WHAT-IFFING . . . "Heading to Seattle"

In my ongoing experimentations, I ended up creating this postcard, which I like so much I uploaded it this morning to Fine Art America.

A lone tanker stood out nicely against the backdrop of Port Townsend, Washington a month or so ago. I converted it to black and white, added texture and color from a hand-painted paper, and then found an old address label from a vintage envelope to slap onto the front.

(I looked up the person, in hopes of maybe learning something about her, but had no luck. Sometimes I do, however, and it's fun to follow the threads back in time.)

The name of the addressee sounded Scandinavian, so I found an old stamp from Denmark in my collection that had birds on it, put it on top of an old stamp from Japan, also with birds on it. And then I added a cancellation stamp from Copenhagen, Denmark. A few other bits here and there and I considered it done.

I now have a gallery of almost 100 mail-oriented pictures at Fine Art America, and if you'd like to take a look, here's the link:

https://carol-leigh.pixels.com/collections/mail+art

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.

Latest work: "Mrs. LaBan Collage"

Mrs. LaBan of Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, was apparently the owner (at one time) of this battered, weather- and water-damaged book I bought at an antique store on Whidbey Island, Washington.

The book was a mess — falling apart, moldy, and torn. I removed one of the first pages, where she had signed her name, and used it as the basis of my collage. I added some painted marks, a cancellation stamp, and a red Canadian stamp to the mix.

 ©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: Faux Postcards

Something a bit different. I found a couple of Japanese illustrations published in 1902, made two more versions, made a postcard, then combined everything to create what you see here.

My favorite of the two is the one with the rabbits. I mean, how often do we see an aerial view of rabbits?

Speaking of which, two bunnies are now hanging out here on the property. I'm sure the owls are quite pleased.

©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: "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!

Latest work: "Dear Deer"

The wildlife here on Whidbey Island includes a LOT of deer. There's a doe and her fawn that often come through the yard and I was lucky to have my camera at hand when the fawn stopped and looked up at me standing at the window.

I particularly like the spots on her back and her soulful eyes. I incorporated my photo with a number of other photos I've taken of postcards, postage stamps, and more to create this faux poste card.

The postcard was sent in 1910 to someone in Austria, an area called Steiermark, which apparently is known today for producing wine.

©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 works . . .

I'm sort of in a postcard rut these days. My actual photography doesn't seem to exist at the moment (taking care of various things lately and not carrying around the big camera; disenchanted with the quality of the iPhone), so when I need to create something, I'm rummaging around in previously-taken images to see what I can put together.

Here we have one rather monochromatic image ("John Dory Fish Postcard") and a colorful one ("Crow in Orange and Pink").

Have I told you how much fun I have making these? Well, I'm having fun making these!

©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: "Three Kittens in the Congo"

I had a cool postage stamp from French Equatorial Africa. That was the basis of this piece. I decided to make a faux postcard all around that stamp.

A friend had given me a rubber stamp that looked sort of like a cranky lynx, so I used that. He also had given me an elephant rubber stamp. I looked it up. Are there elephants in the Congo? Yes! Okay! It's in the scene. From there I just kept adding things until the postcard ended up looking like this.

What I particularly like is the absurdity of the name I gave this image: "Three Kittens in the Congo." What the . . . ?

©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: "Northwest"

I've lived in a lot of places -- Norfolk, Virginia, San Diego, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Long Beach, California, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Hawaii, Vienna, Virginia, Japan, Nevada City, California, and more. With so many moves under my belt, I have no real concept of "home."

Gotta say, however, that the Pacific Northwest just feels right to me. I'm drawn to Santa Fe (well, who isn't?), but the sights, sounds, smells (fresh air!), and the green, lush environment here in the northwest make me feel more alive somehow. But Carol, isn't it cold? Yes, but those of you who constantly remind me that I wore shorts pre-dawn at the Reno Balloon Festival in 2000, I'm a warm-blooded person, and the temperatures here are perfect for me. Luckily, Chris feels the same way. Luckily, he's not wearing shorts!

Is this our last house? Probably not. There's probably one more move in the future, to a place with a bit less rain, a bit more space for a studio, and a place where Chris can set up power saws and things and have a woodworking shop. But will it be in the Pacific Northwest? Oh, yeah.

About the art . . . a faux poste card that incorporates my photos of a crow, postage stamps, an Oregon cancellation stamp, painted papers, and more. Made it yesterday 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. Thank you!

Latest work: "Professor Starr"

I don't even know where to begin describing this faux postcard. I created a physical collage and then used bits and pieces of it here. I added torn papers, stamps, rubber stamps, labels, cancellation marks, and more for the final piece.

What I love about making these postcards is how I can use items that are in my personal collections, photograph them, print them, glue them, scribble on them, on and on, and then come up with some strangely appealing final picture.

I especially want to thank those of you who have been sending me weird stamps, papers, washers, foreign currency, and more over the years to add to my collection of rusty, torn, bent, folded, mutilated and unusual exotica! You know just what a gal wants! ©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!