Happy New Year!

Christmas snow

first snow
   the neglected yard
   now perfect

      -- Elizabeth St. Jacques

 ©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.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing us all peace, love, health, and happiness this year and every year.

©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: "Nautical Paint Job"

Well, it's not exactly my latest work...

I have a file called "works in progress." And this one was begun toward the end of January this year. It's been sitting there all this time, patiently waiting for me to either finish it or trash it.

I decided to finish it, and I uploaded it to Fine Art America yesterday. That brings my total offerings on FAA up to 1,697 pictures. I joined them in February of 2012.

I enjoy the sales success I'm having with them, but I also appreciate having a challenge, a daily reason to keep on creating, an incentive. Would I have done all this without having a sales outlet? Yes. But maybe I wouldn't be so driven. Maybe. I will never know. And that's okay.

©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.

It's Annual Crossword Puzzle Day!

Today is officially CROSSWORD PUZZLE day! This date in 1913 the very first crossword puzzle was published in the New York World newspaper. So whether you do them with a pencil and a very large eraser, or a big fat Magic Marker, take a moment today and fill in a few blanks.

And here’s a photo of mine that appeared on the cover of a New York Times crossword puzzle compendium some years ago. 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: "With a Touch of Red"

My photographs of old papers, scratched and inked papers, Japanese book pages, and a scrap of red come together nicely in this photomontage.

©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.

Eight years of December (part 2)

Continuing on from my previous post, these pictures are from Decembers of 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

The mastodon postcard is one of my favorites and was fun to put together in 2013. All the "bits" came from my own collections of postage stamps, stickers, and more. Well, except for the mastodons, which I got from public-domain clip art and then colored and softened to blend in with the rest.

A close-up picture of my grandmother's silver bracelet forms the focal point of a photomontage I made in 2014.

In 2015 I brought a delicate leaf stem into the house to take a close-up that features negative white space as much as it does the yellow leaves.

And finally, in 2016 I created a bunch of boat collages using scraps of paper left over from larger collages. I photographed them using my iPhone and then applied an app to make them look rather fanciful. I was pleased at the time, created maybe 50. I couldn't figure out what to do with them, however, so they're just sitting patiently in the computer, waiting for me to make a decision.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, peace and kindness in the coming year.

©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.

Eight years of December (part 1)

Blogs are sort of like scrapbooks, you know? Keep at them long enough and you have a visual record of your life.

"Remember when we went to Florida and encountered no-see-ums for the first time?" Or, "I miss Dungeness crab season on the Oregon coast and all that activity, don't you?"

So I looked at the pictures I've posted in my blogs each December, going back to 2009. I selected one photo for each year.

And in '09 there was a big freeze on the Oregon coast, where water oozing out of the bluffs next to the ocean turned into frozen waterfalls. It was magical! And COLD.

Sanibel Island in Florida was NOT cold in December of 2010. This couple was hunting for shells and I liked their silver hair, their matching jeans, new sneakers, and especially her vivid red sweater. I purposely used a slow shutter speed to blur them into unrecognizability yet capture their togetherness as they both bent forward a bit looking for beach treasures.

In 2011 I was making weird things, using photos of (in this case) ice and clock parts. The preoccupation with time remains with me, although I seem to have no concept of it in real life.

And finally, crabbing season about to begin in 2012. All the boats along the docks in Newport, packed with crab pots and colorful buoys... So much going on, so much color, so much activity, and so much at stake for these folks, where a successful haul means a good Christmas and a strong financial start for the coming year.

Four more photos coming up in the next post. Fair warning!

©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.

Morning walk

Yesterday's walk ended up in our yard, where there, on the wood pile, I noticed turkey tail mushrooms (Trametes) growing on a log.

According to Google, these fungi are edible and can be made into a tea. Well, I'm neither that fond of mushrooms nor of tea to risk dying just because "Dr. Google" says it's okay. The turkey tails will remain unmolested there on the woodpile for years to come.

(Photographed with an iPhone.)

©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.

Morning walk

We live in a rural environment, not a regular "neighborhood" with sidewalks and such. We can't see our neighbors (neither from the street nor from our house), so going for a walk is rather an adventure.

(This first picture shows you moss (Usnea longissima) and lichens growing on tree branches right next to our road, which angles away in the upper right part of the frame.)

This morning I heard tree frogs, a chickaree (Douglas squirrel), a pileated woodpecker, and chickens.

I thought the chickaree was chattering at me, so I chattered back and moved closer. Usually they're higher up, on a tree branch, but this one (hidden from view) was down low and didn't move off as they usually do. Suspicious behavior.

A sudden flapping of wings and crackling of brush silenced the chickaree as a large bird zoomed away, leaving behind a pile of grey feathers. I didn't see the bird, but it was either a hawk (we have sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks) or an owl (we have great horned and barred owls). I apparently disturbed its breakfast.

The chickaree hadn't been worried about me at all. It was keeping its eye on the predator and warning everybody to WATCH OUT! A warning I obviously missed.

I moved on, ending up photographing some big-leaf maple and alder leaves, adorned by a little crown of oakmoss lichen (Evernia prunastri). A good walk, indeed.

©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.

Hawaii in black and white

There's a lovely grove of trees in Kilauea, on the island of Kauai, that are a delight and a challenge to photograph. While gazing at the scene, I decided to concentrate on these two trees in the immediate foreground. They lend themselves beautifully to a black and white treatment: bold forms and good contrast.

Someone commented in another forum that the trees look like a couple dancing the tango. And now that's exactly what I see every time I look at this!

Tropical scenes are usually all about luscious color (and hooray for that), but often there are little black and white nuggets quietly waiting to be discovered.

©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.

A week on Kauai

Just returned from a delightful week on the island of Kauai with good friends of like minds and interests.

We photographed like crazy, laughed like loons, explored, lounged, ate, read, and people-watched.

Here you see a house in Hanalei -- "Surfboard House" -- which caught our eye (naturally) and was fun to photograph.

Lush foliage both at the resort and in the town of Hanapepe practically gleamed in the overcast light we had most of the time.

And finally a view of Kalapaki Bay, photographed with an iPhone and intentional camera movement and slow shutter speeds.

I am so grateful to have been able to do this, and to return home with a few decent shots.

©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.