Week-end potpourri . . .

Sometimes we don't really know what we've accomplished until we take the time to look back. These are just a few images I've created this week, and it's gratifying to realize this is maybe just 20% of the total.

I often think I'm not working enough, not putting in enough effort, especially when I compare myself to what I perceive others doing.

Comparison. Big mistake, no?

Anyway, mucking around in my photo archives, I came across two pictures (a number "2" and some rust, both on an old train), shot in Eureka, California, and combined them for something new and different and unique. (If one can consider rust and old metal "new" and "different.")

In my Facebook "Photomotivation" group, we're working on images that relate to "summer." So when I found two "ice" signs on a pole this week, I automatically photographed them for our project. The beauty of giving yourself an assignment on a regular basis is that you become a better observer, a noticer, and your work and your portfolio improves and expands. Plus it's just fun.

In the studio, I made textured papers using acrylic paints and cardboard and stains, then combined my photos of them in Photoshop to make something completely different -- an interesting picture of texture in muted colors to upload to Fine Art America.

And finally, in the middle of a week full of birthdays, explorations, and meals with friends, a wander around the docks in Port Townsend brought me to this lovely wooden boat quietly moored in late afternoon light.

So it's been a week of friendships, meanderings, collage-making, and photography.

I should take time more often, really, to simply recap what I've done in a week. I may amaze myself. Try it yourself -- YOU may be amazingly surprised by how much wonderful stuff you create and experience and contribute. Let us all carry on!

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.

A month of hearts: February 4

Train Art. Ever-changing as one artist layers his or her work over the previous person's...

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.

Faces in unlikely places

One of the "seeing" assignments I gave my students was to look for "faces in unlikely places," and they came up with some great stuff. It's my only hope that they continue to look, find, and see the humor in discovering faces where no one else would.

The concept has certainly stuck with me, so that in the first photo, THIS DOO look like a face I found on the side of a railroad car in Toledo, Oregon. And the second picture, taken in South Carolina, looks disturbingly like a menacing yet happy dog face, or a clown face (shudder).

So today, as you're out and about, look twice. Something just might be watching you...


©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.

Train bits . . .

Photographed in Washington's Palouse region a number of years ago. I love checking out the graffiti, and found these two particularly pleasing.

Someone had spray-painted their hand on two different train cars, so I combined the two photos to make the shot a bit more interesting.

And the U.S. Marshall? I've seen this same piece of train art on a lot of train cars, the last one being in Oregon. The artist does get around!

©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.

But is it art?

Despite indications to the contrary, these are photos, not paintings. However, they ARE photos of paint on trains. So they ARE paintings. Or were. Or something . . .

©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . get a sense of direction. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . be oxymoronic with a photo of "new rust." ©Carol Leigh

Train art

Nothing like poking around the railroad tracks and extracting little bits and pieces from what I find painted on the boxcars. It's grungy, dirty work, but SOMEbody has to do it! ©Carol Leigh

Train Art

Well, the alleged "goal" was to get some plants for the yard. But when I saw the trains, well, you know how that goes! Perfect weather, perfect companion, perfect subject matter. And we did eventually get the plants — three perfect azalea bushes. A good day. Maybe even perfect. ©Carol Leigh

A bit of yellow . . .

Lots of heavy rain and strong winds these past few days, so a bit of yellow is quite welcome right now. I've been rummaging around in old files, doing some spring cleaning, and gathered together these four: A Peterbilt emblem found on an old bus in central California, a cute little dog face on a train car in Oregon, steps leading upward found on a railroad car in Jamestown, California, and a "DANGER POISON" label on a train car, again in Oregon. Wishing you all a bit of yellow (and no poison) in your life today. ©Carol Leigh

Toledo Train Car

When you look closely at the side of a train car, you can find all sorts of scratches, paint slashes, and weathering that are interesting compositions just as they are. Here I've isolated a section of what I found on a railroad car. ©Carol Leigh

Train art . . .

(Click photo to enlarge.) When traveling through North Bend on the Oregon coast, I always look to see if there are any trains stopped along the tracks. Yesterday, yes! And the first thing I noticed was this artwork. It caught my eye because it's not the typical graffiti we usually see. This person used black and white paint to create a twilight scene of Black Butte, a lava dome in California between the towns of Mt. Shasta and Weed.

This artist made the lava dome look like a mastodon of sorts, and depicts the railroad, the trees, stars, and a sliver of a moon. On the lower left you see "To Portland" and on the right "To Roseville" (near Sacramento).

So the next time you're driving I-5, take a look to the east and envision Black Butte as a mastodon looking (somewhat forlornly) out over the railroad tracks, and give him a nod. ©Carol Leigh