What 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 began appearing regularly in my art. Here’s the latest piece I’ve made that incorporates my memories, my collections, and the flea market that is my brain.

The first two photos show you the front and back (or are they the back and the front?) of the collage, and then two pictures showing you the details on two of the six panels.

What are all the items in the collage? Well, antique Japanese papers, hand-stained and hand-painted papers, pages from vintage Japanese books, Japanese ledger pages, my own photographs, vintage Japanese postage stamps from my collection, my own “faux calligraphy” scribbled onto papers using sumi ink, signature “chops” from a collection of Japanese hanko, and more.

There’s so much going on in this collage that it’s not exactly the “less is more” minimalistic, wabi sabi look one would expect of Japanese art, is it? But it’s quite representative of me and all my fleeting visual experiences and the constant “oh, look at this!” moments I’ve had in the country.

And it was Nietsche who said, “No artist tolerates reality.” Who am I to argue with him?!

 

©Copyright 2020 Carol Leigh

Frank Lloyd Wright with a Japanese Vibe

One photograph, two different versions. My first (and so far only) visit to Kyoto was overwhelming. Everything new yet familiar, but mostly new. My photography style was definitely familiar, as I moved past the big scenes and instead concentrated on the more intimate views.

Walking past a building, I was struck by the strong, linear look of the facade. Horizontal bits were supported and connected with sturdy vertical elements. Those straight lines were softened somewhat by the wave-like designs on the overhangs.

So when I was processing this picture, I was struck by how it had a Frank Lloyd Wright “prairie style” feel — all those long horizontal lines.

Then I wondered how the picture would look if I “squarified” it, reduced it down to its bare bones by cropping out what might be the non-essential elements.

Well, hello. When I look at the square version, and soften my gaze, the image brings to mind torii gates, which seems appropriate given that the building is Japanese after all.

Which one do I like more? It’s a toss-up. In a way, the horizontal picture brings to mind tatami mat floors, looking down on them from above. And the right-left movement is languid and serene, which can be considered a Japanese vibe.

The square picture is much more straightforward, no room to dally here, but definitely has a Japanese torii gate feel to it, structured yet elegant.

So there you go. Japanese/prairie fusion.

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. Thank you for your understanding and kindness.

Japanese Postcard 1955

This is a physical collage I made that includes a 1955 Japanese postage stamp featuring an image by Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro (1750-1806). The original woodblock print was called “A Girl Blowing Glass Toy.”

I used Japanese rice paper, a page from an old Japanese ledger, India ink, various hanko (signature) stamps, and walnut ink to create an aged and worn look.

See the vertical black blobs on the right? I tried inking my own pseudo-calligraphy there and the ink just seeped away into the paper. I liked the look, however, and kept it!

©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.

Work in progress

A little under the weather, but the past few days I've been working on creating images for my handmade Kyoto book. It hasn't helped that my printer appears to be dying rather quickly and a new one may be in the offing.

The book will consist of a lot of antique Japanese papers as well as papers I've created -- stained, painted, folded, spindled, mutilated. Each page will be a collage of sorts, incorporating a photograph that I've stained with tea, coffee, ink, paint, etc.

This is an example of what I have in mind, sort of, for the photographs. But until I can print out the pictures, I'm kind of at a standstill.

The pages will be horizontal, about 6" high, 15" wide, made of a variety of paper types, bound together on the left. One side (the front) of each page will be a collage with photo; the reverse side also a collage, but a very simple one.

For this digital photomontage, I used a photo I took of a maiko (geisha) in Kyoto, heavily stained rice papers, ledger papers, etc. When I print the final version, onto rice paper, I will print it much lighter and then will hand-stain it with a sepia-toned ink.

My goal is a book that looks very old, very soft, weathered, stained and mysterious. As with most of the things I've been making lately, it's designed to be held, touched, very tactile in nature. Although this is a book, it's not meant to be a pristine portfolio of images, rather the photos will simply become a small part of the whole.

If I can just get the damned printer to work!

©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: "Japanese Paperbound Books Photomontage"

There’s nothing like the soft, worn feel of an ancient Japanese paper-bound book. I was lucky enough to go to Kyoto and amazingly a number of these old books followed me home. Torn, wrinkled, folded, soft, tattered pages are a delight to hold, lovely to see. I hope I’ve captured their textural quality here in this photomontage, which I uploaded to Fine Art America 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. 

Monday, Monday . . .

It was kind of a down morning yesterday. Does this happen to you? You look at what other people are doing, are creating, and all of a sudden you feel like pond scum. You have no talent, no skill, no presence, you don’t know where the heck you’re going. You feel “less than.” Well, that was yesterday morning.

(I’m writing this yesterday morning. Still in my huge funk. By the time you see this, I’m sure all will be well again!)

What to do to get out of this? Keep working. So into the studio where I’m working on a collage on a wooden cradle board. But it’s not going well today. I’ve tried working on various photomontages this morning, too, trying to come up with something new. And that’s not going well, either.

