Kat

February 16, 2017 by Kat

Registration is Open

It’s time to register for spring mobile photography workshops! Registration is open for my spring series of workshops at The Arts Center in Corvallis. Learning to use your phone or mobile device to create art is lots of fun. All of these workshops are on Saturdays, 1-4pm. First one is March 4, only a couple of weeks away, so register now!

Mobile Photography 1: Introduction
The Arts Center, Corvallis, Oregon
March 4, 2017 1-4pm
Workshop description here
Register now through The Arts Center

Mobile Photography 2: Artistic Alterations
The Arts Center, Corvallis, Oregon
April 1, 2017 1-4pm
Workshop description here
Register now through The Arts Center

Mobile Photography 3: Advanced Blending Techniques
The Arts Center, Corvallis, Oregon
May 6, 2017 1-4pm
Workshop description here
Register now through The Arts Center

February 9, 2017 by Kat

The Latest Mail Art

It’s that time again! More mail art has been arriving for the Liberate Your Art postcard swap, and I know you want to see it! We have just over five weeks to the swap receipt deadline of March 18. There is still time to join! Learn more and sign up here.

And while you are getting your postcards ready to mail, enjoy some of this awesome mail art! We’ll start out with an amazing alteration of a manila envelope, from Kathy in South Carolina.

Pat in Oregon created this lovely collaged envelope. Decorated front and back! A couple of letters went missing, but we can fill in the blanks, can’t we?

Tracy in Texas sketched a beautiful little scene. I’d like to visit this little town!

My longtime online friend Lynne in Pennsylvania created this collaged envelope. You’ve given me inspiration with all of that decorative tape!

I love the cats! Thanks Julie in Connecticut, for this bit of mailbox happiness!

Kate in Illinois added some lovely lettering to pre-printed paper to make a one-of-a-kind envelope.

Lots of colorful doodles brightened the day from Karen in Ohio! Thanks for all of the extras, Karen. The swap helpers will love you!!

And finally, what could be better than a decorated envelope with some awesome stamps? From Norway, no less! The lovely Linda, who has participated for many years, along with more extras for swap helpers.

Thank you all for brightening the day of everyone who has seen your mail art! The world is a better place with your art liberated in it. I can’t wait to liberate the rest!

January 26, 2017 by Kat

Art is Arriving!

It started with two and then it was four and this week it was more! Thursdays are the day I stop in and pick up the mail at my UPS store, bringing home some wonderful art goodness for the Liberate Your Art postcard swap. There is still lots of time to join in the swap if you haven’t already. You can get more info and sign up for the swap here.

If you are already signed up, you are probably anxiously awaiting some photos of the mail art I’m receiving! Here is the first batch…

The first two decorated envelopes to arrive were a couple of smiling ladies. Kate in Michigan sent the happy vintage beachcomber (wishing for some sun?) and Natasa in Slovenia created the cute woman with the fox hat.

This envelope is from Annie in California, a lovely valentine theme! This is Annie’s first year in the swap, so give her a great big LYA welcome. Annie, the UPS store owner was especially enthralled with yours. “This one has texture!” He pointed out to me especially. Thanks for making his day (and all of ours!) a little brighter.

Mary Jane in Canada sent this lovely envelope. It had texture too! Loved it both front and back. I was especially enthralled with those dragonfly stamps…

And wrapping up this week, it’s an irish themed envelope for Jacinta in Ireland. Made me smile!

And it’s all just starting! There are still six weeks before the swap deadline, and I look forward to sharing many more envelopes in the coming weeks!

January 12, 2017 by Kat

Where I’ve been… Where I’ll be

So, I’ve been a bit missing online this fall. Part of it has been a creative slump, which I’ve been pulling out of with my digital painting. Part of it has been my new job, taking on a management role again. But there is one more part I haven’t talked about here… and that’s the part about me becoming a mentor for my son’s FIRST Robotics team.

If you’ve never heard of FIRST, it’s a great program… In the Robotics Challenge, high school teams from around the world design and build robots to compete with each other. Each year is a unique game and challenge. This year’s game is called Steamworks and involves robots collecting and placing gears, collecting and delivering balls to high and low goals, and climbing ropes.

My son Brandon is a sophomore in high school and this is his second year on Team 997 Spartan Robotics. Last year, he wasn’t so sure about it. It’s a HUGE time commitment. The “build season” is 6 weeks from start to finish, with the new game released each year in early January. Teams start designing and building after kickoff in January, and complete the robot by mid-February. It’s 5 meetings a week, after school and on Saturdays, because designing an building a functional robot from scratch is not an easy task.

And, as we learned last year in his first season, it’s an amazing experience for the kids who participate. For me, working as an engineering professional for 24 years, it’s the best thing I’ve seen in high school to prepare kids for the real world of work. They learn an amazing range of things:

Working as a team to accomplish a goal
Time management and prioritization of both school work and robotics work
Working together and being professional under stressful situations
Adapting to unanticipated problems and changes
And oh yeah, they learn about engineering, business, and marketing along the way.

Pretty darn cool.

I started mentoring this fall, focusing with the team leadership on project management. In the fall, the team participated in an informal competition called BunnyBots, which serves as training and practice for the real season to come. They didn’t think they could meet the schedule… but they did awesome – they were part of the championship alliance, winning the day! You can watch the final championship Bunnybot match here. Look for the bright blue robot with 997 on it, that’s our team’s robot named “Hermes.”

But that was just practice. This last weekend, the real season started. January 7 the game was released and build season is officially under way. It’s pretty much non-stop until February 18th.

Here’s the team on kickoff day. I’m in there, way in the back. We were even covered in our local newspaper (see if you can spot my son!).

So, yeah, my artistic output has dropped off dramatically since Saturday. I’m sure it will come back as we get into the swing of things. Right now I’m having fun seeing these kids do amazing things, enjoying the front row seat in my son’s development into adulthood, and hoping that I’ll have a little bit of impact on developing some future engineers.

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.

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:

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:

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.

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