Kat Eye Studio

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Looking Back, Looking Forward

I debated on doing the obligatory end-of-year post. In the last week I wrote down a list of all that has happened this year, with the idea I would summarize it here. It turns out, just writing it in my journal was enough, I don’t need to publish a list for effect. It was enough to show me I had an amazing year. A year of transition, of endings and beginnings. A year of wonderful opportunities. In some ways, I’m sad to see 2011 go. As we roll over into the new year, it will be in a year I didn’t live in Italy. 2009, 2010 and 2011 will forever hold that special designation. 2012 will be the year “after Italy.”

Window in Bologna, Italy

But then again, maybe 2012 will earn itself a different designation. As I look at the coming year, I see lots of opportunity. I have some goals, but am leaving space for new ideas to form. I find myself drawn to the concepts of empowerment and connection, and I can feel things shifting to align with these ideas. Stay tuned, there are some new things to come I’ll talk about in the coming days. I’m sure there will be more as the year progresses. That’s the fun of looking forward, you never know what the future will bring. I find myself comfortable, even excited, with that delicious uncertainty.

Window in Ashland, Oregon

Happy New Year to all! Enjoy the last hurrah of 2011 today and the transition into 2012 tomorrow. It’s going to be a very good year, I can feel it!

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Hopeful

It always amazes me the range of emotions you can capture with still photographs of objects. Perhaps that’s why I love the medium of photography so much. To me photography is as much about capturing what I feel as it is capturing what I see. Or, put another way, it’s about capturing what I see with the emotion I feel.

At any rate, while in Ashland a few weeks ago, I spent a good long time capturing these vines against the wall. Yes, the same day I captured crispy fall leaves and a wintery black and white tree, I captured these springy vines. I love the fresh leaves, against the colored wall. Today, as I look at them, the color and new growth fill me with a hopeful outlook. That even in the winter, there are moments of green. Fresh growth and color still exist.

I choose this image because that’s how I feel in general too. Hopeful. After struggling against the down cycle I’ve been in, I finally accepted it at the end of last week. I said to myself, “Here I am. I am sad this holiday season. I miss Italy. I have no creative ideas. I accept it. I’m going to tell my friends, and then I’m going to curl up and read a book.” I’ve been doing that anyway, the book reading part, but I finally gave in and took it all to heart. This is where I need to be. You know what? That’s when I started to feel better.

You see, by accepting where I am, I allowed myself to begin to move through it, and there found a glimmer of hope. I allowed myself to share it with others, and there found encouragement. I’m not alone, neither is the down part of this cycle permanent. It’s hard to remember that sometimes, when you are fighting it so hard.

So this Monday morning, I find myself content with where I sit. The sadness is still here too, and it’s not like I’m bursting with creative ideas yet. But there is a glimmer of hope, and that’s all I can ask for today.

Today’s Many Muses Musing prompt is HOPE. Tomorrow’s prompt is COZY. Come on over and join in!

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Wintering

Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.
~Pietro Aretino

It seems that many of us are feeling the same this winter, slowing down, hibernating and allowing what comes next. My dear friend Tara Leaver, whom I connected with at the Do What You Love retreat last spring, has a beautiful guest post today on “Wintering” at Creative Every Day. She reminds me that I am not alone in my feelings, being in the down part of the creative cycle. She tells me it’s ok to watch seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (or, I will translate that into watching Battlestar Galactica and devouring some novels). Thanks for the permission Tara! Do check out her post if you have time today.

A couple of unrelated notes:

Don’t miss Many Muses Musing today! I am giving away a spot in the full January-February series of Find Your Eye. If you’ve wanted to take the class, today is your lucky day! You get an entry for a comment AND for a link in, so get yourself musing on today’s prompt GREETINGS and head over to link in.

Did you catch my post on Help-Portrait on Sunday? If not, you can read about my amazing experience here. Jones Oliver, our wonderful organizer, also blogged about it here. Visit his post to see more amazing images, including one with a snake!

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Window to the Heart

I’ve been struggling for the last week, with this whole hibernation thing I’ve got going on. I went from crazy-busy-overwhelmed to almost nothing on my plan. It feels really weird. It feels like something is wrong. I was looking forward to this time, when my commitments eased up and I would have space to breathe. Instead of enjoying it, I’ve been fretting. Argh. What is wrong with me?

Deep down, I know the problem. I’m a “doer” – I like to have a goal, a plan, to be moving forward. To sit and be free of a plan is uncomfortable to me, especially after months of intense activity. This is definitely an area for my personal growth.

One evening last week I got together with some friends, and talked about it. They all agreed, I need this time of nothingness. I need to just sit with it and see what comes. This is how new ideas are born. That night, as I was getting ready for bed, this thought popped into my head: Your photos will show you the way. They always do.

The truth of that thought instantly resonated with me. For it has been my photos that have shown me the way, every step of my creative journey. It is my images where my inner heart is revealed, sometimes in surprising ways. So that’s what I will do: Focus on my photography. From there I’ll find the way through this time of hibernation, to whatever new adventures lie beyond.

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Town Trees: Ashland

Against the Wall

Almost a month ago I discovered a new series to capture, images of trees that line the streets of our cities and towns, bringing a little bit of the forest to our concrete-and-asphalt world. I’ve decided to call this series “Town Trees.”

I found several Town Trees when we visited Ashland, in southern Oregon. This first one is my favorite. I love the shape of this tree, it looks like it has it’s hair all mussed up, maybe it hasn’t had a trim in a while. I love how it’s grown up right against the wall, standing straight with good posture. There were several of these in a row, sentinels guarding the parking lot along the side of a building.

Green and Gold

The colors here caught my eye, how the green and gold in the tree repeated in the windows and their reflections.

Capped

I wonder who thought to plant a tree under an awning? Maybe it was never supposed to grow this tall, but someone should have realized that this is Oregon and trees seem to grow bigger here. Maybe it was supposed to be cultured by a gardener to stay small, but someone cut the landscaping budget. Whatever happened, the tree is thriving and continues to reach for the sky. I love that.

These Town Trees all seem to have personality of their own, don’t they? I think this is going to be a fun series to capture.

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Season’s Change

I know now
why
I did not want
fall
to end.

With the season’s change
I close up,
go inside
and
hibernate.

Dreaming.
Collecting.
Waiting.
To see what is behind
the door
at the next
season’s change.

I don’t know about you, but winter is upon me. I have curled up on my comfy chair with my cat in my lap a lot this week, reading. I have not been very productive, but then I remembered the Spiral of Creativity. Maybe it’s time for me to hang out in the center of the spiral for a while. Go back to the beginning. Allow time for input, for gestation, for the creation of new ideas. Perhaps that’s what winter is all about. It’s time to hibernate. Dream. Rest. I wonder what new ideas will come of this time? I wrap up in my quilt, and wait to see.

Lisa Gordon of The Creative Exchange and I are teaming up this week to give away TWO spots in my January Find Your Eye: Starting the Journey course. Visit The Creative Exchange and leave a comment before Friday evening if you would like to enter to win one of these spaces!

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