It's a good day . . .

It's a good day to be on Whidbey Island, sitting in the car, watching the raindrops form on the windshield, waiting for Chris to finish getting a haircut. Ahhhh!

Image copyright ©2020 Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . compare and contrast.

It's interesting to go back and suddenly notice similarities and differences in one's photos over the years.

These two have similar compositions and forms.

The color photo of palm trees against a green- and white-painted building were taken in Florida in 2011.

The black and white photo of strips of paper was taken in the city of Orange, California in 2013.

Both are abstracts. Both have no real focal point. Both consist of similar vertical objects. Blah, blah, blah.

I like them both because they're clean, simple, strong, and mysterious.

But I can understand why YOU might not like them at all!

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.

It's a good day to . . .

. . . just say HOWDY!
. . . pretend you're a cowboy!

Metal shipping container found in Port Townsend, Washington.

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.

It's a good day to . . .

. . . get a grip! I wish I knew what it was that shouldn't be dropped on its end, but all I was concerned with at the time was how quietly amusing the warning was.

Photographed at a boat yard in Port Townsend, Washington.

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 kindness.

It's a good day . . .

. .  to be calligraphically cryptic! When the tides and the light are right, you can often see the interesting patterns that sand worms create on the beach. I don't know what this guy was trying to say, but he was doing it beautifully.

©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.

Yesterday was a very good day . . .

Yesterday was a very good day, selling 12 images to two different buyers.

The first 10 will be residing in a beautiful, modern condominium building in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District. They're all around 40" or so on the long side, printed on metal.

The last two are small, nicely framed, and are going off to Minnesota.

I have another post almost ready that will appear on top of this one, but at the moment, we're off to Bellingham to check out the fishing boats, have lunch, and stop at a Trader Joe's. Not a bad day at all.

©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 a good day to . . .

... get down and dirty!

At last, thanks to Chris, I have some space where I can lay out paper(s) and make things. As I unpack boxes, it's like seeing old friends again. All my monoprints. Ooh, the PVA glue! Reams of white paper just waiting for something to happen. I still haven't found my brushes, nor my brayers, X-acto knives, but slowly things are appearing and space is being made.

Walls and doors have to be built/installed. Things need to be painted. More shelves have to go up. But at least, right here and now, I have a big, L-shaped counter to work on, with a LOT of room to spread things out. Ah, the little things that make me happy.

So yesterday I pulled a few papers and glued a few things. And this morning I tried some other techniques and actually got my hands dirty. Shades of Lady MacBeth, I cringe at getting my hands dirty. But this morning, it felt really, really good!

Wishing you a day of dirty hands (and plenty of soap, water, and paper towels at the ready).

 ©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!

It's a good day to . . .

. . . remember a carefree day in the past.

We are beginning to pack, preparing to move (more about that later) and so I'm finding things not seen for some time.

This picture of me is one I love. I love how happy and carefree I look, how I was having fun, running toward a parent (on the boardwalk in New Jersey). How old was I? Maybe five? There are no parents now to ask.

What I love is this exuberance just to be alive, healthy, outdoors, having fun, being loved.

May all our days be just as wonderful as this.

©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!

It's a good day to . . .

. . . be polite. In Charleston, South Carolina, they're not so crass as to say "KEEP OUT" or "NO TRESPASSING." No, no. It's "Beyond this point, by invitation only." In script. In gold. On purple.

©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!

It's a good day to . . .

. . . reminisce.

I'm working very slowly through my Kyoto photographs. The trip itself was life-changing. My photographs? I'm not thrilled. But that's okay. Because I keep going back to the term "life-changing." Or maybe it should be "perspective-changing."

Our culture, compared to the little I saw in Kyoto, is so loud, brash, overbearing.

An example: I was checking in at Asiana Airlines in Osaka to return home. It's a foreign airport. I was traveling alone. I was hoping that I would end up in the right spot. At the head of the line was a "greeter" of sorts. He spoke English and I said I was a little nervous. He said "don't be nervous" and he disappeared for a moment, only to come back and say, "I found you a new best friend! This woman is going to Seattle, too!" I looked and saw an obviously American woman named Nancy and so we chit-chatted a bit, went through all the procedures, spent a bit of time in the waiting area, and all was well.

Sure, I could have done this fine all by myself. But the fact that there was someone who cared, who saw another American and put the two of us together so we might not feel so alone, was a gift.

It was this sense of caring, of recognition, of helpfulness that impressed me during my trip to Japan. Everywhere I went, everyone I interacted with, was kind and gentle. I return to the United States and it's as though a switch has been clicked on. Or off. Waiting in line at customs and an airport official striding back and forth ordering "No cellphones! No cellphones!" with a determined and stern look on his face.

Or watching an elderly Chinese couple trying to go through security and the agent being sarcastic, demanding, and patronizing to these foreigners who obviously didn't speak English and weren't exactly frequent flyers. (It's tough enough as an experienced American citizen to go smoothly through security.)

This is an extreme thing to say, but these officials, these "welcome to America" employees, came across as Nazis. "Stand in line. Take off your belt. No, don't put your watch there (sigh), put it in the bowl. No! In the bowl! (eye-roll)." It was embarrassing.

The Japanese emphasis on small bits, an appreciation for simple things, for a prettily wrapped gift, the way a dish is placed in front of you and then turned so that you see its best side. Small wonders. And even a slight, oh-so-slight forward bow when passing me on the street (and my delight in slightly bowing in return) was a gift. I obviously stood out as decidedly not-Japanese. Trudy, a fellow photographer on this trip, commented on this recognition, describing it as an "I see you, you see me" sort of thing. And that phrase will remain with me the rest of my life.

We can learn a lot from this culture, a culture that welcomed me as an obvious foreigner and did everything it could to make me feel I was not an imposition.

I realize that I was there for just a short time, that I didn't see everything, that maybe there's a lot of rudeness and impatience and officiousness that I wasn't aware of. And I know that there is a lot of compassion and helpfulness and kindness here in the United States. I know I'm generalizing.

But to return home, walk through the veil, and be assaulted by anger, sarcasm, and rudeness was so jarring, so like a slap in the face, that I can't help but compare.

So yes, my pictures from this trip do not represent my best work. But the interactions I had with everyone I met, what I learned about respect, what I learned about appreciation, about sitting up straight (!), far outshine my disappointing pictures. My photographs, even if they had been spectacular, aren't nearly as important as what I learned those ten life-changing days in Kyoto. 

So yes, indeed, it's a good day to reminisce . . .

©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!

It's a good day to . . .

. . . look for a little balance in your life! ©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!

It's a good day to . . .

. . . go to the library and look at art books!

I created a little photomontage of old-fashioned library "date due" cards as well as a picture I took of a doodle in one of my art journals. It's tough to read my writing this small, but what it says is, "I've been looking at aboriginal art lately and am enamored of the movement and design and dots!"

May you find something today and become enamored.

©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . think about boats! Hope your weekend is sunny with scattered breezes. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . celebrate our diversity! You probably aren't aware that May 3 is National Two Different Colored Shoes Day®, a day created by Dr. Arlene Kaiser to express our individuality and to honor all the sorts of people who are in our lives. So today, put your best foot forward and stride with pride! ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . just doodle a little bit! ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . tidy up the office.

Taken at the boathouse in Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard last year. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . just sit around and doodle! ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . not get caught red-handed!

An industrial bit from Portland. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . just stay inside and wait for mail . . .

©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . visit your local fish market! (It's Dungeness crab season, folks! Get 'em while they're fresh!) ©Carol Leigh