Kat Eye Studio

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Finished!

The Garden
16×20″, Acrylic on Canvas

Finished! Two months in the making, this is my first finished painting, since returning home from Italy. It is my first finished painting since Flora Bowley’s workshop in May too, and really my first painting completely “on my own.” No teacher, no photo to guide me. Just me, paints and paintbrush. It feels good to get to this point, but I’m stretching out of my comfort zone here to actually lead with the painting as the main image of the post. Have you noticed how I usually lead with a photo, even when I share a painting? Photography is where I’m confident and secure, painting is not. I have so much to learn.

The recognition I have much to learn was brought home this week by my attendance of the Corvallis Art Guild meeting on Monday night. This art guild is for 2D, non-photography artists. (There is also a local Photo Arts Guild, which I’ve joined too.) I decided to join because I want to continue to learn about painting, and be part of the local artistic community. At the beginning of the meeting, some of the artists shared their work. It was amazing, the talent in that one row of people blew me away. It made me feel like a complete and total fraud to be there! I have so far to go. The meeting was inspiring and intimidating all at once. I don’t think I’ll be sharing in that front row for a quite a while. (Why is it I’m ok with sharing here and not there? Thought to ponder…)

Here’s the progression of the painting, from start to finish. I know I posted most of this before, but I’m posting it here to have it in one place.

At this point, it needed to be turned…

It was here my husband asked if I started a new painting, he didn’t recognize it…
And, done!

Happy Paint Party Friday! Have a great weekend.

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What’s going on around The Kat Eye View of the World…

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The Possibilities of Emptiness

What do you see in this image? Maybe you see the empty room, and wonder what will go there. Maybe you see the red wall. Maybe you see the tree beyond the window, the world outside. To me, this room is not empty, it’s full of possibilities. Welcome to my studio. The Kat Eye Studio. Like a blank canvas, what will exist here is what I will create.

Kat Eye Studio has become real in more ways than one with my move home. First I have this room, what should be a “formal living room” is my physical studio, where my creative space will be. It has the best light in the house with the only south facing window, and it’s a nice big space. I’ve also officially created Kat Eye Studio, LLC as a registered business to offer my classes and whatever else I get inspired to do. I’m so excited to make the “studio” I’ve been dreaming of real in multiple ways!

This room is going to morph and change over time. During my assignment in Italy I’ve carefully thought through how I want to use this space for my creative endeavors, and now I get to execute the plan. The final incarnation is going to take a while to get to. I already plan to repaint the wall, and know what furniture I want to go here. The room is currently full of random bits and pieces as we get settled into our house, as you might expect.

But a studio is not much use if you don’t use it, and this week I took steps to move it beyond just a computer and storage room into a truly creative space. I painted! With a borrowed easel, a purchased drop cloth, the painting supplies I brought from Italy in my suitcase and a table and lamp in storage I’ve cobbled together the start of my painting space. I can’t tell you how great it felt to turn on the new Matt Nathanson CD (love his music!) and get messy with paint.

Here’s a pic of what I’ve got in progress. The blue canvas is the one I started this week (I was in a blue mood) and the other two were started in Italy before the move. I’m just adding layers right now, and am interested to see where these go. I don’t have any intention with painting right now, other than to find joy in the process. Happy Paint Party Friday! I’m back!!

Today I thought I would leave you with what I have going on “in the Studio” (I’ve been dying to say that for some time now, can you tell?):

  • Reflections in Glass is the current Exploring with a Camera theme and I’m loving the images being shared! I find reflections complex and interesting and worth seeking out.
  • Are you signed up for Superhero Summer Camp? If not, consider if it’s time to do something good for yourself. We have almost 400 participants – yay! If you’re signed up already, let me know what you think of it so far.
  • We have a wonderful group of people joining my July-August Find Your Eye series of classes. I’m so excited! Registration is open for the next week, and class starts August 24.
  • The Liberate Your Art postcard swap is bringing new mail to my mailbox every day. It’s quite amazing to see! If you missed my post Monday, head over to see a bit of the art that’s been arriving at my house. In the next two weeks that art will be liberated all over the world. So much fun!
Have a wonderful Friday and a fabulous weekend all!

