Another way of seeing one's work

A buyer from Vancouver, Washington purchased these three images as cellphone covers. Her comment was "love these beautiful cases." Very nice to hear.

But what startled me was (a) seeing my artwork cropped to fit into a different format and (b) seeing how they looked as cellphone cases.

I liked them when I created them. Never thought they'd be sold as phone cases. But yeah, they look pretty damned good!

Who knew?

©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.

Same letter, different looks

Three pictures of the same letter "Y." They're so old that I don't remember exactly what went into each one, but the "Y" I do remember -- it's from the 73-foot fishing vessel "Kylie Lynn" in Newport, Oregon.

What's fun about creating photomontages like these is that they change depending on what images you blend together, and what blending modes you use.

The common denominator here is the letter "Y."

In the first image, I combined it with a photo of scratches on a fishing boat. The original blue color of the "Kylie Lynn" remains the same.

In the second image, I used photos of rivets I'd taken of the bridge in Waldport, Oregon. The background is a picture of some paint splotches on asphalt in a parking lot.

The components in the red image are the same as the green. Same rivets, same sort of squarish form upper right, the circle at the right-hand middle edge.

And then I added some thin lines running horizontally in the lower third. Why the lines? I do not know. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

So there you have it.  Same letter Y, different components, different blending modes.

©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.

Sixes on the Sixth Month and the Sixth Day

Here are a few sixes to celebrate the 6th of June, the sixth month of the year.

The first "6" was made a very long time ago, so long ago that I no longer know all the various components that went into it. But I do like the somewhat monochromatic and textural look that it has.

And then there's my "Numerical Flotation Device" picture with its bold colors and overall weirdness.

And finally another number "6" made of photographs of a metal grid, a bit of sidewalk, and a brass number. At least I think that's what's in there because again, this one's fairly old.

Welcome to June 6th. D-Day. And Abby's birthday. She's 12 now. With our luck, she'll probably live to be 35.

©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.

Best of 2015 -- July through December

What? You think these are your best? Come on! You've taken better images than these. And some of these aren't even photographs.

Yeah, but these mean something to me, so my selections definitely aren't objective. And I'm old now, so I'm not here to impress anyone but me!

I posted the owl photo because the experience of having a juvenile barred owl hanging around was a first. He was on the deck when it was still fairly dark out, so I went for some silhouettes, but then as daylight was just around the corner, he flew into a nearby pine tree and sat there looking at me. The photo (taken with a DSLR) was soft, so I tweaked it considerably and came up with this spooky image. The picture evokes a wonderful memory for me, and that's why it's here.

Same thing with the next shot, reminiscent of our first days on Whidbey in August. We were having breakfast at a restaurant on the water where an open window created a perfect frame for isolating the Coupeville Wharf. Cellphone camera and Camera+ app using the Lone Star effect, for those of you keeping score . . .

The lighthouse at Fort Casey in September looks particularly good, I think, again with the cellphone, Camera+ and Lone Star. I was there early morning, poking around by myself, thoroughly enjoying the quiet.

The blue and red abstract image I created in October appeals to me because it shows me what I can make with just the simplest of things, such as a piece of deli sandwich wrap that I scraped some paint onto and then added some circles I'd cut out of cardboard. To make something from things that normal people would just toss away is incredibly rewarding to me, and I'm loving the process.

Same thing with the November photo, which, frankly, I can't remember what I used to create it. And it was just last month! Sheesh. I went back to look, and I see I used photos of papers I'd painted as well as some India ink slashes I'd made. Once again, something bold and interesting made with the simplest of materials. Makes me feel good.

And then there's the faux matchbox label I made earlier this month, which I particularly like because it's just so different. I used an image from an antique dictionary, hand-colored it, combined it with some old paper and then created everything else -- the circles, the lines, the lettering, etc. in Photoshop. It was an experiment, it was fun, I learned something, and it's bright!

So what's ahead for this coming year? I want to make more physical things, things that can be handled, rather than strictly digital images. I've made a bunch of collages that might look good on cradle boards. We shall see. I also came up with a fun idea yesterday that I'm eager to begin that involves lots of paper, lots of paint, lots of ink, and lots of room. And old clothes.

Are you ending this year with a sense of excitement for what lies ahead? Is there something new you're going to be working on? Or with? A new camera? A new way of seeing? A different way of processing? Of creating? Something challenging yet fun? I would love to hear about it.

It's an exciting time to be an artist. Go make something this year. If it's awful, make something again. And again. And again. If you're stuck, there are thousands of tutorials online that can point you in the right direction, can inspire you, can trigger a creative idea.

You're here reading this blog because you're an artist of some sort, whether it's photography or anything else. Not to mention that you and I have a connection that we've made over the years, through an online class, a workshop in the field, the newsletters and guides I've published. And so I hope that maybe my enthusiasm for what I'm doing is contagious and will motivate you to take some time this year to create, to notice the little things, to learn, to have fun, to grow.

Wishing you the very best in 2016. And I know you wish me the same.

©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!

Best of 2015 -- January through June

So far this year I've written 218 posts for my blog, each post containing at least one photo. That's a lot!

On a whim, I tried to choose my favorite images from the year. Came up with one from each month. And was surprised to see that most of them were collages/photomontages.

Why? Because although I'm a good photographer, I feel most creative when I'm making something from nothing, making something that I don't know what it will look like when I'm done. And although I use my own photographs in these montages, I alter them considerably to become part of a greater whole.