The cure for this is to keep trying to make SOMEthing. I decide to make a collage on a postcard. I have a bunch of very old, blank, 1-cent postcards. I glued down a piece of paper, another, then another, added a stamp, and it’s not looking awful. But guess what? The stamp has a THREE on it! Aha!

So I bring the image into the computer, tone it a bit, add three (three!) golden “moons” up top. I put a circle around the “3” on the (1939) postage stamp. And it’s done.

What have I accomplished? Well, I’ve sort of worked through my overall feeling of “poor me” and angst, have made a physical collage, and have made a mixed-media “3” for my (cursed) daily “3” project.

Soon we’re heading over to our friends’ house, for laughter, Bloody Marys, and good food. I’m sure that will do the trick!

Happy Monday. May today be a great day for us both!

©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. Thank you!

Merry Christmas!

This is an image that I brought home from my parents' house last year, and I believe it's from a Christmas card they received from someone they knew in Japan in the early 1960s. I was attracted to the serenity of the scene, the way it reminded me of my trip to Kyoto, and the quietness of snow gently falling.

May your days be merry and bright, today and always.

Carol, Chris, and (sigh) Abby the Psycho Cat

Latest work: "Vintage Postcard"

My office contains nothing but this computer, a printer, a scanner, desk space, file cabinets, a couple of bookcases, a chair and an ottoman. No files. No PCs of various vintages scattered about. No books on the bookshelves. No stacks of papers "to be filed." Nothing.

And I love it!

I've been reluctant to bring anything else in here because I'm enjoying the spareness. The lack of distractions. Every morning I come in, fire up the Mac, look at my "works in progress" file to see if there's any inspiration there, and then begin playing around with photos.

My goal for this winter (when it might be cold and rainy -- but NOT as rainy as the Oregon coast will be) is to methodically go through all my slides, just a few slide sheets every day, and scan those that I think I can work with now, using new techniques, or that have sentimental value. All the rest will be trashed. Finally. I've not looked at my slides in 10 years or so, so this will be quite interesting. Or depressing. Who knows?

These two images are the same. The top one is simply an extract from the bottom one, but I think both work well. And both were submitted to Fine Art America a couple of days ago.

While in Savannah, Georgia in January I photographed a lot of wall textures and then combined some with a photo I took last week in Port Townsend of sidewalk detail. To that I added a photo of the cover of an antique Japanese ledger I got in San Diego, pages from a Japanese dictionary, Japanese calligraphy from a variety of papers I have, and then included a vintage image of an oriole. I "tricked out" the oriole using a paint program before adding it to the mix.

People ask how I make these photomontages, and the previous paragraph pretty much describes the process. I take weird pictures. I rummage around in my files, pick out a few, begin combining them, and let THEM dictate what the next step will be. I never know what will result. It's always a surprise. And that is precisely what I love about what I do: no plan, no routine, no "recipe." It is simply play, intuition, and problem-solving.

If I knew what I was going to make, there'd be no point in making it. For me. Thank God I'm not a plastic surgeon!

©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. Thank you!

What I'm Working On: Still Processing Kyoto

One of my (many) weirdnesses is that, returning from a trip, I take a quick overview of my photos and I think they're all crap. And so I let them marinate for awhile. And then I revisit them. Slower this time.

And gradually I realize that they're not all crap. There are a few good ones hidden in there.

Yet, I still don't do much with the images. I may process a few, put them online, but then I retreat. And then come back just a little. Then retreat.

This has been the case since what? 1980? I admire those who get all excited about their results, can choose the best and finest, make a photo book right away, and voila! Great trip! Great photos! Here, take a look! And the work is terrific, I must say. The resulting photo books are just lovely. And I feel like such a slacker.

I'm coming to grips with my "slacker-ness," however, and have resigned myself to my strange way of working. I'm more comfortable with the slowness, with the quiet calm. In addition, since I am easily overwhelmed, this is my way of picking away at the sheer volume of photos without going insane(er).

These four photos are from our first day in Kyoto last November. The interior of a temple (which is my favorite of these four), then a couple of abstract images of temple shadows and forms. And then a lone bicycle in the rain at the park across the street from the hotel.

Bicycles are a big part of Kyoto, and this solitary bike in the rain spoke to me. I purposely chose an aperture of f/1.8 for very shallow depth of field, converted the image to black and white to emphasize the silvery glow of the fenders and handlebars and to remove the distraction of color. I did, however, let the red glow of the reflector come through. I'm reminded of Nathan Lane's line in the film "Birdcage," "Well, one does want a hint of color!"

©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. Thank you!

Signs of life

Some signs are obvious, even when written in Japanese. For instance, "please take off your shoes." That's pretty clear.

And "Merry Christmas," in this primarily Shinto/Buddhist country, really grabs your attention (and I love the hat on the snowman). But the florist apparently had a lot of autumn items still around, creating a jarring effect. Nothing says "Christmas" quite like a big orange pumpkin!

And finally, the sign in the third photo (click to enlarge), clearly means keep your dog on a leash and don't leave dog poop on the ground. But when I initially glanced at it, my first thoughts were "don't poke dogs with a stick" and "watch out for radioactive doo-doo!"

