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January 3, 2017 by Kat

Back to Beginner

There are different kinds of learning. There is the learning of an expert, polishing and honing a skill to perfection. Getting better and better at a chosen craft. Creating good art, then better art, then great art. Someday, maybe even amazing art.

Then there is the learning of a beginner, growing by leaps and bounds each day. Getting better fast, up a steep learning curve. And creating lots of crap along the way. 

There is pleasure in both, but I do love being a beginner! It’s so much fun to sit down and be continuously engaged in the process. To learn something new each day.

What if I do this. Let me try that. It worked out great! Or not so great. Or awful… undo. Undo!

It’s just hard to go back to not creating good work. Occasionally, I create something I like, like these leaves, but I have no idea how to extend that into the next piece, or the next. I have no style, no focus. It’s all experimentation. 


I know it’s part of the learning process. To grow you have to accept that you do not start out with mastery. You have to willing to be a beginner again, starting from a place where you will create more mess than good. The only way to get to the real art, your art, is through the process. 

That’s the fun and that’s also the frustration.

I’m hopeful some good art will come out on the other side. And if not? That’s ok too. I’m having fun creating again. Learning again. 

Right now, that is what matters most.


Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: beginner, creative process, painting

December 30, 2016 by Kat

Something New Emerges

It’s no secret I’ve been MIA for a while. I haven’t been especially inspired to create. Nothing has been getting me very excited lately. Not taking photos, not altering photos. It feels like I’ve been there, done that.

So I’ve spent my time doing other things, taking a break from the feeling that I have to be photographing, writing, creating. That’s why it’s been quiet here on the blog. I wasn’t worried; I’ve been here before. It’s usually the calm before some new storm.

Sure enough, when I finally got quiet enough to listen, I heard a new whisper urging me along. It was a whisper to get back to painting. To play again with colors and shapes.

I resisted. Because painting is so much work. All the set up and clean up. All the waiting for paint to dry. All the disasters to get to something good.

And then I remembered… I can do this digitally. Maybe it’s time to learn how.

So I got out the iPad Pro and Pencil, opened the Procreate app, and found some tutorials on YouTube. And I started playing!! This is my favorite so far:

2016-12-28-09-52-35

I’ve been having so much fun. I remember now… I get my creative energy from learning. From being challenged. I just needed something new to learn again.

Funny thing, I’ve had the iPad Pro and Pencil for months now, and had been sort of sad I spent the money on them, because it didn’t do anything new for me creatively.

I’ve had the Procreate app for at least three years, and never got beyond a few sketches when I first got the app.

But everything was right here waiting for inspiration to hit.


Watch me paint this piece! Procreate records a video of each piece as you create it:

http://kateyestudio.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/File-Dec-28-10-26-23-AM.mp4

 
Isn’t that fun?

If you’d like to learn more about using Procreate to draw and paint (even on a photo!), here are a couple of tutorials I found especially helpful:

Full app tutorial:

Watercolor painting effects:

There are lots more! Just search for Procreate on YouTube or visit the Procreate Community Forums.

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: my painting, painting, procreate

October 15, 2013 by Kat

Ever-changing

Yesterday I went for a hike on a trail I haven’t visited in a while. It was barely light as I got to the trailhead and started walking with Zoey. I couldn’t even see color. As the sky lightened I noticed the forest around me had changed since I had been here. Sprinkled throughout the trees were the yellow leaves of fall, showing just how many deciduous trees are here, hidden among the fir. Summer and winter these trees blend in with the forest’s green and brown, but in the fall they say farewell brightly, as if to remind us of how much we’ll be missing for the next few months.

In the pre-dawn light with my iPhone I couldn’t hope to capture sharp detail but I could capture impressions. Impressions of bright color in the forest, a fleeting moment before fading into the winter palette of greens and browns. Impressions of an ever-changing forest.

20131015-061021.jpg

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: autumn, color, Corvallis, forest, Oregon, painting

September 3, 2013 by Kat

Drifting Away

Ahhhh, summer is slowly drifting away. With Labor Day Weekend behind us and my son’s school year starting tomorrow, there is a decidedly different feel in the air. I’m ready for the routine of fall but not for fall itself. The weather can stay warm and dry for a little while longer, I won’t complain.

But on to more important things… It’s time for the announcement of the giveaway winner: Comment number 14, Rita Barton. Congrats Rita! Rita chose “Lighter than Air” as her print, which was overwhelmingly the favorite of those I shared. It’s always interesting to see what everyone chooses, and why!

Today I’m sharing the last of the hot air balloon images for this year. One last balloon, drifting away, just like summer…

IMG_9494

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: balloon, hot air ballooon, painting

January 23, 2012 by Kat

Putting Myself In The Picture

While I love capturing the world around me, I hate being in front of the camera. Hate it. That’s why it’s with some tredipation and fear that I join in with Urban Muser’s In The Picture project this year, gently exploring self portraiture.

I have noticed I carry a lot of biases about self-portraiture. I could list many reasons that I have kept myself out of the picture in the past. But they are all just a protective facade, designed to keep me safely away from images of myself. What am I trying to avoid?

I guess this year, I’ll find out. One image at a time.

A self-portrait opportunity presented itself to me on Saturday, while at the Portland Art Museum. I was in the Contemporary Art Gallery when I noticed the light. The sun had come out, after a rainy morning, and I loved the interplay between the light and the art. I started to capture this painting, Green One by Pat Steir, when I realized the gallery was empty, and there was plenty of space to work. I set up my camera, grabbed my remote and captured a few frames.

It’s a safe start, I must admit. I’m abstracted, a silhouette. To an outside observer, the image is not about me as much as it is about a person interacting with art, with the light. I could have taken this of anyone.

But it is about me, to me. About my love of art and painting, about being in an environment that allows me to enjoy it. The image becomes more personal, more meaningful.

Maybe that’s the point of self-portraiture? I’m not sure. It’s going to take a while to work through my biases and figure out this whole genre of photography, and how it fits for me. This is the start.

In The Picture

PS – A word about this gorgeous painting! It was so full of texture and subtle color, it is no wonder it caught my eye in the light. You can find out more about Pat Steir and her work here.

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: art, in the picture, museum, painting, Portland art museum, self-portrait

October 24, 2011 by Kat

Paint the Music

Can you imagine a world without music? I can’t. As much as I love the visual arts, I love music too. What a fun combination of music + painting I found a couple of months ago, in a window in downtown Corvallis. Bringing colors and sounds together, in one place. I had fun composing this shot with all of the bits and pieces of violins visible.

Music is on my mind today, because we saw Matt Nathanson in concert last night in Portland. Hearing great music live is a favorite thing of mine. Whether a symphony orchestra at La Scala in Milan or Matt in the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, there is a different experience of hearing music live. You feel it in deep in your body, you can’t help but move. And when the whole audience loves the music and is singing along? Wow, what an energy! Music is another soul language, it short cuts the brain and connects right to your soul.

Matt is a great musician, and a fantastic entertainer. His live shows do not disappoint. This was Brandon’s first concert (that he was awake for – he slept through a Matchbox 20 concert a number of years ago), and he was so excited. As we headed home, he said his favorite song, Faster, was even “catchier” live. I think he’s got my live music bug. Maybe some will consider us irresponsible parents for taking a 10 year old to a concert on a school night, but I can’t help but believe that learning to love music is an important part of his life education too.

We had another great side benefit, being introduced to Scars on 45, the opening band. They are from England and are definitely worth a listen. I’ll leave you with a song from them today.

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: concert, Corvallis, matt nathanson, music, Oregon, painting, scars on 45

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