The Kat Eye View of the World - Kat Eye Studio

June 21, 2011 by Kat

Orange Power

Imagine my joy: On Saturday, while wandering the streets of Milan for a last time, I found another image for my market/wheels series. And not only that, but the scooter is my “power color” – Orange! What luck! I find orange to be an energetic color, full of life. For some reason, when I use the color orange, in my art, on my blog or in my clothes, it gives me courage. Courage to be different, to stand out, to be myself. Courage to share the “Kat Eye View.” This discovery has sort of happened organically over the last year, and now I love anything orange. So I couldn’t help but enjoy this scene immensely. Thank you, Italy, for another wonderful gift.

How about you? Do you have a power color? How did it come about? I would love to hear your story too!

June 20, 2011 by Kat

Love Letter from Italy

“You have entered my life and colored it with amazing colors I did not know before…”

This is a rough translation of one line of the love graffiti found on the path in Parco di Monza Saturday. Isn’t it beautiful? I captured this image of the graffiti for the interest in the photograph but when I looked at it on the computer, I fell in love with that line. I could take that quote for myself, to describe my time in Italy. Or the beauty and peace I find in Parco di Monza. Or the relationships with my husband and son, also pictured in the distance. So many interpretations in one simple line.

We had a beautiful weekend spent doing a few last, favorite things around our home in Italy before the dismantling of our lives this week. It’s a weird feeling, this dismantling. Taking apart piece by piece the life we’ve built here. What seemed so exotic a couple of years ago has become so normal. When did that happen? There was no exact moment in time, I know, but a gradual adjustment that just now becomes obvious as we shake things up again.

Beyond my move, there is quite a bit going on around here, I want to share with you too…

– I am featured today in Beth Nicholl’s “Shared Stories” on the Do What You Love blog. Please come by and say hi! There are also lots of wonderful stories in Beth’s archive, if you want to look around a bit.

– Exploring with a Camera: From a Flower’s Point of View continues for another day, link up by the end of the day tomorrow if you are participating. I am loving the entries for this theme!

– Will you share what interesting new sites you have found in the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap? Yesterday I shared the link list and asked you to share your favorites in the comments. There are so many wonderful artists participating! Please come by and let us know who you’ve found by leaving a comment on yesterday’s post.

– I did something crazy this weekend and entered a photo contest, my first ever. I’ve looked at a number of contests over time, but for some reason this one felt like it “fit.” Would you come by and vote for me for the “people’s choice” award? (This is an example of me feeling the fear – both of putting myself out there in a new place and asking people to vote for me – and moving ahead anyway.)

Whew. And I’m moving internationally in the midst of all of this. Doesn’t that sound a bit crazy? But for some reason, it’s all working out just fine.

I hope you have a wonderful, creative Monday! I am linking in to Creative Every Day and The Creative Exchange today.

June 19, 2011 by Kat

Looking Around

This is my cat, Stevie, and the view I see of him on my lap and the living room from my “spot” on the couch. This picture is a fun little memory to take home with me in Italy, of all of the times I sat in this spot and journaled or read books, with a purring cat on my lap. It’s funny, Stevie will only sit on my lap if I’m in this spot, with a comforter on and my legs up on footstool. Sometimes, after a vacation when he’s very needy, I have to go sit there with the comforter on (even if it’s hot, and I have a gazillion things to do) because he just wants to be petted but won’t allow it anywhere else. Picky cat! I love him though, and am glad we brought him with us to Italy, even with all of the hassles of paperwork and transport.

So while I’m looking around my apartment and my neighborhood for the last few times, how about looking around some more at the links from fellow participants in the swap? I’m so excited about how many people are participating, and I really want to encourage new connections. I had wanted to do a Scavenger Hunt amongst the links, with prizes and everything, but have run out of time with all that I need to do to get ready to move.

I thought maybe you could help me! Can you visit a link or two and then come back and comment here with what you found at your links? Maybe you found someone participating across the world, or who has an art form you haven’t seen before. Maybe you found someone who loves the same medium you do. Let’s look around together and find something new! Share the link and what you discovered in the comments below.

