Kat Eye Studio

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Visiting Home

Today I am heading to Oregon for a two week business trip, probably my last one before we move back next summer. I am soooo looking forward to some good Mexican food and visits with friends. It is always a whirlwind trip of work and socializing and shopping, since I’m there for such a short time. I’ll be here on the blog off and on, a few scheduled posts, a few live posts, whatever I can squeeze into my frantic schedule.

Today’s photo is of the wreck of the Peter Iredale, on the northern Oregon coast near Astoria, taken in early 2008 before there was any inkling we would ever have the opportunity to move to Italy. For all that I love the travel and the unique places we have visited in Europe, along with the photographic inspiration that it has given me, this image is a reminder that beauty is everywhere around us. No matter where we live, we just have to seek it. It is there for us to find.

I have sometimes thought that I “found my eye” here in Italy, but when I look back at a photo like this I realize that’s just not true. I already had the vision and the passion, long before this move. What has happened during my time in Italy, is that I have recognized it as my own. I have learned to see myself as the artist I am. The artist I have been, unknowingly, for quite some time.

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The Beginnings of Something Beautiful

I was so, so lucky to have a new friend, fellow muse Suki, come and meet me in Paris for an afternoon. She took the train over from Germany and we met as the overcast skies cleared up to sunshine, for a wonderful walk around the city.

This was Suki’s first time in Paris, and since it was only my second time, neither of us knew the city well so we just walked and talked and photographed our way randomly around the sights along the River Seine for a few hours. I don’t think it mattered to either of us where we were, it was just so wonderful to find a kindred spirit, in person. To find someone else who understood and could talk about our passion for photography, for capturing the perfect moment, for hours. We talked equipment and theory and, most of all, what called to our souls. What subjects and light and ideas that made our hearts sing. What dreams we have. And while we talked, we walked and photographed what caught our eye. We traded lenses, to try out something new.

We could have talked for days, I think. I was so sad when it was time for Suki to head back to the train, one afternoon together was definitely not enough. I am so glad that she came to Paris to meet me, to have a chance to have a few hours where we weren’t interrupted by the reality of work and school and other commitments, we could just talk and dream and be who we are – artists with cameras, a passion in our soul to capture the beauty of the world around us.

The images in this post are ones I took during my time with Suki. Pop on over to Suki’s blog where she wrote about our meeting, and see her photos too. It is such a wonderful example of how we all have a unique vision of the world to share. We were side by side the whole time but saw and captured dramatically different things. She has an amazing gift, she sees the essence of beauty in everything. I like the “me” I see through her eyes. I am envious when I look at her images, they are so beautiful. But then, I look at mine and see that they just have a completely different point of view. Not better or worse, just different.

The next time you think to compare your work to someone else’s, just remember this little story of me and Suki. Two people, sharing a passion for an art form, but from a different perspective. We all have a unique vision to share with the world, whether it is photography or painting or writing or whatever your work is. The creative universe is big enough for all of us to join in.

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Today I’m on Mortal Muses, talking about the end of summer. Come by to see how the end of summer is marked in our little town of Vedano al Lambro, Italy.

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If Not Now, When?

I love this field of flowers under the trees in Parco di Monza by our home here in Italy. They are long gone now, they are only around for a brief time in the spring. As fall approachs and these trees are about to change their color and lose their leaves, and the bed of flowers has become mown grass. I met my intention to photograph them this year, since I missed them the first spring we arrived in Italy. Who knows what next spring will bring, my last spring here. Maybe there will be freak weather that prevents them from blooming, and this will have been my only opportunity. I’m glad I caught them while I had the chance.
Capturing these flowers is part of what I am calling a “no regrets” year. With limited time left on my work assignment in Italy, we return to the US next July, I have made a personal resolution that I will go home with no regrets. I don’t want to sit down, years from now and say, “I wish I had done… whatever… while we were in Italy.” Sure, there will always be ideas I have later, places I will see in pictures later and wish I had visited while I was here, but this “no regrets” year is about what I know now. If there is something I want to do now, I am doing it. If there is someplace I want to go while I’m here in Europe, I am going. If there is someone I need to meet (all these wonderful online friends!), I’m going to make every possible effort to meet them in person.
So this weekend, part of my “no regrets” year, I have a special trip planned. Just me, my camera and Paris art museums. I’ve been wanting to go there and just revel in the amazing art that is available, all in one city. To just have a little bit of time, where I plot my course for a day or two, recharge and refill the creative well on my own. Along with that blissful plan, I’m doing a nighttime photo tour with a professional photographer – absolute, and total, heaven.

I know that the pace of travel and activity and spending (!) I currently have is not sustainable long term. In a way, that’s the beauty of this situation too, it isn’t long term. There is a definite end, so I don’t have to keep anything in reserve. I also know that even with this intention I have for the year, I will not be able to go everywhere, do everything, meet everyone on my list. But I’ll be so, so much closer to it, and I’ll have no regrets.

