Kat Eye Studio

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Photo-Heart Connection: June

A continuum. That’s what time is, color is, life is – a continuum from one end to the other. If you can even tell the end, that is. It’s often hard to tell where the start and end of something really is. Defining “the start” can be the source of great debates. Does life start at conception or birth? Do you start counting from zero or one?

All I can do is choose is the best place to begin the story I am trying to tell.

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When did I become the artist I am today? Do I start the story in childhood, with my fingerpaints? With my love of painting watercolors and Georgia O’Keefe in high school? Or do I start with the desire to capture moments on film, or the shift to an iPhone and abstraction? Where do I start?

Realizing all of life is a continuum – moving from one thing to the next to the next, sometimes in big steps and other times in tiny shuffles – means I’m not required to “start” anywhere. I can pick the story up anywhere I want. I can go backwards and forwards and skip around if I choose to. Someday at “the end” (however the end is defined), someone can put the continuum in order and figure it all out. Until then, I don’t have to worry about it.

So let’s pick up the story where I am right now… It is one of color, of shape, of mixed up, as-yet-undefined media. It is a story of someone who is experimenting and discovering what works and what doesn’t, both in life and in art. It is the story of me, in pictures and words.

The story changes daily… even I don’t know what happens next. Stay tuned for the next episode. I will be.

Wow… I didn’t expect that to come out when I sat down to write about the image I found as this month’s Photo-Heart Connection. 🙂 I guess it comes out of the continuum of color in this piece – where does the yellow end and the green begin? Which parallel the recent thoughts about my art – where does the photograph end and the painting (or whatever you call this art form) begin? Where does representation end and abstraction begin? Thinking about it can make my head hurt. But the idea that I don’t have to pick a start or an end to anything is liberating to me. No need to worry about being “one” or “the other.” It’s all a continuum and I can move back and forth as I please. That’s really nice. I’m going to keep that idea with me.

How about you? What is your Photo-Heart Connection this month? Review your June images and see what comes up as the strongest connection for you, write about it, then share with us here. The link up is open July 1 through 7.


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Photo-Heart Connection: May

 
Shelter. That’s what I see here.

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In the chilly spring mist and rain, there is shelter here. The branches reach down to encircle and protect what’s below. The soft grass cushions the ground. The magical light filters through, bathing the scene in an otherworldly glow. I can stay here and be protected.

Hello, trees, I whisper, I’ve missed you. For me, you are hard to see when you put on your leaves. But this reminds me that your strength is still there beneath the summer finery.

And in addition to strength, you now offer shelter. Perhaps I need to sit beneath you for a while, and take what you offer.

The coming of the leaves has left me without one of my favorite subjects… bare trees. Oh, I haven’t missed them terribly. I love the sunny weather and the new growth of spring, so I’ve found many new things to photograph. Just not the trees, not quite as much. So it was kind of a surprise that a hike in inclement weather turned my eye back to the trees, revealing this month’s heart connection. It is kind of a surprise to realize that shelter is exactly what I need right now, as I try to remain in the space between. Shelter from my own self, if I’m truly honest, as my Photo-Heart Connection practice enables me to be.

How about you? What’s your Photo-Heart Connection this month? Share it with us, and then visit your neighbors in the link up. The connection to each other is as important as the connection to the heart.


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Photo-Heart Connection: April

Looking through.

That’s the feeling I get from this image: Looking through.

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I’m looking through a small, frosted window. It’s dirty, maybe in a warehouse or shop.

(But it’s still beautiful.)

I can’t see the whole of anything, all I see are pieces and parts.

(But it’s still beautiful.)

I can’t see the details. They are only impressions left on the glass.

(But it’s still beautiful.)

We can’t always see things perfectly. Sometimes we can only see what’s right in front of us: Part of something, through a dirty window. That can be enough.

Enough to call it beautiful.

I am a person who is always looking for the big picture in my life. I want to know how everything fits in with a greater plan. I want to see and understand the connections. My Photo-Heart Connection this month reminds me that’s not always possible. It reminds me that even when I can’t see the whole plan, I can still enjoy the part I can see — what’s right in front of me. There is beauty in the parts without seeing the whole. It’s funny… I processed this image to look this way. It started as a silhouette of bamboo against the sky, but it became a window. A window to my heart, with a message I needed to hear.

What is your Photo-Heart Connection this month? What message does your heart have for you? Review your April images, and share with us here.


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Photo-Heart Connection: March

It’s all lines and light.

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That’s what I see. Curved lines, straight lines. Diagonal, vertical, horizontal. How best to frame the lines? That’s the only question I have to answer.

And then there’s the light. Light highlights lines, creates shapes or forms. Soft light, hard light.

It’s all lines and light.

