Kat Eye Studio

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Breathe Deep

It is interesting how realization comes.

Sometimes, a realization blindsides you, leaving you surprised and blinking in the bright light. Unable to move for a moment or two, from the shock of it.

Other times, a realization comes upon you as a gentle knowing. There is a subtle nod of “yes, that’s right” as the idea slips from unconscious hints to conscious understanding. It was there all along.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve had a softly growing realization of the feeling I want to create with my art.

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I want my art to create a pause. I want it to create a space, a brief moment, in a busy life to allow for a deep breath. I want my images to give a gift of greater awareness, a chance to notice the world in a different way, and connect with heart and soul.

No small feat, right?

But as I’ve looked at my Photo-Heart Connections over the last months I see this theme of “pause and breathe” in so many of them. This is what my heart is telling me I need to do, for myself. This is what my heart is telling me I need to share.

This is what other people have told me about my work for a while, regardless of subject or process. I’ve heard the term “contemplative” used. I’ve heard other descriptions, but the one that stuck with me most recently, the one that nudged this desire into consciousness, is my friend who told me my work allows him to “take a deep breath.”

So there is nothing new here, just my conscious realization that I want to cultivate this feeling. I want to seek this. I don’t want it to be one in ten or even one in two. This is what I want my work to be about. I may not always get there, but it will help to have an idea of where I am going as I create.

It’s a subtle transition, from
capturing my experience of the world around me
to
creating an experience from the world around me.
A shift from passive to active. A shift from unconscious to conscious.

I breathe deep, and exhale a gentle realization.

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On the Other Side

I’ve come out on the other side of the craziness, and have figured out a few things. Don’t you love it when that happens?

It all started with the pause several months ago, and then I followed my instincts and restructured a few things in my routine. Then came along the crazy travel period, which swept me along without much time to think. Lots of fun, all good stuff. Now I’ve landed on the other side and am putting myself back to rights. Along with the chance to push the reset button on my routine, I see where I’ve landed is a different place.

Or maybe, the same place but a different perspective.

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I’ve shifted my focus, to include more local.

That’s probably a lot of cryptic nonsense if you don’t follow my blog closely, so here’s the quick backstory: I started my blog and got the idea for much of what I do as an online business while living in Italy. I was separated from most of the people I interacted with creatively by a few time zones and an ocean, so my whole focus was online. I moved back to the US, my permanent home, and started Kat Eye Studio. Again, the focus was online classes and my online community. Slowly, slowly, as I’ve settled in over the last couple of years, I’ve been finding a local creative community. I’m part of art guilds. I’ve starting teaching classes in person. I’ve been presenting my art in person, in exhibitions and fairs. I’ve brought it local. And my photography has been changing. Expanding.

Now I’m seeing that part of the shift I made a couple of months ago gives me more space for local activities. I’m the president of the PhotoArts Guild this year. I was juried in as an exhibiting member of the Corvallis Art Guild. I’m participating in more local exhibitions. I’m taking more local classes. I’m proposing an exhibition at The Arts Center next year. I’m planning to teach a couple of workshops here in town this summer. (Details to come soon.)

And I’m spending more time focusing on my own art. Looking at where I want to go, what I want to do, how I want to develop.

There is nothing wrong with online. It’s a fabulous place to be, and I’m going to stay here. I love what I do here… writing on the blog, the classes, the interactions with people from all over the world, the ability to connect from anywhere. I’m realizing though, through many strands this past year, that I can’t be 100% online with either my business or my art. I needed to get my art out in the real world, to print, exhibit and share, and I need to get myself out in the real world too – interacting, teaching and learning in person. To be a whole “me,” I need to find a balance between the online and real worlds.

It’s interesting to recognize this transition, now that I’m on the other side. I believe it’s a continuation of the “settling in” I’ve felt over the last year. And it’s a reminder that once again, following my intuition, rearranging things to make more space a couple of months ago, was the right thing to do.

Where do you fall, with your own art and your interaction with others around art? Is it mostly online or local? How do you balance the two?