Yup. The clueless and easily amused American visits Japan . . .

©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. Thank you!

Squarification . . .

As I begin looking through and processing my images from Japan, I'm looking at them wondering how they would look squarified. Why? Because sometimes turning an image into a square changes the entire feel of a scene.

In these first two examples, you see my original photo and then the cropped, square version. In the first, I get a feeling of how immense and dense the foliage is in the Imperial Palace Gardens, making the group of tourists look rather small and insignificant.

By turning the photo into a square, I've now played down the immensity of the gardens and have made the tourists and their umbrellas a more important element in the frame.

#1 = big gardens, little people. #2 = people in a park.

Which one is better? Neither, really. It all depends on the feeling we wish to convey.

In the second pair of photos, you can see my original scene, the way I saw the trees in the park. I focused on the leaves and let everything else fall away softly. Because the tree trunks are so bold, they stand out nicely even though they're out of focus. The overall feeling, though, is trees in a park.

In the second, cropped version, the feeling is different, isn't it? Now it's more about the leaves, with the tree trunks a bit more secondary.

#1 = trees in a park. #2 = colorful leaves on trees in a park. The emphasis decidedly changes.

Am I recommending we all begin squarifying our photos? Of course not. I'm just suggesting we begin looking at our photos in a slightly different manner, noticing how the impact of a photograph, the meaning in a photograph, changes with the format.

So the next time you look at your pictures, just for the heck of it, try cropping them into square versions and see how the emphasis, the entire feeling of a photograph, can change in the blink of an eye.

©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. Thank you!

Latest work: "Falling Leaves Crescent Moon"

Early evening I looked out my hotel window in Kyoto and saw a crescent moon. Directly below it was a single little fluffy cloud. As though the moon was going to "nest" into the cloud. Or the cloud was slowly rising up to support the moon. Either way I looked at it, it was magical.

I found this image in my "Works in Progress" file yesterday afternoon and it made me think of that moon, that cloud, the falling leaves in Japan. So I brought it up, tweaked some things, added some more things, and voila! Now I have an image that's reminiscent of Kyoto, autumn leaves, meticulously raked rock gardens, and more.

Unlike yesterday's image, this one definitely works. I love it. And isn't it a good story? ©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. Thank you!

Latest work: "Kyoto Wall"

One of the first photos I took in Japan was (and this will sound weird unless you know me) of some tape that had been partially torn off a metal door. I knew that it would be good in a photomontage. So that was the basis of this picture.

I then photographed various antique Japanese book pages and covers, added more papers when I arrived home, and here we are. I like the warm tones, the feeling of depth, the solid structure of the composition, and the sense of mystery.

©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. Thank you!

Almost packed . . .

I finished these two physical collages the other day and I'm appropriately posting them now because in a couple of days I'M GOING TO KYOTO, JAPAN! Hoo ha!

Toward the beginning of this year, I signed up for a photo workshop in Japan, and although I'm traveling solo (no, Chris isn't going, much to Abby's delight), I already know four others in the group (a small group of 12).

As you know, there's a definite Japanese vibe in a lot of the work I create, so this trip will feed my soul as well as my suitcase as I photograph AND collect interesting papers and other things for my artwork. It's almost funny how few clothes I'm taking so that I'll have plenty of room for whatever I find. I'm keeping the camera gear to a minimum as well, since my trusty sherpa won't be with me this trip.

When I registered for the workshop, November seemed so far in the future. Well, surprise! It's here and I am ready. The toughest part is going to be the long slog getting there. I fly from Portland to Seattle, then to South Korea, change planes and fly to Osaka, where I then take a shuttle 1.5 hours to Kyoto.

Kyoto is 17 hours ahead of Oregon, so even though I leave early in the morning on Thursday, I won't arrive at the hotel until nearly midnight on Friday. Yikes! More to follow . . .

©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. Thank you!

Courtesy of my mom . . .

I had the good fortune to live in Japan for a year when I was young. I also had the good fortune to have a mother who was interested in a lot of things, including the art of fish rubbing, or gyotaku. She made this fish rubbing 52 years ago and it's been framed and hung in various houses (military family, we moved a lot) and when I saw it last month, it had faded so much that the fish was almost invisible. The paper was dark on one side, stained, and splotchy. So I photographed Mom's print, brought out the details in the fish, then added my own touches, such as some photos of metal, a clamshell, a circular "moon" image, a bit of grunge, toned down the yellow colors, and came up with this. Mom died way too young, but a little bit of her lives on here. ©Carol Leigh

Latest work: "Washing Ashore"

I was wandering around a boat yard and noticed patterns and scrapings on the side of one boat that intrigued me. I used it for the basis of this piece that calls to mind the earthquake and the resulting tsunami that Japan experienced March 11, 2011. Here on the Oregon coast, two years later, we're discovering boats and sections of docks that have floated across the Pacific to our shores. With these concepts in mind: big waves, floating debris, a vast ocean, two countries connected, I used my photos of boat textures, old Japanese currency, and more to create this picture. ©Carol Leigh