Daily bit of creativity, #019: Faux Cyanotype Weeds

Just playing around a bit with some weeds that I scanned and then placed on paper I'd stained with ink. I kind of like how the brown paper and its stains look sort of like a blue sky and strange clouds.

Nothing ultra-spectacular, just a bit of experimentation to keep me from doing what I really should be doing!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Latest work: "Kimono Package #5"

I seem to be going through a "stripes" phase lately, which is good. Better to have something solid to fall back on than nothing.

Anyway, I'm continuing to work on photos I've taken of a paper packet, an antique I got that was used to package a kimono. It unfolds four ways, giving me so many ways of shooting it.

In this case, I combined two of the photos and then added "stripes" from a variety of other photos I've taken of the same subject.

I'm going to continue working along this same theme for the rest of the year, in between other projects.

NOTE: Carol F. and Ann L.: I've made a rough draft of the first page of my Kyoto book and immediately see that I need to prep my photos specifically for this project. The picture I'm working on is of the Maiko, remember her? My picture is going to be stained, so I have to make sure that her face comes gleaming through and doesn't look dull, as it does right now. Am hoping I have something to show here this week.

And now we are off for a little drive up toward the Canadian border where there's a Japanese washi paper store I just found out about. Woo hoo!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Latest work: "Mapping the Mountains"

I have the attention span of a hummingbird. So easily distracted.

I'm creating a variety of stained, painted, bleached, inked, folded, spindled, and mutilated papers for the handmade book I'm working on, but often I'll stare down at this pile o' papers and the way one sits atop another catches my eye. Aha! A collage!

So I begin pushing papers around, adding this, adding that, then bring them into the computer, add even more elements, and the next thing you know, this picture happens.

I've now uploaded it to Fine Art America and call it "Mapping the Mountains." Here's how I describe it:

Warm-colored aged and dyed papers, ink splatters, a page from an antique Japanese ledger, a hand-drawn circle, and more come together in this piece. I detect a sense of mystery, of exploration, perhaps an old map.

Will this ever sell? As usual, I hope so, but I never know. But if it does, then hooray, right? And if it doesn't? Well, then, hooray again, because I've made something original, something no one else has made, and something that pleases me.

And now, back to the handmade book. But wait! The tulips are blooming in the Skagit Valley right now, so it's off-island this morning.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Daily bit of creativity, #018: Canisters

I posted this on Instagram and Facebook, too, along with this quote from a chef named Tyler Florence: "Fifty thousand dollars' worth of cabinets isn't going to make you a better cook..." The concept being simplicity.

Not that I cook.

But I'm good at finding pithy quotes!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Daily bit of creativity, #017: Watering Can

I’ve always loved the lines — straight and curved — of this little watering can. It sits in my kitchen window. I used my iPhone to take this shot, of which I’m not totally enamored, but it’s given me an idea for a little project. A challenge. Can I take 10 decent shots of this guy? Gonna give it a try, using a real camera. We shall see . . .

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Latest work: "Depth Gauge Five"

Not too sure about this one, so I'm letting it "steep" awhile.

I photographed a rusty metal tank, a number "5" on a weathered depth gauge, and an extremely grungy painted wall to create this mashup of color and texture.

Sometimes these things come together so quickly, so smoothly and they look great. Other times it takes hours, and I'm still not sure. Which is the case here. We shall see. . . 

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Daily bit of creativity, #016: Japanese tray

I have this, for lack of a better word, "tray." I think it's Japanese. I bought it years ago at a flea market on the Oregon coast. I probably paid less than $15 for it.

Standing up as you see in the first photo, it looks like a heater vent on a wall. Boring.

In the second photo you can see some of the details on it. Cool stuff.

But what to do with this "tray?" In Oregon we had it up on the mantel, leaning against a rock background, and it looked good there, resting partly on a framed Ansel Adams print. No heater vent vibe in that location.

Here, however, it's a different story.

So I made a bunch of tag-like things, set the tray down flat, and then inserted a number of the tags into some of the slots.

It looks pretty good. Some people (Chris) say "add more tags." Others (CJ) say, "less is more." I'm not sure this morning. But I AM making more tags, just in case.

I have no clue. I like seeing the piece like this, with the tags and their strings sticking up. But there's a part of me that wonders, "what the heck IS this, and what's it FOR?"

I try to stifle that more critical side of me, to simply stand back, wonder, and enjoy seeing what I made.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Nautical bits in Anacortes

I took Rich and CJ to one of my favorite areas to shoot yesterday. Luckily, they liked it!

Afternoon sunlight on the side of a ship created very cool shadows.

A thick rope was laid out on the ground, looking quite snakelike.

A window reflecting clouds and sky, bright yellow buoys, and galvanized metal are gradually being taken over by blackberry vines.

And finally this depth gauge caught my eye, the vertical column of numbers sandwiched between solid navy blue on the right and horizontal patches of metal on the left.

Fun day. Alas, we take them down to the airport this morning. It's been a week of laughing, relaxing, lots of exploring, laughing, reading, just hanging out, and did I mention laughing?

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Hello, I must be going . . .

Photographed at a nursery in the Skagit Valley. Crazy and fun days this week, with good friends Rich and CJ, power failures, lots of cooking, entertaining, going here and there.

And LOTS of new ideas for my ongoing Kyoto book. Off to Anacortes, more to come.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Flowering trees in the Skagit Valley

Tuesday we all went over to the Skagit Valley to check out the tulips. Well, they're running a few weeks late this year, but there were lots of flowering trees as well as fields of brilliant yellow daffodils.

I concentrated on the trees, looking for lovely flowers and soft backgrounds. Shallow depth of field softened the backgrounds even more, and a bit of post-processing in Photoshop gave me the look I was hoping for.

A lot of times I take photographs with no preconceptions in mind. Not this time! I knew exactly how I wanted these flowers to look when I was done. Ta da!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Latest work: "Game Board"

I was showing my friend CJ some of my "works in progress," images that just weren't coming together right. Rather than throw them out, I leave them in my "Works in Progress" directory, hoping that perhaps in time I'll figure out what to do with them.

Three years ago I was working on this concept. The colors caught CJ's eye, so I began playing with it. She made some good suggestions, I added a few things, and this is the result.

If either or both of these sell, you can be sure she'll be reminding me of her input! And then sending me an invoice . . .

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Daily bit of creativity, #015: Kyoto book paper/ink testing

I think I have a handle on the format of the Kyoto book, the type of binding I’m going to use, and am 95% sure of the paper I’ll make it from.

The process leading up to this point has been fun, involving a lot of experimentation with various papers, seeing what different inks and paints look like, how they react, etc. Here are two pictures of miscellaneous “testing materials” over on the work table.

So what’s the next step? The printer is still problematic. Once the ink cartridges I ordered come in, I’ll begin testing photographs once again.

In the meantime, I will begin creating pages, sort of generic pages, double-sided, page “sandwiches,” with one type of paper sandwiched between two others, all glued together. The individual papers are lightweight, giving the book flexibility, yet will be strong enough to take all the manhandling, the aging, the inking, the painting, the collaging, etc.

Do I really know what I’m doing? Not at all. Should I be taking bookbinding classes before giving this a go? Nah. I mean, how hard could this be?! Heh, heh . . .

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.