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Print Practice Pays Off

One of my goals this year is to print new work weekly. This is partly to stay in practice with printing, because without some reason to print I could let the printer sit for months without use and that’s not good for either the printer or my printing skills. It is also partly to have an ongoing, growing body of work that is “print ready” should the need arise. I’ve learned that while sometimes you can get all of the settings right on the first print, other times it takes repeating the process (print – adjust – print) before it looks the way I want it to. Doing this type of work on a deadline for an exhibition can be stressful, but when I’m doing it as a learning opportunity to have new work on my wall it’s quite fun and interesting.

I’ve been posting these regular endeavors on Instagram, using hashtag #livingwithmywork or #lwmw, if you’d like to see how they progress over time. Here’s an example of my evolving wall display from mid-February:

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All of this print practice paid off on Sunday evening, without me consciously realizing it. Here’s the story…

Checking my email last week while on our Spring Break camping trip to Northern California, I read about the upcoming Corvallis Art Guild meeting on April 1. There was an interesting program and there was the opportunity to be juried in as an Exhibiting Member. To be an Exhibiting Member of the guild means that you can participate in the opportunities to display and sell your work at various venues and programs they organize throughout the year. To become an Exhibiting Member, you have to go through a jury process: bring 3 pieces of finished artwork, framed and ready to hang, for review by a panel of jurors. This opportunity only happens twice a year, in April or October.

ACK! I thought, as I read the email. I’d been thinking to submit some of my mobile work, the “digital paintings,” to be juried into the guild. But would I be able to make it? We would be arriving home the evening of March 31, the meeting was the evening of April 1, and I only had one piece framed and ready to go. I would need to get two pieces ready – printed, matted and framed – on Sunday night after we got home. Could I do it? It was worth a try, or I’d have to wait until October. I jotted down a couple of notes about which pieces I might prepare and went on to enjoy the week. (Pics will be coming soon of the awesome week in the Redwoods!)

Sunday night, while unpacking from the trip, doing multiple loads of laundry, and shaking the sand and dirt out of everything, I sat down to print. I looked at my available mats/frames and my “print ready” pieces and selected two more to print, mat and frame. I got them all put together and packed up to load into the car Monday morning – I would need to go to the meeting straight from work – and then went about the business of getting other things ready for the week.

Monday was a loooong day between work and the guild meeting, but all went well. I was accepted as an Exhibiting Member of the guild and the jurors had very nice things to say about my work. (Side Note: It was quite nerve-wracking to go through an in-person jury process like this. Normally for juried exhibitions you send off a digital image into the nether and hear back a “yes” or a “no.” It’s not as physical, personal, as this process.)

It wasn’t until Monday night, laying in bed basking in the glow of this little success, that I realized just how far I had come in my ability to create finished artwork. Without even thinking twice about it, I was able to create two nicely finished and ready-to-hang pieces that I would be proud to submit to any gallery or exhibition. I realized that all of my print practice had paid off. A year ago, I had never printed a single fine art print on my own. In addition, all of the work to learn about matting and framing for exhibitions, paid off too. I now have a stock of mats and frames that work for the sizes I created my artwork. This is not trivial, since most of the work I create doesn’t fit “standard” photo sizes (8×10, 11×14, etc.).

A year and a half ago, I was struggling to figure out what to do for my first exhibition. I hadn’t seriously worked to get a fine art print on the wall before. Now I can prep for an exhibition – or something like this jurying process – without a second thought! These are skills and knowledge that I’ve integrated. Sure, I am always facing new challenges (like square artwork) but each new challenge just expands my growing knowledge base and is easier than the one before. I don’t have to work so hard to create a finished piece of art. That is huge – it means I can spend my energy creating new art and get it out into the world. It means my art can have a different impact – as something real and physical, not just on the computer.

If you are a photographer in the process of figuring out how to bring your art into the real world, keep going. I encourage you set a goal to do one thing new to bring your art into the real world. It’s worth it. It starts with getting just one image off of your computer, printed and hanging on the wall of your home. It starts with something as simple as a postcard. That’s how I started ~3 years ago – with ordering printing postcards to share – and look at what I’m doing now. (This is one reason I love the Liberate Your Art postcard swap! Who knows where this one tiny step will lead you?)

As always, I want to help you. You can cut straight to what I’ve learned by visiting my Online Services & Shops page, listed under Resources on the sidebar of my blog. I’ve just updated it with the latest info on my mat and frame sources, and I update this page periodically as I learn new things. Check it out.

