Kat Eye Studio

Archives for December 2011

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Looking Back, Looking Forward

I debated on doing the obligatory end-of-year post. In the last week I wrote down a list of all that has happened this year, with the idea I would summarize it here. It turns out, just writing it in my journal was enough, I don’t need to publish a list for effect. It was enough to show me I had an amazing year. A year of transition, of endings and beginnings. A year of wonderful opportunities. In some ways, I’m sad to see 2011 go. As we roll over into the new year, it will be in a year I didn’t live in Italy. 2009, 2010 and 2011 will forever hold that special designation. 2012 will be the year “after Italy.”

Window in Bologna, Italy

But then again, maybe 2012 will earn itself a different designation. As I look at the coming year, I see lots of opportunity. I have some goals, but am leaving space for new ideas to form. I find myself drawn to the concepts of empowerment and connection, and I can feel things shifting to align with these ideas. Stay tuned, there are some new things to come I’ll talk about in the coming days. I’m sure there will be more as the year progresses. That’s the fun of looking forward, you never know what the future will bring. I find myself comfortable, even excited, with that delicious uncertainty.

Window in Ashland, Oregon

Happy New Year to all! Enjoy the last hurrah of 2011 today and the transition into 2012 tomorrow. It’s going to be a very good year, I can feel it!

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Art Close to Home

Yay! I have a great art museum nearby! {Insert celebratory dance here.} My visit to the Portland Art Museum on Wednesday was very fun and exciting, mainly for the discovery of a wonderful art museum close to home. After visiting some of the most amazing art museums in Europe, I’ve wondered what I would find when I moved back. Since I wasn’t into art before living in Italy, I hadn’t visited this museum before, despite living only 90 miles away for 11 years. I was pleasantly surprised at the size and scope of the museum. I decided to become a member so I can visit whenever we head to Portland. I already have plans to visit again in a few weeks, as there are several special exhibits going on that I didn’t have time to see on this visit.

One of the current exhibits I did see is Titian’s La Bella. This is quite exciting for the museum to host. I thought it was ironic that after seeing many of Titian’s works in Italy, this is one of the first special exhibits I find at the Portland Art Museum.

I found it a very emotional experience to walk into the European section of the museum to get to the La Bella exhibit, seeing works ranging from Gothic triptychs to Flemish still lifes, so much of what I had seen across Europe. I even wanted to linger at the numerous Madonna col Bambino paintings, just for the nostalgia. Ironic, when I would cruise through whole museums filled with paintings like these, just to get to the one or two painters I especially liked. Now I have an appreciation for these works that goes beyond art history, it’s an emotional appreciation I can’t quite describe in words.

I did get to the photography exhibition I was looking for, Through the Looking Glass: Photography’s use of Windows, Doorways and Mirrors. As a big fan of photographing windows and doors, I was looking forward to seeing this. It was compiled from the museum’s collection of photographs and it did not disappoint. One of my favorites was this work, San Juan (Home Theater) by Oscar Pintor. I would have been in heaven to come across this scene!

I also very much resonated with two Minor White photos, Water Street, Portland and Chinese Laundry. While I’m aware of his work as a groundbreaking American photographer, I don’t think I’ve seen his work in person before. I was struck by my reaction to his images.

There were many other wonderful works in this exhibition, you can view them in the online gallery here. If you are in the area be sure to stop in and see it while it’s on display, through February 28, 2012.

One of the best things about this museum… minus the special exhibitions, you can photograph in the museum. Yay! My enjoyment of an art museum is always enhanced when I can photograph and capture my personal experience with my camera. On this visit, I was drawn to the forms and play of light and shadows of the sculptures. I especially liked the shadows and light in this piece, Artifact Panel by William Morris.

All in all, a great visit and the promise of many more to come.

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Loving those Lights

Today we finish up Exploring with a Camera: Creative Lights. I hope you’ve enjoyed some new methods of exploring holiday lights. It seems the zoom technique has been quite popular and somewhat addictive. I completely understand! It’s hard to stop once you get started. Each image comes out so different.

