The Kat Eye View of the World - Kat Eye Studio

December 5, 2013 by Kat

Scooters, Scooters Everywhere!

I’m in love with Taiwan! There are scooters everywhere.

Rows of scooters lined up outside of restaurants…

Cute pink scooters parked by the door…

Weaving through traffic to get to the front of the pack, and then zooming ahead of the cars at a traffic light…

Drive through shopping at the night market…

Parking wherever you like…

It’s reminiscent of Italy, only different in the sheer numbers and the type of scooters. Taiwan is its own brand of scooter heaven.

Oh, scooters, how I’ve missed you! Who needs trees when there are scooters about?

December 2, 2013 by Kat

Day 1 in China

The problem with traveling on business is that it’s all work and little photography! I arrived in China without problem, and spent my first day yesterday, mostly at work.

I managed to capture a couple of interesting photos on the commute, which was an experience in itself. This is the first time I photographed from a moving vehicle and I learned the iPhone is not at all good at that… I need to wait until traffic stops and hope I have an interesting scene out the window.

Either that, or hope the vehicle beside me is going about the same speed!

I hope to have more to share in a couple of days!

December 1, 2013 by Kat

Photo-Heart Connection: November

Hope. Sadness.

Two sides of the same coin? Perhaps. I see mostly hope with some sadness on one side, sadness with bit of hope on the other. They touch in the center. They echo each other; reach one to the other.

Can you have one without the other? Is the experience of one healthy without the other? For sadness, alone, seems to me depression. And hope, without sadness to temper it, is delusion.

Perhaps the best is when they touch in the center, balancing each other out. Hope and sadness. Sadness and hope.

Well, my Photo-Heart Connection this month is filled with melancholy, isn’t it? I couldn’t decide between the two images this month. They seemed to go together, and reflect one another. When I listened to the words they whispered, it was the mirroring emotions of sadness and hope. I don’t quite understand why I needed this message today, but I’m not going to try to analyze further. This is just the message from my heart this month. It will be clear in time.

What is your Photo-Heart Connection telling you this month? Does it speak of sadness? Hope? Or something altogether different? Link in here and share with us.
Please note I won’t be by to visit until later in the month, after the link up closes. I’m off to China and Taiwan on a business trip this week, and I’ll catch up when I’m back.

November 28, 2013 by Kat

Giving Thanks

Today, in the US, we are pausing to give thanks. At this moment I’m giving thanks for my son snuggled up next to me under the quilt, for sunshine, and for creating art. My list will change throughout the day.

For those of you in the US, I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your family and friends. For those of you outside the US, I hope you can take a moment today and give thanks for what is good in your life, what makes you happy, and the beauty of the work around you.

And for the US expats, my heart is with you today. I remember the feeling of going to work, having a regular old week day, while my home nation was celebrating my favorite holiday. But I’m also a little envious, because I look back fondly on all of the work it took to make Thanksgiving in Italy happen, and I see how much more I cherished the holiday, even if celebrated two days late.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, wherever you are. I am giving thanks for you today, too.

November 26, 2013 by Kat

Five Things That Make Me Happy

Sometimes you just need to take stock of where you are and look at the things that make you happy. This morning I came up with a list of five things that make me feel happy today. Tomorrow it might be different…

Subtle Color Variation

Oooh, there is nothing more wonderful lately than achieving a subtle color variation in my art! All of my favorites from the last month have some sort of subtle color variation along the spectrum. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I achieve it…

And the trees, with their fading leaves make me happy, of course!

Kid President

This kid cracks me up! If you want to smile, check out the feel-good Kid President videos on YouTube. Friday night my son and I watched them to our hearts content. Here’s the latest one:

Finishing a Project

I know you fellow achiever-types out there will appreciate this one! There is nothing as good as finishing a project, especially a big one, and checking it off your list.

This weekend I finished up the work to offer my Find Your Eye series of eCourses as On Demand. Yay! All three eCourses updated, scheduled and ready for registration. I’m especially excited to be able to offer the full series, in sequence, as one long, inspiring eCourse. They build upon each other, from Journey of Recognition to Journey of Inspiration to Journey of Fascination, in a way I did not intentionally plan.

It feels great to both get this project done and make the material available to people whenever they come across it. I was surprised at how happy this one thing made me!

Svaroopa Yoga

This is not your usual type of yoga. No sun salutations here! It’s a very slow-paced and supported type of yoga which is incredibly restorative. It’s like yoga for everybody, not just the strong and flexible. I started going in May when my shoulder was hurting me, and my body has been thanking me since.

It’s actually the perfect antidote to the over-achiever within me: Calming, centering and bringing me from my forever-busy head into my body. It allows me to just be for a while. Since that feeling is what I want to translate into my art, it’s a good thing. A quiet, happy thing. Something I do just for me.

If you have this style of yoga available near you, I encourage you to try it out. Maybe it will bring you some happiness too.

Sunshine

It seems so simple, but it makes me happy to see the sun. I am amazingly content to sit in a sunbeam and feel that natural warmth heating me up. It’s like a hug from the universe. I feel good at a cellular level.

We’ve had a lot of sun this fall and I’m soaking up as much as I can!

What makes YOU happy today? Take a moment to think about it. I predict a smile will grow on your face and you will feel better, just for the thinking of it.

November 21, 2013 by Kat

Inviting Inspiration

Hey, do you know my friend Inspiration? She’s great fun. When she comes to visit we have an amazing time.

Were a good team, she and I. We are amazingly productive together when she shows up, always creating new work like crazy, generating wonderful ideas, and moving in new directions. I love the feeling of having her around. She makes me bold and confident, not caring what’s going on in the world around me. Could there be a better friend?

There’s one problem with Inspiration though, and it’s a big one. She’s flighty and unpredictable. She doesn’t show up when it’s convenient and she’ll leave suddenly without warning. No matter how much you beg or plead, when she’s ready to go, she’s gone.

If she wasn’t so much fun to have around when she came to visit, I’d probably end my friendship with her. I mean, who really wants a friend so fickle? But I know what she does is not intentional. It’s as much me as it is her.

You see, if I don’t give her my attention, she’ll move on. If I think I can delay her departure by saying, “I can’t right now, hang on until tomorrow,” I’m deluding myself. She doesn’t have time for that, she’s got other people to inspire. If I don’t drop everything and take what she has to give, I can’t expect her to hang around indefinitely.

But I often do just that. Inspiration comes to visit and I say, “No thanks, not right now. I’ve got other things on my plate.” I forget what a great team we are, how much fun we have. I forget that I may not see her for a while, if I say no.

I forget that it’s my choice, in the end, whether Inspiration comes to visit. I might not have any control in when she shows up, how long she stays, or what we do while she’s here. But being open and willing and inviting her through the door… That’s all me.

She’s gone from here for the moment. Hopefully she’s having a grand time with you right now, since she’s not with me. I miss her, but her absence helps me realize that next time, I can’t put her off. I’ll rearrange my schedule and invite Inspiration in.

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