I can’t tell you how many times this mantra has popped into my head this month. It started in Singapore, the whisper about lines and light. And almost every time I pick up a camera to take an image since then that’s all I think, all I see. The lines and the light.

Maybe it’s because it’s been a crazy month. Away more than home. No time to stop and think, no time to breathe. Instead of deep contemplation, I experience the world. I do. I photograph.

And I boil it down to the essentials: lines and light. That’s all we really have to work with.

This is an interesting Photo-Heart Connection for me this month. I literally could have chosen almost any photograph I’ve taken, because this mantra was in my head for most of them. Getting home from our Spring Break trip to the California Redwoods yesterday afternoon, I didn’t even know how to begin approaching the Photo-Heart Connection for March. I have been working my way through piles of laundry, trying to transfer photographs, and getting ready for a very busy week following a very busy month. But this morning, I woke up with my “It’s all lines and light” mantra in my head and I knew that was it. My Photo-Heart Connection this month is about cutting it down to the essentials. In my photographs, in my life. That’s what has to happen sometimes. Sometimes there are periods of intense doing to feed the thinking that will come later. Right now I’m focused on lines and light. I’ll look back and pull the meaning out of that later, when I’m not so busy. I always do.

This month’s photograph, by the way, is from the Botanic Gardens in Singapore. From the Orchid Gardens, actually. I was more interested in the fantastic lines and light in these leaves than the unique, colorful flowers blooming everywhere.

How about you? Where have you found your Photo-Heart Connection this month? Share it with us.


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Photo-Heart Connection: February

The light on the trees caught my eye. That beautiful winter-almost-spring sun, warming the world around us. That sunlight encouraged us to go out and enjoy the world. Everyone nodding and smiling at the others on the path we walked. It’s amazing what a little sun will do for your mood.

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There is much that draws me to this image. The fine detail of the branches against the softly colorful sky. The lines of the trees, pulling me in and through the scene. The contrast of light and dark. The colors of green and blue and gold — my colors of late.

But I keep coming back to the light.

A light of strength. See how it shines on those branches? It highlights the thin yet supple, strong beauty of the tall trees.

A light of hope. Even if the sky is a bit dark in places, it is not gloomy. Far from it! While the sun is shining, there is hope.

A light of future. It is still winter, but spring is coming, and with it, the light. And while I will miss some of what this winter has brought me, the warm sun that will come more often brings something else beautiful and new.

It’s not long now. You can see it in the light.

I think I say this every month, but this month it was really hard to select my Photo-Heart Connection. By the numbers, I created much less in February than I did in January. By the quality though, I had several images I truly love with strong connections to my heart.

It was hard, too, because as I got it down to the last few images to decide between, the house went crazy. My son was getting ready for school and upset that there didn’t seem to be any food he liked. My husband was sitting there talking to me about one thing or another, tossing the ball to the dog who was scrabbling around on our hard wood floors to catch it. How can you hear your heart in all of that noise and distraction? You can’t. At least I couldn’t.

So I took a break from the process and came back to it again later, when the house was quiet. When I had the space to myself and peace to hear myself think, everything came together and I could finally feel the heart-connection in this image above all others. Just like many things in life, we often need time and space to clearly hear the messages of our heart. It we want to live a more heart-led life, then we need to intentionally create that peaceful space more often.

How about you? What time and space do you need to complete your Photo-Heart Connection practice? How does that translate into listening to your heart in other ways in your life? I’d love to hear, so share in the comments so we can all learn from each other.

You can link your Photo-Heart Connection for February in below, through February 7th.


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Photo-Heart Connection: January

Peace. Tranquility. Mystery.

That’s what I was drawn to this month.

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And simplicity. The space and subtle texture in this image calls to me. I want to reside in that expanse of peaceful blue-green.

Sit a while, this says to me. Be still. Breathe deep. Watch the ripples, notice the beauty reflected. Let the busy-ness of life frame the edges but not touch the stillness of the center.

I can return to this place of peace and quiet, anytime I need to. It is always here for me.

Ah, what a beautiful message to receive as I end this crazy week! It was interesting to see the peace and simplicity I was so clearly drawn to in my images, as I sat down to find my Photo-Heart Connection this morning. This image reminds me that peace is always available to me. I’ve been trying to keep in touch with this place all week, but wasn’t quite where I wanted to be. I have room to grow, more to learn, on staying balanced and centered. But I have help, in my art, in images of peace like this one.

I think I will print this image out and keep it around to remind me of this message. Maybe even put some words on it, “Be still. Breathe deep.” I will give away a print of this image, with or without words, to one of the people who link in to the Photo-Heart Connection this month. It feels right, to share it. To spread the peace.

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What is your Photo-Heart Connection this month? What do you find when you open your eyes and your heart to the subtle messages in your photographs? I look forward to visiting you, to find out. Reading your discoveries always bring me back to this beautiful place of stillness and peace as well.


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