My photomontage process feeds my creative soul much more than "straight" photography. My images are unique, don't look like anybody else's, and are always a surprise to me when I'm done.

These six pictures, representing January through June, are all photomontages. There are a couple of "normal" photographs in the next post, but yes, my photomontage work outweighs everything else.

I began the year in January with the top image, "Celestial Spheres," with its planet/moon-like shapes throughout. Nice warm colors.

February's picture is actually a straight photo of an envelope I made, a physical collage created with Japanese book pages, ink-stained paper, and three squares glued on here and there. Nothing more.

Our impending move to Whidbey Island inspired the third picture, made in March, the postcard of a crow looking toward the northwest, and with stamps depicting owls, owls that definitely make themselves known up here.

And then there's the soft blue-colored image called "Writing on the Wall." Off the top of my head, I don't know what I used to make this in April. I would have to go back to the original PSD file and take a look at the layers. I used to be able to say immediately what a particular montage was made of, but I've created so many now that I often don't even remember having made some of them, much less remember what all the components were at the time.

The next one, though, with the two circles, I definitely remember making in May because it was based entirely on a "straight" photo I took from a hotel window looking down at two bicyclists waiting to cross a street. I challenged myself to make a photomontage that captured the stronger elements in the photograph and I was really please with how this one turned out.

And then in June, having been watching the deer on our property, I created a tall, thin Japanese-ish postcard.

It feels good to look back, seeing not only the photos I took but the photomontages I created, reading over some of the posts, seeing the progression through this year, a year that saw me at my father's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in 12-degree weather, a visit to South Carolina (and 21-degree weather!), the decision to leave the Oregon coast, to settle on Whidbey Island.

Next post I'll continue with this, posting my favorite image from each month.

Take a look at your own work. What are YOUR favorite images, projects, artwork from this past year? It's fun to take a look back.

©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!

ROYGBIV: BLUE!

Blue's pretty much a universally beloved color and it's always easy for me to find examples that incorporate blue. Not so easy, however, for me to find photomontages I've made with blue as the main color, but here are three I particularly like.

Scratched metal forms the basis of the first picture, undoubtedly photographed while I was wandering around the fishing boats on the Oregon coast. And I like the feeling of movement I created by using the red blobs, which seem to drift from left to right.

We move from movement to still life in the next shot of the pear, to which I added dripping paint and texture from the ubiquitous fishing boat. I like how the golden brown color of the pear works with the complementary blue surround.

And then lastly is a photomontage that yes, contains photos of fishing boat textures. The square boxy thing? I believe that came from a piece of paper I photographed, paper I'd used to clean a brayer after painting something.

I used to be able to identify every item in my photomontages, "Oh, yes, that's a part of my grandmother's earring I mixed with a photo of the bottom of an oil can and a picture of a blender lid." I've now made so many that sometimes I don't even recognize my own work. "I made THAT? When? Darned if I remember how I did it. But it's cool, isn't it?"

Ha!

It's now Monday and I pray that my Internet access via my desktop computer is up and running. Tough to do this on a cellphone. It's still Wednesday the 17th as I write, but I'm optimistic.

©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've been generating a prodigious amount of work lately with no lack of ideas and with the luxury of having a decent amount of time to create. I'm not sleeping much at all (which isn't good), but I'm loving what I'm doing.

What I especially love is the surprise, the way images turn out that bear no resemblance to my initial concept(s). I try an effect, something bizarre happens, and so I run with it, often tossing it out later but that doesn't matter -- it's the process that's important, and everything I discard gives me a stronger foundation for future images. (Did that make any sense? Am I taking myself way too seriously?)

As I'm working, I'm constantly uploading my pictures to Fine Art America, where I currently have slightly more than 800 available. And sales have been good. I'm excited at how well I'm doing there, and am extremely grateful.

Here are five examples of current images. The prayer flag project continues. I'll probably upload one more "set" (three individual images plus a triptych) and then, even though I've got many more for this particular series, am going to change the look, see if I can come up with a completely different series of them.

Old papers, cement, my own sketches, lines, and marks are forming the backbone of what I'm currently doing. I'm also looking at previous "failures" and seeing if there's anything I can do with new eyes and more skills to create something better.

It's 3 a.m., 19 degrees outside, Chris and the cat are sound asleep, and here I am in my little office, bleary-eyed but very pleased with how things are progressing. Wishing you equal pleasure in your work, whatever it is that is capturing your heart, but hoping you are sound asleep right now and that your weather is a bit warmer than we're having here.

©Carol Leigh

Latest project: Prayer Flags

I've been working practically nonstop on a new project. I got the idea seeing some prayer flags hanging in my sister-in-law's house in La Jolla. My idea was to create my own handmade prayer flags, not what you see here. But somehow my ideas rarely seem to come out the way I think they will.

I was blending together various photos of vintage papers and metal and whoosh! All of a sudden I had an image that looked very much like a prayer flag. Well, that was cool. Is it possible to make a bunch of prayer flags, all with the same sort of look and feel, yet different?

(I'm thinking SERIES. Over at Fine Art America they sold a series of my photos -- seven of them -- and it was great. So my brain is sort of fixated on the concept of series these days.)

I ended up making 36 prayer flags. Thirty-six! So now I'm in the process not only of uploading all the individual prayer flags, but I'm making diptychs and triptychs using them as well. And it's taking me a long time.

Here's an idea of what I'm doing. Please wish me well!

©Carol Leigh