Giving thanks . . .

Here’s the big bonus to what I do. And fair warning: This is a long post.

Back in October I received a message via Fine Art America from a potential customer. She had praise and she had questions.

She wrote:

I love your work. Everything is so beautiful! I am thinking of buying Sunstorm no. 2. I am wondering whether you would advise that I choose canvas or acrylic. I am trying to decide between 24x24 or 30x30. Thank you for your time. And thank you for your beautiful art.

Now, who wouldn’t love to get a compliment like that?

So I went to see which image she was talking about. Here’s what I wrote back to her:

Good questions.

First of all, regarding size… I always read the “buyer reviews” that FAA posts. (There’s a link to them down at the very bottom left of their pages.) This way if there’s a problem with a particular product from FAA, I’ll know about it. I also see the buyer remarks in general about the buying process. One comment I see a lot is that customers often wish they’d bought the next size up. The pictures always look smaller when you receive them than you thought they’d be. So if you are wondering about 24x24 versus 30x30, I would suggest the larger of the two. And please know that I’m not trying to increase my profit here — I genuinely think that sizing up when buying online is generally a good recommendation.

However . . . You know the space you’re thinking about, not I. Would the larger version crowd things for you? If it were me, I’d tape together some pieces of paper to both the 24x24 size and the 30x30. Hold the taped-up paper on the wall where you’re thinking about hanging the picture and see what you think. The 30x30 might just be way too huge; the 24x24 absolutely perfect. I just know I’ve never read a buyer’s comment saying, “I wish I’d gotten a smaller version of the picture.”

Now, acrylic versus canvas. There’s a bit of sheen to the acrylic that, if the picture is facing bright light, might not let the color come through cleanly. And, frankly, the picture’s all about the color and simple design. If you opt for canvas, glare will be reduced, but the picture might appear to lose some of its crispness and vivid color. Soft landscapes, romantic scenes, etc. lend themselves to canvas. Sunstorm 2? Not so much.

Here’s another option: metal. The photographs that went into making this montage were all taken at a boat yard on the Oregon coast. The boats were metal. The colors are vivid, bright, bold. I’ve heard nothing but good reviews about the metal prints that FAA sends out, no complaints. And the next item I order from them for my house will be a metal print. They are sleek and really lend themselves to images such as Sunstorm. Anything that has a sort of industrial vibe, or super-bold colors looks amazing on metal. I believe the cost for metal is less, too, which makes the 30x30 size, if you wish it, more affordable. There’s the potential for glare, however.

Brief aside: I was recently in Nova Scotia and bought a framed print that was super-colorful. It’s behind glass. Had it shipped home. When I received it, we put it on a wall that faces a huge wall of windows. I was super-concerned about glare. But the only time we see the glare is if we are standing parallel to the picture; when we move a little to the right or left, the glare disappears. You might try putting a framed picture on the wall you’re thinking about to see how the glare reacts there. I just know I was surprised to see that glare wasn’t a problem at all, as long as I was at a slight angle.

I hope this answers your questions. It’s probably way too much info, in fact. But I do want you to be happy with your purchase.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

I put a lot of thought into my response to her. Maybe more than she needed. I wanted to make the sale, but I wanted to make the sale AND have her be happy with it. Win-win.

Nothing more until today. Here’s what she wrote:

I took your advice and purchased Sunstorm #2 at 30×30. I've attached a picture, although it's crooked but I'm no artist. I am a writer and professor and it cheers me immensely to be able to look at it as I work. Thank you for such a beautiful picture.

Now, how cool is that?! When someone tells you they like your work, is willing to pay you for it, and then takes the time to tell you how pleased they are, well, it doesn’t get much better than that, does it? Very thankful this holiday season to have received that feedback. Simple pleasures. May our lives be filled with them.

©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.

The power of wonkiness

These letters look cool together. The top one, I believe, was on the side of a fishing boat, and the lower one was on the side of a shipping container in a salvage yard in Washington.

The rusting metal, the overall texture, and how they each have similar colors is what I find appealing. And their wonkiness gives them more energy, more life, than if they'd been perfectly level.

©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.

Experiment #9405

I'm not quite ready to talk about all the strange images I've been creating lately. I'm finding it so very exciting, but by talking about it, I fear I'll dilute the experience.

©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.

Experiment #9039

©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.

Experiment #9068

©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.

What I saw, what I made

I get this all the time. "What the heck are you shooting?" "Why did you take that picture?" "What are you gonna do with that?"

And I completely understand. Here's my thought process.

We were poking around a boatyard/dump/repair facility in Anacortes, Washington and I saw a weathered wall with grungy stuff running down it, with scrapes and scratches and bits of paint.

Adrenaline rush!

I knew there was something there that I could use later, but I didn't know why or what. I just knew it was important.

Click.

