Kat Eye Studio

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What? Me? Paint?

Yes, I’ve been known to paint once in a while. It’s just been a looooooong while. Months and months. I had to search my blog for the last time I painted, and it was September of last year! Yikes. But this whole time, my easel has been set up in my studio and my paints have been right there, ready and waiting. A few months ago I even primed some canvas. There they sat, ready and waiting too. What would it take for me to paint again?

Apparently, the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap is what I needed! I had a lot of participants in last year’s swap from Kristin and Eva’s Paint Party Friday link up, so I contacted Kristin to see if she would help me get the word out about this year’s swap to the Paint Party Friday participants. She suggested that I could be the “Featured Artist” for the week, and get the word out about the Liberate Your Art swap at the same time. Ack, I thought, but I haven’t painted in forever! She assured me that it was okay, but I might want to have some new painting to link in for the week. Hint, hint.

So here I am, with new paintings in progress on my easel. Leave it to Kristin, who encouraged me to paint more when I was in Italy, to get me back into it again. I think she must be my personal painting fairy godmother. So hello Paint Party Friday participants! I’m back! It looks like it’s grown a lot since I last participated, and I look forward to visiting you all this weekend.

And… I hope you will all join in the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap! You can find out more info and sign up here. There are ~130 people signed up so far… not nearly enough to reach my goal to increase over last year’s 170 participants but well on the way! Yay!

So here we go… two paintings in progress this week… it will be interesting to see where these go next!

For those of my readers who are not involved in Paint Party Friday, you can visit my “Featured Artist” interview here. Be sure to come back tomorrow to for the June Exploring with a Camera post. More creative fun!

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Things I Love About Mornings…

I love the quiet.
Sipping my tea.
Seeing the sky lighten.
Pen on paper.
Me and my thoughts.
Reading for inspiration.
Allowing new thoughts to swirl and coalesce.
And then… when I’ve gone inside long enough…
Emerging to connect with others.

This image is from this last winter, when I was enamored of silhouettes. Remember that phase? Even though the photo is now out of season, it represents the morning to me. My special morning time which allows so many things to take root, grow and expand within me. And after this quiet time each morning, I love to reach out and connect.

I am reminded of this wonderful morning time as I did one of my favorite things this morning… visiting new links to the Photo-Heart Connection. Visiting the links for the Photo-Heart Connection or visiting the discussion group when I have an online class going on are one of the best parts of my day. There is something wonderful about the connections that form between us when we share our art and our heart. I thank you for that.

Today is the last day to link in to the Photo-Heart Connection for May. Won’t you join us in sharing your heart? Just think, not only will you gain from finding that internal connection, you’ll brighten my morning tomorrow too. It’s a win-win all around. I hope to see you soon!

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Make Space for Art

An epidemic is sweeping our nation. We are discontent. Workaholics. Stressed.

Often what we need is engagement in a process that allows us to have a voice. We need places to make things without judgment. We need supportive communities of other creative people. We need space to make art and a creative community to join.

The Jumpstart Creativity Tour bringing 50 FREE art-making events to cities across the USA and Canada. The 2 hour events will empower, engage, and introduce attendees to a world of opportunities. Come get inspired and stay inspired.

The tour starts in 10 DAYS! Will you support it? Will you help light a spark in someone’s life? Will you feel the spark?
Attend an event or support the tour at jumpstartcreativitytour.com

— Jess Greene, founder of Seek Your Course

The door is always open for Art

I share Jess Greene’s message with you today because I sooo believe her words. We need art and creativity in our lives. We need community. We are better for it. Jess will be making a stop here in Corvallis, Oregon on her Jumpstart Creativity Tour in July. I can’t wait to meet her and others in our community here as we join together to create! Will she be stopping near your home? Visit the Jumpstart Creativity Tour site to find out.

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Ouch

When I took this picture, I wondered why someone would write OUCH on an empty shop window. I liked the reflections of the double-paned glass and thought processing it would be fun, even as I wondered what I would ever use it for.

Apparently, I took the photo for today. As I sit in my achy body and sip my tea to soothe an achy throat and I wonder if I should make a doctor’s appointment for this achy ear of mine, I share the OUCH since that’s how I feel.

I sincerely hope you all are feeling better than me today!

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Your Art Here

Walking along the street this weekend I came across an interesting antique shop. The empty frames propped up outside the door seemed to be saying, “Your art here.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about art on the wall. Since my exhibition ended, I’ve been moving around frames and hanging prints up in our house. I’ve also recently really dug into learning more about creating fine art prints of my own (more on that later). So it’s no wonder I saw the empty frames and thought about what I would put in them.

What art would you put in these frames? Would it be something you have created? Would it be a recent work, or an older favorite?

PS – I’ve also been playing around with creating presets in Lightroom. I’ve created a preset called “Your Art Here” which I used in the processing of these two images. If you would like to try it, you can click here to download.

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Photo-Heart Connection: May

What’s behind this door? It must be something important, to have had so many locks on it. It must have been there a long time, to have so many scars.

I know what’s behind this door. It’s a piece of my heart. As much as I’ve allowed my heart to open over the last few years, there is a piece that has remained locked up. Even while the paint has cracked and the door begins to splinter, I keep putting new bars and locks on it. I don’t want it to be unlocked. It will hurt to open what’s inside.

This last door to my heart has to be unlocked. I know it does.

And I’m scared of what’s going to come out. So scared. Maybe the locks all this time haven’t been to protect what’s on the inside, but to protect what’s on the outside.

It’s time to face it, and see what happens. Ready or not, the lock is coming off.

My heart’s message this month cuts to the truth of things in a personal and painful way. When I captured this image last Saturday in Portland, I was interested in the history of that door. So many layers, so many scars. It’s story intrigued me. It wasn’t until I sat down to find my Photo-Heart Connection this month that I discovered the deeper message for me. There are some things that I need to work through. It is time to face them. I feel as if I’m squaring my shoulders and filling myself with fortitude as I reach for the lock this morning.

What is your heart’s message this month? There is one there for you, if you take the time to look. Sit quietly for a little while, clear your mind, then look through your images from May one by one. Is there one that you feel a reaction to in your body? Sit with it for a while, see what it has to say to you. Then write about it, and come back here to link in. We’re here to support and encourage you to listen to your heart, whatever the message.

The Photo-Heart Connection link up for May is open from June 1 to June 7. I look forward to visiting you soon! I’ll be away from the computer the next couple of days but will be by to visit your posts on Sunday. I’ll also be moderating links this month, so please be sure you are following the guidelines, found here.