Kat Eye Studio

by

The Spiral of Creativity

This photo of Parco di Monza in summer has been coming up in my mind lately, which means I need to share it. I loved the cloud formations on that day, the spirals I saw. I didn’t see the clouds as spiraling inward, but moving outward. I saw in the clouds a spiral of creativity, where ideas are born at the center and then gain momentum as they spin toward the outside. The ideas eventually break free and are sent off into the world at high speed, flung with the creative energy they attained through the spiral. All that, read in the clouds on a summer day.

I can see why this image has popped into my head, because the whole idea of the spiral of creativity fits perfectly with some reflection I’ve been doing. As I work hard on finishing my Find Your Eye class, I’ve realized that I have moved to a dramatically different place in the creativity spiral. The place where the ideas are about to completely break free, and move off into the world.

I decided today I would share these fresh thoughts on the creativity spiral. These are the different places or phases I’ve experienced, so far. I’m curious to know, is this how you have experienced it too? Where are you in the spiral?

The first phase of the spiral is Absorbing. Opening yourself up to all of the creative ideas that exist in our world, and absorbing them into our creative center through reading, observing, learning. This is an active step, because you have to seek the ideas out and expend energy into taking them in to yourself. This may also be the absolute center of the spiral, like the eye of a hurricane, the place where there is calm. You need peace and quiet to absorb.

Processing is the second phase. I think the phrase I like to use, “I have all of these ideas swirling around in my head,” fits perfectly here. This is where the ideas you absorbed begin to be transformed. You think about them, write about them. You are seeking where they fit in with your life, your experience, your philosophy. You are in the spiral proper now, beginning to really move.

After Processing comes Practicing. You begin playing around with your creative ideas. You give your creative self a playground, a safe place to explore and practice. You delight in the discoveries you make. It is through this practice and play that new connections are made in the ideas you’ve been absorbing and processing. Brand new ideas are born.

At some point, Practicing transitions into Acting. Some of the ideas that are born during play will become ready for action. Things are really moving now in the spiral. Dreaming of how to bring the idea to fruition becomes doing. You begin to take the next steps, to make the ideas real and get them ready to release into the world.

Finishing comes next, very close to the outside of the spiral. You are moving quickly, putting the work into completing the remaining actions to send the idea into the world. This, in some ways, is the hard part, because it’s not all swirly fun and play. It’s the nuts and bolts of getting things done. There are deadlines and external requirements at times. The excitement is still there, but it is different, tempered with effort. In this phase, your commitment is tested. Will you really launch the idea into the world? Or will you let it sink back into the spiral?

I find myself in the Finishing phase of the spiral right now, with my Find Your Eye class. It is interesting to discover, even with the effort it is taking, that my commitment is stronger than ever. Each time I work on the class, no matter how much I still have yet to do or how much I see that I need to improve, I find myself saying, “This is good stuff. I need to get this out to people.” This one idea, of the many that are born in my spiral of creativity, will be launched into the world.

What comes next in the spiral of creativity? I don’t know yet. I can only see the parts of the spiral I have been through so far. I don’t know what happens when the creative idea is launched into the world, but soon I will. Have you launched your creative idea? What has come next for you? I would love for you to share your experiences with me, to let me know what phase comes next in the creative spiral.

While I don’t yet personally know what comes next, there is one thing I do know:  In order to work, the spiral must always be kept in motion. In order to keep the momentum, even for one idea to launch, I have to be Absorbing and Processing and Practicing too. Without that continual creative energy fueling the movement, the spiral will die. Like clouds on a sunny day, it would will eventually blow away, disappear into the sky. So I keep reading and journaling and writing here, sharing my little insights with you all, so that my spiral of creativity continues.

Today’s 9 Muses Musing prompt is SHARING. This is the post I needed to write today, regardless of the prompt, and I’m surprised that it even is remotely related.  Tomorrow’s prompt is STORIES. 

by

Into the Unknown

There is a place on my normal walking route in Parco di Monza, were I sometimes find myself in the middle of nowhere. On foggy mornings, all I can see is the path I am on and the empty field around it. I am suspended in a place where nothing else seems to exist.

