arrived for a workshop on the Oregon coast. As you can see, I added some texture to the simple composition. This one was large -- 48" x 32".
I created the two colorful number pictures by using various photos as well as some paper that I hand-printed. I purposely created two of them so that someone might be encouraged to purchase the pair. These were about 24" x 30".
The picture of graffiti on the side of a railroad car was purchased by someone on Staten Island. Appropriate, no?
The two abstracts with the circles in them were purchased together (which is always nice). I created the green/brown one by photographing various papers and then combining them together as a collage. The second one is a monoprint I made using rubber bands and paint. Both were 24" x 24".
Chris brought home a piece of patinated copper which I photographed and then added a photo I made of a leaf.
The second-to-last image is a photomontage I made combining all sorts of torn papers and receipts. The buyer selected a 36" x 36" size.
And then the last one is a photo of graffiti that a buyer selected as a cellphone cover. I like seeing how my photos look as cellphone covers, and am constantly surprised with the pictures they select.
As you can see, some of these are "straight" photography, but most are images I've created myself, combining various photos together, resulting in something unique, not seen anywhere else.
I am still in Virginia, sorting, cleaning, assembling the various bits and pieces of what my father left behind. My computer access is spotty and, since it's not my own computer with my own images and options, it's been challenging, as you might imagine. A court date tomorrow will tell me what my path will be from here on out, so keep your fingers crossed that the judge determines the easy way rather than the more complex.
Chris is home for a week, tending to business there, then arrives shortly to help wind things down here. So after a month away, we plan to drive back to Oregon, stopping here and there for some much-needed photo breaks and R&R.
Have you ever lived out of a suitcase away from home, in foreign and chaotic surroundings, away from friends, away from pets, amid dust and decay and haunting memories? It's lonely-making, stressful, and soul-wrenching. May none of you have to go through this.
And please, please, please, get your affairs in order so that your heirs can fly through your belongings, selecting meaningful items as they remember you fondly. (Although I do confess to having 14,000 Czechoslovakian matchbox labels that I know SOMEone will wonder what the hell was she thinking!?)
©Carol Leigh
