Kat Eye Studio

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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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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.


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Movement of Creative Inspiration

Life is a movement in and out of creative inspiration. The vision must be lost in order to be regained and refashioned. Loss and longing are preconditions of creation.
— Shaun McNiff in Trust the Process: An Artist’s Guide to Letting Go

A timely quote to read this morning, given my recent brush with low inspiration. When we are in the low parts of the cycle, we forget that inspiration will come back. We don’t appreciate what the down cycles bring us… a renewed and refreshed vision when inspiration comes back.

Where are you in the inspiration cycle these days?

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The One

Occasionally, I come across something that speaks to my creative soul. It reaches right in and touches the depths of who I am as an artist and what I create. I often call my favorite type of work “Real Life Still Life,” where I seek to compose beauty in a photograph from something that already exists. Some scene created by another person intentionally or unintentionally. Something decorated by time and weather.

Here is one such scene found in my exploration of Northwest Portland on Saturday. It speaks to my heart and soul. The soft light, the subtle colors, the varied textures and Oh! The lines! All of those flowing lines. Heaven.

It fills me with joy just looking at it. It’s this kind of image that keeps me going. Keeps me wandering, and searching, and photographing. Every once in a while I get to capture a scene like this. It’s not often, but I’ve come to recognize the signals. There will be a feeling in my heart, as if inspiration is filling me up and if I don’t act on it, my chest is going to burst. There will be a sense of lost time. Nothing else exists for me as I study the scene with my camera. As I leave the scene, I hope there will be something good in my collection of images. If not, I had that wonderful moment of inspiration.

It’s even more rewarding when I get “The One” from a scene like this. You know The One? The One photograph that makes your heart skip a beat. The One where you say, “Yes, that is perfect! That’s exactly what I wanted to capture.” The One that goes directly into your Inspiration File. The One in a thousand photographs. Maybe more.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen The One. Maybe it’s because I’ve been photographing less. Maybe it’s because I’m getting pickier. Whatever the reason, today’s image the The One from Saturday. From May. From 2012… that remains to be seen.

Have you seen The One lately, in your photographs? How do you know when you’ve found it? Feel free to share your images with a link in the comments. I think this will be a fun discussion.