Our journey through life can be like this too. We can find ourselves on a path, where all we can see is just a little bit right in front of us. The rest is utterly, completely unknown. The only thing to do, is to take one step forward, and then another, on the path that we can see clearly. We have to trust that the path that opens up before us will lead us to good things. Take the steps in faith.

I’ve been revisiting part of my creative journey recently, as I prepare the material for my Find Your Eye course. It has been an enlightening exercise. By looking back at my journey, I can see that each little step into the unknown was leading me exactly to this place, where I am today. I can see every action, leap of faith, “aha” moment clearly in retrospect. It all fits together, what was unknown is now known. The fog has cleared.

Do you know what I’ve learned, more than anything else, by retracing my steps along this journey? That whenever I find myself in the unknown – that place where I can’t see the end of the path – I need to just take the steps. Put one foot in front of the other, along the stretch that I can see in front of me. I can trust that all will be revealed in time, and it will be good.

Today the 9 Muses Musing prompt is JOURNEY. Tomorrow’s prompt is VILLAGE. Come by and share your journey, or visit the links to see those that are shared today.

by

Crunch

Yesterday morning it was c-o-l-d and frosty on my walk in the park. The puddles were iced over, with these beautiful shapes and patterns. So I captured a few, for posterity, and then….

C R U N C H !

There is something so satisfying to crunching a thin layer of ice, don’t you think? I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but it’s one of winter’s little pleasures in my book.

Don’t worry, I left a few of the puddles unbroken, in case a kid came along. I didn’t want to hog all of the fun.

by

Improvising Thanksgiving in Italy

Yesterday we had a wonderful “Thanksgiving Day” here in Italy, only a couple of days late as compared to all of our family and friends back home. With 10 people in our apartment, we pulled out the kitchen table to the dining room and every chair in the house was put to use. What a fun time it was! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, along with Fourth of July, and is uniquely American. A holiday that is all about getting together with family and friends, enjoying the company and focusing on the good things that we have in life. The reminder to be thankful that goes bone deep for our culture, if only for a day.

Not only was the day a great time, the days and weeks leading up to Thanksgiving were a lot of fun too. Putting on Thanksgiving in Italy is a challenge. It takes a lot of advance planning and quite a bit of last minute improvisation. Finding all of the ingredients, as well as making a lot more of the food from scratch, takes advance legwork but the result of a successful day make it so well worth it. And because it’s so rare, and took so much effort, we value it a lot more than if we ran down to the store to pick everything up the day before.

Here’s a little bit of the challenges and improvisation that we deal with here…

Turkey – You can’t just run to the grocery store and buy a frozen turkey. At most you’ll find a turkey breast in the butcher’s case. Last year on our first Thanksgiving quest we learned that the only way to get a whole turkey was to order it from the local macelleria (butcher shop). This year we ordered the Turkey a couple of weeks in advance and picked it up Friday, freshly butchered for us (although a few pin feathers had to be removed – ever done that before?). The smallest one they could get was 6.5kg – about 14.3lbs. We couldn’t have fit a bigger one in our small oven!

Cranberries – Cranberry sauce made from fresh berries is an important part of Thanksgiving dinner, a must have for me. Last year we discovered that cranberries don’t exist in Italy – there isn’t even an Italian word for them! Try describing a cranberry to someone who has never even seen or tasted one. Good luck with that. We’ve had them “imported” by visitors in November the last two years. We lucked out in the timing and the fact that we remembered to ask them to bring them for us in advance. So fresh cranberry sauce and cranberry relish was available this day.

Stuffing – A basic staple, this is one of the easier things to find ingredients for. A couple of twists were thrown in though… I put “sage” on the grocery list for the stuffing recipe I use and my husband bought fresh sage. Great, except the recipe called for dried sage. An internet search later, and I had a stuffing recipe with fresh sage and parsley. A quick run to the store for the parsley, and I was in business. (Thank goodness for the Internet, and that it wasn’t a holiday in Italy – the store was open!) As I was making the stuffing I realized the bread cubes, instead of being unseasoned, were flavored with olive oil and salt. OK then, just a bit more Italian flavor. The stuffing came out great, rave reviews especially from my son… I want to use fresh sage every time now!