My first go-round with the elements in that top picture turned into this vivid blue and red picture that could easily have been an old metal sign, perhaps a graphic element on the side of a weathered fishing boat. To create it, I took my original photo and simply added more lines, some color, and part of something else that I don't remember now.

Colorful grunginess. That's why I like the second photo. It's almost an oxymoron.

I came across the top photo again another day and wondered what else I could do. I copied it, flipped it, put in a bit of color here and there, and added the two yellowish vertical elements on the left.

I felt the arrow had to be pointing toward something, so I added a photo I'd taken of some rivets in Oregon.

But then the bottom right seemed empty to me, so I added a photo of some lettering I shot on the side of a Willys Jeep on the Oregon coast. Done!

And now you know why I get up so early in the 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.

Same scene, two cameras

Before Halloween we went over to Sherman's Farm in Coupeville to check out their pumpkins and to see families enjoying the trolley rides through the fields, the cows eating pumpkins (who knew?), and excited children running around all over the place.

Off to one side I saw this old wicker chair with pumpkins on it. I shot the top photograph using a DSLR and a 100mm lens. The scene was deeply shaded and I left a bit of the bluish color in the shot because I liked the mood.

Then I used my iPhone 6+ and took the second picture. I was able to move in much closer and sort of hover overhead to compose it.

That wasn't enough, however. I used a Prisma app to change the entire look, from a moody, shady image above, to this light, bright, more festive picture. I like both of them, but find myself more drawn to the iPhone shot, just because it's a bit more fun to look at.

Yes, it's not real. Yes, it's an app. But it's not PRETENDING to be anything else than what it is -- a tricked-out cellphone shot.

Happy election day. May this all be over soon.

©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.

Collage work . . .

I make a lot of envelopes. Not sure why, other than they're relatively small (this one's maybe 6"x6"), seemingly useful, and I create collages on them, turning them into little works of art. I also make collage postcards, which I will post here from time to time.

What I particularly like about these envelopes is how tactile they are. They're thick, yet soft. They've got lots of texture, lots of heft, and just feel old. I layer the papers both front and back and often the flap has more weight to it than the rest of the envelope. They're meant to be handled. If not fondled.

This is the front of one I made a few months ago. Old Japanese papers, torn bits of brown paper, and a little hint of red were all I needed.

©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.

Then and now . . .

Rummaging around in old photos (2003!) I came across this image of a painted/rusted chain on a fishing boat in Oregon. I loved this subject matter then, love it now 13 years later.

The camera was my very first DSLR, a Canon EOS D60, which had, I believe, a 6mp sensor.

I was shooting JPEGs, knowing nothing about shooting RAW. Think I'd had the camera maybe two weeks.

But I did use Photoshop (sort of), and so did some post-processing, as you can see in the first photo.

Times have changed and so has my skill level (sort of). And you can see the difference in the second photograph.

So what did I do in the second picture? I used Curves to create a bit of depth. I used the Clarity slider to add a bit more texture to the rust. I darkened the image, added a layer mask, inverted it, and then used a soft brush to reveal the darker area in the lower two thirds of the frame. I used Photoshop's saturation "sponge" to pump up the blue paint on the metal a bit. And then I used some software I bought yesterday -- Aurora 2017 -- to add a bit more grunge and brightness to the image.

The result is a picture where the colors are richer, where there's more depth, and where the blue paint really stands out better against the complementary rusty orange colors.

Not bad for a photograph that began its life as a 3mb JPEG.

©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.

Spooky surprises . . .

A few weeks ago we were walking around Seattle and came upon a shop filled with bizarre, arcane, and incredibly interesting things.

The shop was closed.

But a skeleton was near the front window, so I pressed my camera up against the glass and photographed him.

I particularly like the pin holding the jawbone intact as well as the hook and eye that allows the top part of the skull to open and then stay securely closed.

I mean, we just don't find things like this at the local Wal-Mart!

Wishing you a Happy Halloween, no matter where you find it.

©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.

Building boats

Yes, still building boats. There's a final project in mind, but I'm still not sure about it, so these little boat-lets keep me going on it.

Aren't they cute?

All together now: "Yes, Carol, very cute!"

©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.

Fun in a cemetery.

What I find particularly cool about this image is that I made it in a cemetery yesterday! Perfect!

It was a gorgeous day and so we visited a number of places on the island. Sunnyside Cemetery overlooking Ebey's Prairie was stop #1.

And there was one grave that immediately caught our attention. 

Apparently a dear departed dad had a fondness for Halloween, and his family/friends decked out the gravesite in fine fashion for him, with lots of bones, skulls, skeletons, bats, ghosts, and creepy figures such as this guy.

Solar-powered skull lights lined the grave, and a motion sensor caused creepy folks hanging from trees to suddenly shake and turn this way and that. And then they stop.

