Same subject but different look . . .

Last month I uploaded these four pictures to Fine Art America / Pixels. I liked the painterly look I gave them, and the striking yet subtle colors.

But after a few days I removed the bottom two. Why? They're pretty, but they don't have the same feel, the same vibrancy, nor the same feeling of sharpness.

None of the images is sharp all the way through, however. I made sure the centers were in focus, but let the focus soften as your eye moves out from center.

The last two, however, don't have that same crispness in the center, and the "petals" don't have that same little glow. They're more "blah."

So after a couple of days, the top two pictures remain, but I removed the bottom two. And now I feel MUCH better!

Copyright ©2019 Carol Leigh

Artistic slumps

For me, the only way to work myself out of an artistic block is just to keep working, not worrying if what I'm making is awful, doesn't work, and/or is total garbage.

The key is to keep on creating, experimenting, asking myself "what if?" Easy for me to say. Harder to do without getting bummed out, thinking I'm a terrible artist.

Here's a series of four pictures I made this morning, going from the original to three other versions.

What's my point? We all go through this. We all get down on ourselves, seeing what everybody ELSE is producing, seemingly effortlessly, so what's wrong with ME?

And even though you see me posting decent pictures all the time, and you think it's easy for me, and OMG, look at the VARIETY of what I create, it's kind of a facade. I have a lot of images to draw from. And I DO create almost daily. But trust me when I say I'm in a huge slump right now.

My computer is full, my DROBO is full, my external drives are rapidly filling up, and I cannot add more drives because I've run out of USB ports. THE COMPUTER IS SLOWING DOWN AND I'M TIRED OF JUST SITTING HERE STARING AT A MONITOR!

See what I mean? You may be facing all these same challenges PLUS you may have a job to go to, kids/grandkids to take care of, or health issues. So you may be even more depressed than I.

My only suggestion is to just keep working. Do not quit. Eventually you'll emerge out the other side, creating interesting, wonderful, and unique art.

That slump is going to come around again though. But next time maybe you (and I) will be better equipped to deal with it.

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.

Hello, I must be going . . .

Photographed at a nursery in the Skagit Valley. Crazy and fun days this week, with good friends Rich and CJ, power failures, lots of cooking, entertaining, going here and there.

And LOTS of new ideas for my ongoing Kyoto book. Off to Anacortes, more to come.

©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.

Xeriscapally yours . . .

It's summer. Not taking things too seriously. And having a bit of fun with new (and old) photos of succulents, exaggerating their colors, creating painterly looks. Some of these were taken using a cellphone, others with a DSLR. Having fun simply experimenting.

And you? What are YOU working on right now?

©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.