And then go… PRINT!

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Living Real Life

July 1st, our one year anniversary of moving home to Oregon from Italy, came and went with a whisper. We marked the date as a family, and talked about what we were doing a year ago, but we were busy heading off on vacation and didn’t give it too much fanfare. We have a life to live in the here and now, and Italy seems like ancient history. A year and a lifetime away.

The passing of this anniversary got me to thinking: What have I learned in this first year back? It’s been a hard year, and an easy year, depending on my point of view. There are definitely some lessons and revelations that have come with repatriation. In so many ways, our time in Italy was not “Real Life.” It had a definite start and end, and when you know you have limited time you behave differently than you would otherwise. “Real Life” continues on and on, with it’s ups and downs and twists and turns. You can put just about anything off for two years. And we did… we lived a life of travel and excitement, in the moment. We didn’t worry about saving for retirement. We didn’t worry about negotiating obligations to family and friends. We didn’t worry about long term career choices. We had two years, and made the most of it.

Returning to “Real Life,” without an end date, changes things. Some things cannot be sustained or put off indefinitely. I’d love to travel like we did for two years but the reality is we don’t have the vacation time or the funds to visit someplace new every other weekend. Or, let’s face it, the energy. But I miss the travel. Oh, how I miss visiting interesting places all the time. Seeing something new around every corner. That fueled me creatively in a way that I’m not sure I’ll see again. And that’s ok… that’s what made the time so special.

Beyond the financial though, there are personal things that I put off too. The old saying, “wherever you go, there you are,” is very, very true. You can fool yourself for a while in a new situation, thinking things are different, but sooner or later you realize that the issues you face come from within and they will be there no matter where you live. So while I focused on this wonderful personal growth that came from my creative journey while in Italy, that was only part of the story. My journey must continue to address the issues I tabled or ignored for those two years. The thing about personal growth is that you don’t always get to pick and choose the direction you grow, like I did during those two years. Sometimes “Real Life” chooses for you.

It turns out that’s fine though, because I’ve also learned another important thing about growth. It stays with you. What I learned and gained from the connection to heart and soul has not left me in the return home, because wherever you go, there you are. It works both ways, positive and negative. When change is real and true and internal, it’s with me always. My fears about going back to being the person I was two years ago were unfounded, because the place does not make the person. Our experiences in a place and time shape us and leave us indelibly changed.

I see that in my art too. My photography was changed by my time in Italy, and it has changed as I return home. There are things that I have carried through: my love of real life still life, texture and history. Among my subjects you’ll still see potted flowers, peeling paint and interesting door locks. There are changes though, because my environment has changed. The materials and scenes that make up my life are different now, and since my photography is a reflection of the world around me, it’s had to change. I still love scooters, but the sightings are fewer and far between. I’ve found new subjects that intrigue me, things like mail boxes and brick buildings. I’ve created new images that I love just as much as some of my old ones. And there is so much more that I’ve been able to do since returning home. Without the cultural and language barriers, I’m learning to be an artist in the real world as well as the online world. I’m exploring new realms of photography, through print and presentation in exhibitions. I’m moving in new directions, influenced by all of the places and experiences that have come before.

Porch Flowers, Astoria, Oregon

The lessons of the last year have not been easy. At times I’ve been filled with such longing and sadness it’s overwhelming. And then, at times, I’m grateful to be where I am and leave that time behind me. I’ve had to learn balance in a new way with starting a creative business and finding the time for Kat Eye Studio, my corporate job, my family, friends and, oh yeah, I need to still practice and create my own art too. I’ve had to let go of unreasonable expectations and take each day, each hour, each moment… one at a time.

It might be that the biggest and most important lesson of the past year is that I am still finding my way. I will always be finding my way, no matter where I am. And I have to find my own way: in art, business, life. No one else’s path is going to work for me. I can learn from other’s experiences, from my past experiences, but I am the one who must choose the direction I move ahead in the future. The journey that came before influences where I go next, but my past doesn’t decide my future. I decide my future, a moment at a time. I am the one living this “Real Life” in real time.

There is no where else I would rather be, than where I am right now.

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