Chaos reigns . . .

CHAOS REIGNS . . . Here’s what my worktable looked like last week. There’s a lot going on, but no destination. I decided to make small (4x6”) postcard-like collages, but don’t know what I will do with them.

Any interesting little extraneous bits of paper end up going into a couple of Moleskine cahiers. Neither one is full yet, and so I keep going. But THEN what?

Gotta say, however, that all this does look pretty cool. And it’s fun to make random things. I just seem to have a problem FINISHING anything! And even when finished, THEN what?

Signed, Confused in Coupeville

Images copyright ©2020 Carol Leigh

Daily Photo 20190118 What I'm working on . . .

Detail of a larger collage that's part of an artist's book I'm making.

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.

Work in progress . . .

As I'm making all the individual pages for my three Japanese ledger-style artist books, I'm also making little collages, using small scraps of paper that get pushed aside. Each of these mini-collages contains maybe 3-5 bits of paper. And then, whenever/wherever appropriate, I glue them onto the book pages.

I know this is tough to visualize, but each page of the book contains what I think of as a big collage, consisting of inked, stamped, painted, torn papers. They're kind of like scrapbook pages. The books are always in a state of flux as I add more things, rip away papers, etc. No page (double-sided!) will ever be really done until I begin putting all three books together.

I'll show some of the pages in a forthcoming post, which might help you visualize my concept.

Whatever the results (and I truly think they're going to be wonderful), I am enjoying the entire process. To call it "fun" isn't quite accurate. I read the other day an unattributed quote: "Art is fun in retrospect."

Right now I'm sort of in a zone, picking, choosing, arranging, making decisions. I stick with it for a couple hours and then have to take a break.

So no, it's not "giddy" fun, not like being in the front seat of the rollercoaster, but rather a quiet, satisfying sense of making something. You know?
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I'm also on Instagram if you'd like to see more of my work there. Well, even if you don't want to see more of my work, I'm there anyway!
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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.

What I'm working on . . . artist books

I've always wanted to make a series of artist books, small booklets that contain handpainted/handprinted papers.

The process begins (at least for me) with the papers, so I've been using a gel plate and a limited color palette to make the pages.

Using the pages as a substrate, I will add additional items and then create the signatures. The signature thickness will determine how the books will be bound. For all I know right now, each book may just be a single signature!

The colors are luscious, the possibilities for embellishment limitless. Here's the layout right now for simple page-making.

An oversize gel plate is where it begins (top), where I make the individual pages (middle). In the bottom picture you can see close-ups of three pages.

This is fun! No pressure, no time constraints, and the results are beautiful. We shall see!

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.

In the studio . . . old papers and a bird nest

Cleaning up the studio, still, and I wonder how this bird nest would look on these old Japanese papers. Well, pretty damned good! So I take some time, take a few shots, and then move on.

Nothing says I HAVE to clean the studio. But something says yes, you HAVE to take this photograph! Always lean toward “yes” seems a good motto . . .

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.

In the studio . . . papers, pods, and barnacles

Every time I try to tidy up the studio, I see things I suddenly must photograph.

There's a pile of papers on one table, poppy pods on the light table, and a flat rock covered in barnacles on yet another surface.

Hmmm, what would the poppy pods look like on this old Japanese paper? And the barnacles? Well, they're here, aren't they? Just a quick shot before I move them somewhere else . . .

And I know that this morning, when I go out there to once again do some cleaning, I'll just have to shoot the big feathers I found along a lake yesterday . . .

What a wonderful, never-ending problem to have!

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.

What I'm working on . . .

Collages on boards.

Right now one part of the studio counter is covered with papers, stains, glues, paint, and more as I'm experimenting with creating collages on wooden cradle boards. I've never tried this.

The good part is that I have a lot of different papers from which to choose, which can be freeing. The bad part is that I have a lot of different papers from which to choose, which can be intimidating.

The process is that I simply begin laying out different papers, not gluing them down yet, which is what you're seeing here. They're just rough drafts, just ideas. Today I'll go back in and start making more "permanent" decisions.

The scary part comes when my next experiment will be to cover the collages with encaustic (wax). Maybe. What if I ruin them?! Once waxed, I can't go back. Yikes!

So once the collages are complete, I'll set them aside and then work with applying wax to some paper scraps. If that's successful, then yup, I'll wax the collages.

Shades of the movie "The Karate Kid." Wax on. Wax off.

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.

Never as planned

I'm making a runner for our dining room table. It'll be made of papers, and is sort of a giant, thick-ish collage.

The plan for this morning was to make some indigo-colored papers that I will tear up and glue here and there.

"Making the paper" means using a Gelli plate and acrylic paints. You roll some paint(s) onto  the Gelli plate, make a design of some sort in the paint, lay a piece of paper over the design, press down, and then remove the paper.

It is fun and addicting.

By accident, I made some papers that were not indigo blue. Instead they were cream-colored, black, and some with just a trace of gold. And I thought they looked so cool I just kept on going. I know I'll use them eventually, so what the heck?

Here you see a table in the studio where I just toss things like this as they dry. Tomorrow I'll clean it all up.

You can see more papers in the middle shot, and then a close-up of one at the end.

I'm physically creating useful papers. Mentally, I'm creating a truckload of possibilities. [Rubbing hands together, cackly laughter.]

©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.

Getting excited about this Kyoto book

Yesterday was spent clearing the decks, organizing the papers, cutting the book pages to size, and trimming other papers so they'll go through the printer.

I also spent a lot of time selecting pictures, printing them onto the special paper, to be torn, stained, dyed, and perhaps painted. Won't know until I begin creating each page.

The concept is this:

Japanese stab binding, book size 12" wide by 4.5" high, unknown number of pages, and each page will be a physical, handmade collage, incorporating one or more photos.

Today I have one more big stack of papers to go through, pile up, and be ready to use.

Chris cut all the pages yesterday -- so cool to have a stack of them (more than 30) all ready to begin working on, probably three at a time, as I create the collages. 

Ink will be splattered. Mistakes will be made. Paint will be applied. Glue will spill. All my Japanese hankos (signature "chops") will come into play. Postage stamps, maybe some origami papers, bits of specially created gel prints will be applied, etc. Now that the technical problems are behind me, the real fun begins.

At least, that's the theory!

©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.

Studio bits

Thought you might like to see bits and pieces of the studio, my work environment.

A rusty muffin tin filled with tiny treasures I've found on walks along the Oregon coast as well as in my yard is a good place to sort of display/drop things off.

The heart-shaped muffin forms contain pebbles, acorns, wasp nests (shiver), a bird skull, crab shells, oak galls, owl pellets, and more. My most recent two finds are the sky blue robin eggshell and the long-beaked bird skull (perhaps a woodpecker).

On my work counter I usually tape down a sheet of brown kraft paper to protect the counter and to test out paints, inks, techniques, etc., and it ends up getting pretty messy as I work on other things. This paper never gets thrown away! When it gets "full," I pull it off the counter, cut it up, and use it as maybe a collage "base," or postcards, or envelopes.

It kinda bugs me that, more often than not, the messy protective kraft paper proves more interesting than some of the art I produce. Here you see a few close-ups of that most recent sheet.

The printer got hooked up yesterday evening. It's a monster. So now onto the Kyoto book. Finally!

©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.