Links added since the last blog update:

Shaking the TreeLife’s Rich PatternStudio K8 and MeShutterLuvsmall mattersstudio mod
All the links!How to Feather an Empty Nest Learning as I GoPaloma ChaffinchFiberworksAshley Sisk’s Ramblings and PhotosJenny ShihLife @ RuffHavenkharliebugHere and NowLiving in a Still LifeBastelmaniaDonna Did ItLeft in Front of RightThe Red TinAltered Muse ArtDreams and WhispersMaddy’s Stitching CornerSimply Life PhotographsPointy PixKristin DudishNatasha MayThe Vintage ArtistDigital Experiments by CarolynWJC’s Digital DesignsCreating my Lifeicandyi wanna be me when i grow upGiddy-Up Let’s RideThe Creative IdentityElizabeth GLZJofabi PhotoA New Day, A Different WayA Rural JournalAlchemy of ArteyechaiPicturing the YearSuperdewaHounds in HeavenBleuOiseau PhotographyAquarel RiversThe Wright StuffThe Mrs.Urban Muserdeustchemexicana{Furi Kuri}TravelsA Little Blue Skycarola bARTzSame Day: Thirty Years ApartCamperCottage 960Nomadic NotebookWell of CreationsCindyLew’s StudioOm2ArtHysong DesignsThe Weekend Photo WarriorTina’s TreeThe Studio 56Kristen WalkernaperieRosie GreyThis Life through the LensNot Everyone Has FilmSloane Solanto: A Colorful LifeRavenous RaesassyangelacMy Midlife CreativitiesMakieDollTracy Swartz, Whimsical Gourd ArtOne Thousand PaintingsOne Little PromiseAmber Leigh JacobsMarie Z. JohansonThe Queen of CreativityExpressive WorldRandom Thoughts Do or “Di”Lyrical JourneyKaren Koch, Life Needs ArtMy Sweet Prairiedye~ing to be yoursKnottyneedlemy heart artODDImaginationCrafty CreativityJenna Kannas InspirationsGoing a Little CoastalStarry Blue SkyQuilting, Calle and other thingsMatthew and LarissasightspecificStudio MailboxArtimagicaPoetic MappingSimple MansionBy JenPaper BirdMusings of a HennaphileShe Dreams of the SeaThe Little Things…Tangerine Megamaze, surprise & delightlove PEASStraightlinezKristen Laudick PhotographyGrandma’s Recipe BoxHeartwork PhotographyDixon HillJust me and my ArtMia Makes…Cosrard & PenpenI miei due bambiniSpecial Moments in TimeSuch stuff as dreams are made onPasandoDarlene Cunnup PhotographyPeach CogloOne Woman, ReinventedCreative ExplorerBren’s Bright CornerJillsy Girl StudioBahamaDawnToday is a GiftMy Consuming PassionsMarie OteroShelley ShockleyBrain Angles – Invisible InkMosey AlongApril Cole’s StudioJo Murray – ArtWith Renewed EyesZentangles & StuffmichellereneFleeting MomentsJournaling through PhotosStefanie ReneeAlison BehnGramma’s Little CornerThe WhimzymeincaMoon’s Musings

June 18, 2011 by Kat

Summertime in the ‘Hood

I’ve always love the number of bicycles you see here in Italy. I love seeing old ladies in their skirts on bicycles, with the basket full of groceries. I love seeing people riding in the rain, holding their umbrellas. I see people riding while talking on cell phones every day. Bicycles are a normal form of transport here. Just another way to get around the busy streets.

And, on summer time weekends, wow. Bicycles galore. I captured this last summer in Milan, on a summer Saturday when the bicycles were out in force. We see a lot of bicycles by our house on the weekend, since we live right near Parco di Monza. Without much green space in the greater Milan area, a day spent biking and picniking in Parco di Monza is a nice treat. The park is packed on summer weekends, the paths clogged with bicycles and strollers and rented carrozellas (a multi-person pedal-powered cart sort of vehicle/bicycle that a family can fit in – I’m not sure what they are called in English).

This weekend we are going to visit a few haunts a last time. Brave the crowds and rent a carrozella in Parco di Monza, pick up some of the chicken strips that Brandon loves at the Saturday market, head into Milan to climb the Duomo and explore the countryside by Lake Como. One last look around, close to our home for the last two years, before the movers come on Wednesday to pack up our household goods.

And next weekend, our last weekend as residents of Italy, what will we do? Visit Venice. I can’t leave Italy without a last trip to my beloved Venetian lagoon. There are two places on earth so far that never fail to inspire me photographically: Venice and the Oregon Coast. (Well, maybe I should add Parco di Monza too, given how often I share photos of the park here.) It’s amazing how completely different these places are and yet they are so inspiring to me. Thankfully, I’m headed back to one of my photographic loves as I move. I have no doubt I will find more places too.

How about you, do you have a favorite place? One that never fails to inspire you in your art?

June 17, 2011 by Kat

Welcome Home

This light says to me, “Welcome home.” It doesn’t matter that I wasn’t actually staying at this hotel in Inverness, Scotland, I still found myself welcomed by the warm light shining out into the evening. This is a favorite time of day for photographs for me, with the contrast of cool blue outdoor light and warm yellow indoor light. It always makes me feel like there is a warm, safe place to go.

Yesterday I was on Mortal Muses, with a companion “square format” version of this same door, asking the question, “What light welcomes you home?”

I would love to hear your answer today.

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