Kat Eye Studio

Archives for July 2011

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Share Your View: Reflections in Glass (2nd Edition)

window shopping
window shopping by olive.villarreal

After a week of Exploring with a Camera: Reflections in Glass, are you noticing reflections everywhere? My guess is yes! I love how the reflections in these images shared in the Flickr pool transform the underlying subject. The layers give the photographs depth visually, and deepen the meaning in the images as well.

If you haven’t already, take a look through the links in the link up below. You will find some great thoughts along with great photos. I enjoyed Gilly’s Reflecting on Reflections and seeing how this prompt led Gina to reflect on life. I believe our art is just a reflection of our selves, and it is no surprise to see that come through in your posts as you dive deeper into exploring the world around you with your camera.

We have another week with Reflections in Glass! Let’s see what you can find. Link up below or put your images in the Flickr pool. I’ll share a few more here next Wednesday from participants. Enjoy exploring!

Sacrifice
Sacrifice by JennyRain

FYI – Links will be moderated. Please use a permalink, ensure that your linked image is on topic, and include a link back to this site in your post through the Exploring with a Camera button (available here) or a text link. Thanks!

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Soaring

Look at this hood ornament. Doesn’t she look like she’s soaring? Head up, face straight into the wind, with confidence and joy. A few months ago when we visited the Italian car museum in Torino I was fascinated with hood ornaments on the cars from the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s and have many pictures of them. This one captures a spirit of freedom that the others don’t though. She belongs on the hood of this car. You can tell, this is her place and it is right for her to be there.

Why do I love her so much? What does she represent for me? I think maybe she represents how I want to live my life… looking forward, speeding ahead into the unknown, the wind on my face. A feeling of exhilaration and freedom from restraint. Of unrepressed joy in the rightness of being where I am. For her, it doesn’t matter the destination, it’s the movement she celebrates. There is no fear in her.

Life lessons from a hood ornament. Who knew?

What does she say to you?

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How are you Hard-Wired?

Each of us is hard-wired a certain way. And that hard-wiring insinuates itself into our work. That’s not a bad thing. Actually, it’s what the world expects from you. We want our artists to take the mundane materials of our lives, run it through their imaginations, and surprise us. If you are by nature a loner, a crusader, an outsider, a jester, a romantic, a melancholic, or any one of a dozen personalities, that quality will shine through in your work.
— Twyla Tharp in The Creative Habit

I ran across this quote while reading over the weekend and said a huge “YES!” It’s always amazing to me when I read the work of these famous, creative people and it basically restates what I’ve come to believe through my own experiences. This quote from Twyla Tharp in her book The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life so completely expresses the idea behind my Find Your Eye classes: We all have a unique vision to share with the world, and it comes through in our work. We just have to look for it.
In my photography, I find that I typically like the scenes that show both details and context. Not the grand sweeping vistas so much or super close-up details, although you will see those on occasion. This one, a new one in my market/wheels series, is from Milan. A little scene of a market in the Brera district, the same market as my Orange Power shot but a different perspective capturing different details. Kind of typical of my work, don’t you think? Not just in this series, but in the selection of composition, subject, camera settings. How are you hard-wired in your art? Do you know? If you’re a photographer, I can help you find out in the Find Your Eye series of classes, and I’m so excited about that! Registration is open now if you’re interested.
I’m barely into reading The Creative Habit and it’s fantastic so far. It’s been great to get my back into my own creative habits of journaling, reading and blogging in the mornings since the move. Together, these habits are my personal recipe to keeping me grounded, aware and creatively charged. I look forward to reading more of Twyla’s wisdom in the coming days. You can expect me to share the bits and pieces I find interesting here! 

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A Stack of Happiness

Look at this stack! This is a stack of the happiest, most fun mail you are ever going to see. This is a stack of 112 envelopes for the Liberate Your Art postcard swap! On Saturday, things were sorted out enough in our house that I had the time and space to start going through these envelopes. It just filled me with joy! This is not work in the slightest, but exceptionally fun and inspiring.
Some of the envelopes were completely decorated. I love all of you mixed media artists who find any surface something to create art on! Just look at this one, can you guess where it’s from? You would be right!

And here’s one from closer to my new home, California. A little bit of art in the mail, anyone?

My blog friend, Kristin, created this envelope from inspiration from this photo I took in Ravenna. Funny thing, I took that photo because I was reminded of Kristin by the snail! Such a fun circle of inspiration that happens with artists sometimes. Too bad the US Postal Service covered up some of her art with their sticker.

Here’s one that I didn’t want to open, just look at that! I think the dancer stamped on the envelope is definitely Liberating her art…

The stamps were art too! I didn’t know I had anyone in Hong Kong participating, what a nice surprise.

And then, opening the packages there were lots of little treats inside. Some were prettily wrapped, like this one from TJ of Studio Mailbox.

I was surprised at how many of the participants included a little something for me. Totally unexpected! Lots of postcards and little notes. Some magnets and little bits of this or that to use for my own projects. Even some chocolate! This was fun mail at its best. Here’s a tiny sample of what was shared with me, but I don’t want to give away too much, so that you will be surprised by the art you get in the mail!

This was exactly what I needed to inspire me and reconnect me to the creative community after my move. I can’t wait for the rest of the envelopes to come in and then to get this art liberated back into the world. If nothing else, everyone liberating all of this art has had a wonderfully positive effect on me!

PS – My blog is now on Pacific Standard Time! I updated my profile location and about me page too. Sorry for the two posts in one day but I’m trying out my new schedule. So far, so good! 


PPS – Linking in to Creative Every Day and The Creative Exchange today. It’s good to be back!

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Final of the Favorites: Open Ended

Open Ended
Castello San Sebastiano da Po, Italy, 2009
As the title denotes, this is the last of my scheduled “Favorites” posts. I’m glad I scheduled these, not just for the review of my favorites but also to give me a bit of a break without disappearing altogether while I was in the midst of the big move. This will be the last of the scheduled updates on “Italy time.” Monday morning I’ll change my blog over to Pacific time and will start writing from scratch again. I’m already full of things to say!! See you soon.

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