I have actually been blessed by having this limited time, in a positive way. To have my eyes opened without having something like a life-threatening illness for me or a loved one. It is easy to see, how in the course of our ever day life, how we put things off. We say… We’ll go visit that place next month, and it turns into next year. Let’s get together for coffee sometime, and weeks go by. I should really look into that organization, and before you know it the event you were interested in is over. Life picks us up, swirls us around in the every day, and we lose our hold on the tether of our intentions. Before we know it, we’re swept along and away from what we had planned.
Think about this in your every day life. Is there one small thing you want to do, one place to visit close by that you’ve been putting off, one friend you want to meet for coffee but haven’t found the time? Do it. Have your own “no regrets” day or week, living in the moment as if you have limited time. Because the reality is, we do have limited time. It’s just not always so obvious, as it is to me right now.
And who knows, you might just find that you have spring flowers to enjoy, come fall. 

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What’s Your Door Personality?

Can inanimate objects have personality? I was wondering this as I selected this photo. I believe: Absolutely, they can! Maybe it’s not that they have personality on their own, but they have personality given to them by their creator, or their owner. The personality of the inanimate object is a reflection of the personality of the creator.

Take this door. On it’s own, it would just be a door in a wall of a building in Bath. That could be it, but look at how much personality the creator and the current owner have given it… obviously, color – bright pink! And style, it opens in two halves. And the touch of the pane window at the top with the lights both inside and out is nice. Also look at the tile on the step, no bare concrete here! The black drain pipe adds personality too. It could be painted to blend in with the wall but instead it’s a dramatic design statement, along with the black at the bottom of the wall, giving interest to an otherwise bare wall, setting off the door.

Does this door have personality? Definitely! I would love to know the person who created this entryway, but I love just knowing that they are in the world, creating fun stuff like this for the rest of us to see. One of the things that caught my eye during our time in Bath were doors like this one. In a town where there is so much the same – Georgian townhomes of bath stone standing row upon row – the little touches like this show the individuality of the inhabitants. Truly a theme you’ll find here over and over again in the Kat Eye View.

So, what’s your door personality? Is your front door telling anything to the world? Would I want to know you from your front door? A thought to ponder on this happy Friday!

PS – Don’t miss the postcard giveaway I’m doing! You have until Sunday 5-Sep to comment and enter.

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Light and Dark Places

Italy has changed me. It was so clear to me on our recent trip to Switzerland, where the perfectly clean and cared for towns were pretty, but not so inspiring to me artistically. Where was the texture, the peeling paint? Where was the reality, the truth? It seemed too perfect. Like a wall erected between me and the place. Just look at the pretty picture, admire the beauty, move on. Distracting me by the surface.

But what’s underneath the surface? That’s what I want to know. What is it like inside? What I see in the buildings and towns I visit is a metaphor for what is going on inside of me. I could have the perfect, controlled, beautiful exterior, but at what internal cost? Perhaps at the cost of creativity, the cost of self-expression. Or I can have an exterior that is not quite perfect, a little bit flawed, that doesn’t follow all the rules, but is full of internal life and energy. Allows for a creative expression of the self. But with that must come honesty, an awareness and acceptance of the flaws.

Which do I want?

It might seem an easy question, of course I want the texture, the energy, the life. I want all of the creativity that comes along with it. But to get that I have to truly recognize and accept the flaws, the light and dark places inside of me. Boy, is that hard.

I guess the fact that I’m recognizing this is a start. The fact that I’m seeing the light and dark both, choosing the texture and peeling paint, feels right. Feels real. And I am amazed at how, once again, I learn about myself through my art. I can’t hide when I express myself creatively, all of me is there, in the images I create. My photographs have something to show me, they show something of me, beyond the surface impressions.

Right now, they are showing me that my time in Italy has changed me. No doubt about it.

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Be Delighted

Sometimes, when you are following your heart and your creative inspiration, when you just play around, you get to be delighted. Happy surprises appear out of nowhere. This image is one for me. I found this free action for Photoshop (works in Elements too – yay!) through a post on a Flickr group yesterday. I went to run it on another photo I had open, but somehow chose the photo incorrectly and got this one. Happy accident! I loved the result, it made the photo of the carnival lights in Geneva much more abstract and interesting.

Here’s the original:

When we get creative, when we play, we have a lot of opportunity for happy accidents. These are what happen when we give up the idea of Serious Creativity with all of the pressure of creating something perfect, something that others will love, something marketable even, and just have fun.

Yesterday my son decided it was an “art day” and (to my neat-freak husband’s horror) proceeded to pull out all of his art and craft supplies (and some of mine) and spread them out on the dining room table. I found some artists chalks amidst the wreckage and had fun playing with colors and getting my hands dirty. I call the result “The Color Comet.” Here’s another recent happy outcome, a painting I did a few weeks ago when I just felt like putting paint to canvas and playing around. Not trying to be an Artist with a capital A, just enjoying the process of creating. I like the colors and the message, it sits on my desk and reminds me everyday to believe in myself. I share these little pieces, not because they are fantastic art, but because they are not fantastic art. They are just the result of creative play. The process of playing around delighted me, so the end result delights me too, if only for the memory of the fun I had. Pastels on my fingers, paint brush in my hand.

So if you have time this week… wait, let me rephrase that… Make time this week to play creatively. Find a fun new action, pull out the paints or the pastels, go through your art and craft supplies and see what your fingers itch to hold. Don’t have a plan, just have fun. Be delighted in the result. Come back and share your happy accidents!