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A Whole New World

Blooming Collaboratively, 30x30in, Acrylic on Canvas

Have you ever craved something, but didn’t know how to start? That’s painting for me. I’ve had the desire for two years now, to paint big, bold, bright paintings. Paintings that expressed something more than the reality around me. Something that would come from intuition and a place deep inside. I’ve dabbled in painting but on a small scale, and without getting to where I wanted to go.

I finally found a way to tap into that inner creative energy that’s been wanting to run free in Flora Bowley‘s Bloom True painting class last week at the Do What You Love retreat. A couple of days ago, I shared the process we learned over the three days to get to one finished painting. Today I’m sharing images of the three paintings I worked on in the class, in celebration of Paint Party Friday.

Painting #1 (above) I’ve titled “Blooming Collaboratively” because it is not wholly mine. Flora teaches a lot about non-attachment and using what “is.” She helped us work through our attachment issues by having us paint on each other’s canvases at the beginning of the first day. An even bigger lesson came mid-morning the second day, when we had to give one of the two paintings we were working on to the person on our left. Yep, a day and a half of painting on this canvas, and now it’s not ours. Big, big lesson in non-attachment.

This painting is partly done by Carissa, who was painting to my left. In the painting I received, I noticed the three bright orange and yellow dots. I had just been sketching flowers on the trees as part of our morning exercise, so the flowers just came, along with the circles. All of the painting you see in the middle of the flowers and circles is the original painting I received. I went from there with the background and details.

It’s interesting, I really like how this painting turned out, but I’m not attached to it. I don’t feel like I can really call it “mine.” It came so easily, it felt like cheating. Somewhere deep inside me there must be some self-inflicted rules I’m harboring that relate to this feeling, that need to get sorted out.

Leafing Out, 30x30in, Acrylic on Canvas

Painting #2: I wrote about the process to create this painting, start to finish, earlier this week. You can read that post here. I am more attached to this painting, because of the struggles I went through and what I learned on it, but I’m not sure I like it. I like the colors and the shapes, the brushstrokes, the individual elements. I struggled with the composition.

What I’ve realized is that composition in painting is very different than composition in photography. In my photography, composition comes naturally to me. My favorite type of photography is what I call “real life still life,” finding an existing scene and composing a photograph with the elements that are already there. Composition, in that case, is about eliminating what shouldn’t be in the frame so that my vision is clear. Painting is different. I’m creating the elements, adding them, subtracting them, combining them. There are just so many possibilities! I’ll have to work through this more, to find a compositional style in painting that comes intuitively.

Unlocked (unfinished), 30x30in, Acrylic on Canvas

Painting #3: This is the canvas we started from scratch on the third (and last) day. Using all of what we had learned so far, it was time to integrate and work independently. Boy, was it fun!! This one came very easily so far, but it’s not complete. Others have commented, “It looks complete to me!” I know in my heart that it is not. I see a few things that I want to do, when I next get my hands on it. The visual elements represent how I feel about painting after this class too, as if there is something that has been unlocked inside of me. Something I’ve been trying to get at, but didn’t know how.

It was great to get the opportunity to do this third canvas, start to (almost) finish. Flora’s classes are usually two days and so this third canvas is not part of the normal plan. It really helped me to integrate what I’ve learned and see what would come out in a work that was on my own. I find it so interesting, how some of the elements are the same in all three – the circles, organic curving shapes of flowers, leaves and vines, the colors of the last two – mostly cool with some warm popping through. Here I’ve hardly painted and a bit of style is emerging. I love it! Right up my alley as I’m passionate about everyone finding their unique vision of the world, regardless of the art form.

There you have it! Three paintings – bigger, bolder and quicker than I’ve ever painted. I’m filled with so much joy and excitement about painting, a whole new world has opened up. I am completely and totally smitten. Now, these canvases have been removed from the wood frames and are rolled up, ready to be shipped to Oregon in July when I move back home from Italy.