But when you lean in close with your iPhone to get a close-up of the creature's face, the creature unexpectedly comes alive again, which startled the heck out of me. And startled subsequent visitors, much to my amusement.

Now whether Dad truly did love Halloween is total speculation on my part. But somebody did/does, and the result is a surreal note of life and hilarity in an otherwise somber setting.

It was weird, it was fun, and it resulted in this photograph, which I never in a million years would have expected to make.

Happy Halloween! Got candy?

©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.

What I saw, what I made, what I sold

I sold a large print (48"x32") the other day to a buyer in Canada. And the subject matter was strange. So was the composition. And even though I truly love the image, I was rather surprised that it sold.

Here you see a photograph of the entire sign. That’s not the one that sold.

Below it is a photograph of part of the sign. And this is the composition the buyer chose.

Are you interested in the thought process? Well, as I was driving along I saw an old run-down, abandoned motel. But the coolest part (for me) was the sign, rising high in the sky. So that’s what I concentrated on.

But why did I make the image I did? The one that the buyer chose? Because I “collect” photographs of arrows. Whenever I’m out and about, I’m attuned to arrows in one form or another. You can find them in graffiti, on signs, on billboards, sides of buildings, on doors, ships, and airplanes.

And because I’m subconsciously always aware of arrows, they encourage me to create some often quite weird compositions. And that’s what this is. I couldn’t isolate the arrows by themselves very easily, but I could isolate one, sort of. The bottom parts of the letters “E” and “L” echo the shape of the arrow and everything just sort of goes together.

A bonus, too, is that I always notice the color red. So for me, combining the bold white shapes of the arrow and the letters, on a brilliant red background, was sheer joy.

But it all probably would not have happened if I didn’t have a predilection for arrows. And this one became just one more in my quiver.

©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.

Recent work: "Architectural Reflections"

Had fun photographing in Seattle a couple weeks ago and created a 10-image series of shots taken at the EMP building, a building designed by Frank Gehry, who also designed the Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Here are three I particularly like, especially the origami-esque look they have.

©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.

Building boats

Yup, the daily collage boat project continues. It's fun, easy, photos taken with the iPhone, a little tweaking, and done!

I have so many now, but I know you don't want to see them all. So here are three for this week.

©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.

What's it made of?

A lot of people ask me, when I make a photomontage, what's in it? Where do you get the stuff and how do you use it?

Well, this morning I was poking around in my "Astoria, Oregon" photos, not looking for anything in particular, and saw a big "S" that was painted on a wooden sign.

It's a good-looking "S," and you can see the original in the second photo.

I didn't like the monochromatic look, so, still in the "Astoria" files, I saw a photo I'd taken of a cement wall that had been painted red, and the paint was beginning to chip and peel. (See the third photo.)

The wall gave me the texture and the grunge and the color that I needed. But I wanted something more.

Still in that "Astoria" file, I found a photo I'd taken of a piece of metal that had holes punched in it. So I used a part of that to create a "base" of sorts to the "S." See the white space below the "S" in the second shot? Too plain and boring. Hence the weird metal.

Look at the very top of the first photo and you can see where I added a bit of the metal up there as well.

And there you have it. An "S" with good bones, tricked out a bit with color and texture. And it's RED! Good way to start the day. (If you're weird, that is!)

©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.

Journal bits . . .

Rummaging through old photos and found this. Struck me funny when I made it. Struck me funny today!

©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.

Yellow boat

This pretty yellow boat was side-tied to a dock in Nova Scotia and proved to be rather difficult to shoot.

All my angles just didn't work and when they did work, my lens wasn't quite wide enough. Exasperated, but determined, I filled my frame with 2/3 boat and 1/3 water.

I didn't like the shot at first, but the more I look at it, the more it appeals to me. Why?

Well, the color's good. It's a solid yellow that's striking.

And then there's the strip of green all around the edge, which sets the boat apart from the water and also adds a touch of interest.

The dark water, too, helps set off the light, bright color of the boat.

And then what really appeals to me is the composition, how I opted for a vertical format, have the pointy end pointing up, how at first glance the photo appears to be simply of a bold shape, and then you see that it's a boat.

The composition is clean, simple, strong. Just like the Nova Scotia boat.

©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.

Buoys and boathouses . . .

A few overviews of what we stumbled upon wandering around Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia on a sunny 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.

Boatyard art

I'm finding lots of cool grunge these days in boatyards, including this section of a wall as well as a cracked glass something or other amid peeling paint.

Weather update: Doesn't look as though the storm lived up to its dire predictions. We've had steady, gentle rain, a little bit of wind here and there, but nothing like what we were warned might happen. By Saturday afternoon we'll know for sure.

Always good to be prepared. Even better to have dodged a meteorological bullet.

©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.