I’ve been surprised that I haven’t seen anyone try the Layered Lights yet, this is one of my favorite creative light techniques. I leave you with one more layered lights image from last Christmas in Madrid, a reminder of how much I love the lights of the holiday season.

You can still link in today if you have Creative Light images, let’s see what you’ve been playing around with. Because of the holidays, the next Exploring with a Camera won’t be until mid-January. See you then!



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Variations on a Theme

Today I’m sharing an image I captured from the recent Christmas Parlour Tour I was privileged to photograph. I had fun capturing this image of a phonograph, with it’s interesting circles and lines. I had even more fun playing with the processing of it in Lightroom, and I couldn’t decide which version I liked more.

The warmer tones…

…or the dreamy black and white.

They each have a different feel. What’s your preference?

I’m off to the Portland Art Museum today, visiting their photography exhibition: Through the Looking Glass: Photography’s use of Windows, Doorways and Mirrors. It sounds perfect for me, does it not? I can’t wait!

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Settled In

There is nothing like a few days in a row off with no travel plans to create some space for finishing home projects. With the arrival of the quilt from my Mom I finally had the final ingredient, some leftover fabric she sent along, to get me motivated to finish up the decoration of my studio.

I created a few pillows with the fabric for my window seat and reading chair. The long skinny pillows are “cat friendly” reading pillows. I like a pillow on my lap when I read to hold the book but then Stevie the cat won’t sit on my lap, he doesn’t like to be crowded, so I use a skinny pillow to suit both our needs.

I’m quite happy with how the pillows turned out. How nice of Stevie to pop into the scene as I was taking pictures early this morning.

The pillow project was preceded with finishing another project that had been covering my work desk for a couple of months. I was making some tags to hang from the “dream” placard on my wall, so I finished those up to make room for my sewing machine. Ahhh, now it’s all clean.

I like how it’s looking, but now I “see” all of my painting stuff, since it’s not lost in the mess that was my work table. I haven’t painted in MONTHS, the same canvas has been sitting on my easel for a while. Maybe now I’ll get on to painting again. Maybe not. At any rate, it’s waiting there for me when I get to it.

And finally, I thought I would capture where I spend most of my time in this room… at my computer desk. It’s not the pretty part of the room, by any means, but it’s “home” for me. I love my magnet boards for inspiration and having all of my notes accessible. My son’s computer is right next to mine, on the left. He got the old computer when I got a new one this July. I was tired of the constant negotiation with him over computer time.

I’m now finished with my current plans for studio decoration. I guess this means I’m all settled in!

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Seeing the Light

The difficulties are always the most important ingredients in the total picture of a creative experience.
— Shaun McNiff in Trust the Process: An Artist’s Guide to Letting Go


I started a new book for my “morning practice reading” in the last few days, Trust the Process: An Artist’s Guide to Letting Go by Shaun McNiff. This book has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time, probably back to 2009 or early 2010. As in anything, my reading goes in cycles and I found interest in going back to the basics of the creative process. How nice to have this great book waiting for me, with gems like the quote above sprinkled liberally throughout the first chapter alone. It resonated with where I am right now. Here’s another:

Creativity cannot flourish and reach its deepest potential without the participation of its demons as well as its angels.
In other words, there is no such thing as a free lunch. We don’t get the good stuff without some bad stuff thrown in. Some challenge, some struggle is needed for the creative process. That’s what helps us find new ways of doing things.

These statements struck home, after my struggles with the “down” part of the creative cycle this month. As I come out of it and see my creativity picking up, as I see my inspiration begin to flow as it usually does, I see what the down time has been giving me. A respite, a time to go within. A time to revisit the process, with all of its ups and downs.

I’m off from my corporate job this week, a planned holiday shutdown. I have been frustrated about the inflexibility of forced time off at work because I don’t have any vacation time left this year, but I find that I’m enjoying the space to focus on my creative pursuits. Not to mention hanging out with my family, doing things like learning to fly an RC helicopter from my son and getting addicted to Glee on Netflix with my husband.

But under it all, after coming through the down cycle, I find that new stuff is brewing and I have some space to create. It should be interesting around here!

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