After writing this, I’m itching to paint again and am resolving to make the time to get to it before we move. Happy Paint Party Friday everyone!

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For the Love of Blue + Postcard Giveaway and Swap Update

So, I go to Greece to take pictures of white houses and blue sea. Which I did, and I enjoyed. But as I shared in Monday’s post, the things that inspired me the most continued to be the places with texture, the colors, and little details like this door handle and lock. I captured this in the small town Megalochori when we rented a car one day and visited some of the smaller towns around the island of Santorini. Once you got out of the tourist zones where everything was postcard-perfect, Santorini was texture heaven. Just goes to show, style will always come through. You’ve probably heard the saying: “No matter where you go, there you are.” Even artistically, this is so true. (I’m linking this in to The Creative Exchange for that reason!)

Today I’ve also got a lot of little updates so hang on through the end if you are interested in a Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap update, my Paint Party Friday entry, entering a postcard giveaway and a quick newsletter tip.


Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap Update and Postcard Giveaway

I’m so excited with the response to the postcard swap. There are 87 people signed up for the swap so far. That’s 435 pieces of art that will be winging their way around the world come late July. Isn’t that awesome? And it’s all because you are helping me get the word out!  Thank you so much!

If you’re already signed up, you can expect an email this week with some more ideas and resources about making or printing your postcards. If you have some resources or tips you want to share with the group, send them to me and I’ll add them to the update. If you haven’t signed up yet, there’s plenty of time. Go here to sign up and get the details.

To thank you for the great response to the swap and your help with growing it, I’m doing a postcard giveaway, to liberate more art into the world.  There will be two winners. I’ll be giving away a set of my own “Favorite Flowers” postcards, as well as a set of “Superhero” postcards from my good friend Jenny Shih. Any one of these postcards is guaranteed to make the recipient smile.

 

Even better, you can have up to three entries into the pool. Here is what you need to do to enter:
1. Comment on this post for one entry. Just say hi and you are in!
2. If you are a signed up for the postcard swap, you get a second entry. Leave a second comment on this post that you are signed up, for your second entry. It’s not too late – sign up here and then come back and use this entry!
3. If you have helped get the word out on the postcard swap (a blog post, a tweet, putting the button on your blog sidebar, etc.), you get a third entry. Leave a third comment on this post telling us what you did to help get the word out, and provide a link if you have one, for your third entry. It’s not to late for this either – if you help get the word out between now and Monday, come back and comment again.

I will draw for the winners on Tuesday morning here in Italy, so you have until Monday night around midnight EST to leave your comments. Please make sure that there is a way for me to get at your email through your comment – either by a link back to your website where I can find it or commenting with a method that will allow me to reply. If you win and I can’t find your email to contact you for the address, I’ll re-draw for the prize.

Quick Newsletter Tip


My newsletter will be going out on Sunday, with the Visual Contrast printable file I told you about in yesterday’s post. Be sure to add my email address to your address book so it doesn’t end up in your spam folder. If you signed up but don’t see it by Monday morning, or didn’t see the first one I sent a couple of weeks ago, check your spam folder.

Paint Party Friday!


I had so much fun participating in Paint Party Friday the first time a couple of weeks ago. That, along the wonderful blues I experienced in Greece last week, have motivated me to start another painting. This is a small 20x20cm canvas, painted in acrylics. I haven’t finished it yet, but thought I would share my progress.

Step One: I wanted to get a watery looking background so I used quite a bit of water with Cerulean blue paint to initially paint the background. Then I crumpled a paper towel and dabbed at the canvas to unevenly take paint away. It was an experiment, and I liked the results.

Step Two: I started painting a circle of Aquamarine, from the outside in. I still used quite a bit of water and overlapped as I went. Eventually I worked to the center and then spiraled out, darkening the places that seemed to be naturally dark. I had no intention with the subject, but the result at the end of this step look like a rose to me.

This is all I’ve done so far. Next I’m planning to go along with the emerging rose I see and add some highlights. We’ll see where this goes in future updates. It’s funny how both this painting and the last one I did have ended up looking like flowers, that was not intentional.

Have a great weekend!!

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