Mashed Potatoes – Yes, there are lots of potatoes in Italy. But not a lot of sour cream. Our friend Mike was making the potatoes this year and wanted some sour cream for the recipe he was making (not a low calorie feast here!). Here in Italy, not every store has the same things. You might find sour cream in one store out of ten. And that store may not have it in all locations, or all the time. It’s crazy to us Americans! But my husband has found a good, consistent source of sour cream, so he bought some and delivered it to Mike a few days before Thanksgiving. It takes a village to make a Thanksgiving dinner.

Pumpkin Pie – I usually don’t like pumpkin pie but this year I got it in my head that we needed to add this traditional dish. Pumpkin is not a hugely popular food here, you can’t find canned pumpkin in the grocery store nor are fresh pumpkins readily available. I had a coworker who travelled here for work in November bring a few cans of pumpkin puree for me. So pumpkin in hand, I needed to make a pie.

OK – first off, crust. Hmmm, I could make crust from scratch but where to find shortening here? Is there such a thing as a pre-made crust? My husband sleuthed around at several stores, asked moms at school, and discovered a pre-made crust but it wasn’t frozen and didn’t come in pie tins. Our pie tins are in storage in the US, so we had to buy a couple of pans. The closest he could find were torta pans, which are sort of pie shaped, more like a cross between a shallow cake and a pie, and were bigger – 11 inches in diameter vs. the normal 9 inches.

Second, the pie filling itself. The recipe on the can said evaporated milk. Yeah, that was going to be impossible. So searching on the internet I found you could substitute regular milk with no problems. I was set. I started to make the pies Friday night. Cinnamon, check. Nutmeg, check. Ginger… no ginger. Hmmm, well I had Allspice. I figured a teaspoon of that wouldn’t hurt. So by the time I was done I had two huge pumpkin pies (it took the filling recipe for three pies to fill these babies) that didn’t really follow a recipe. After about 1.5 hours of baking (two very large pies in a very small oven = longer time), our house was filled with the delicious smell of pumpkin pies.

For whipped cream, we had to buy heavy cream and actually whip it ourselves. That was an experience too! I must admit, they turned out very tasty. Much better than a storebought pie, I think I actually like pumpkin pie now. And it only took one giant pie to feed our 10 people, so now I have to figure out what to do with this second giant pie… to work I think! My Italians colleagues could use exposure to this American treat.

In addition to all of that food, we had a yummy spinach casserole, brownies and blondies, salsa and guacamole, hummus and pita… all brought by our guests. And the perfect complement was the Italian prosecco (like champagne) and red wine we enjoyed. I think that tradition of Italian beverages must go home with us.

Our second and last Thanksgiving in Italy was a success. It was a truly authentic, American feast with great friends. The only thing missing was the long weekend….

Where ever you are in the world, however you celebrate being thankful, I wish you the same feeling of gratitude and togetherness that Thanksgiving brings to me. Happy Thanksgiving from Italy.

(Don’t miss the “We are Thankful” blog hop and my postcard giveaway – both are still going on! And I’m musing on “Down Low” over at Mortal Muses today. Come by and say hi if you have a chance.)

by

And the winner is…

Today’s photo is another one from the foggy morning we had on Thursday. I love the look of the end of autumn in Parco di Monza here, the colors still bright but the leaves are sparse on the trees and thick on the ground. Not only have the trees mostly lost their leaves, but the fog has arrived and the air has a decided chill to it… winter has arrived here in northern Italy.

But I have a bit of summer to give away today!  The winner of the flower postcards is… EVA of the blog to be determined!

Thanks so much for all of your comments and feedback. I learned there are more ways to read a blog than I had really thought about, and I also learned that some changes are just not noticeable. In a lot of ways, that’s a good thing! I want this place to keep the same look and feel every time people visit, while also being able to update and upgrade as new features come along.

So I’ll give you a little blog tour of what’s new in the last couple of weeks…

1. Find Your Eye E-course tab – I added the tab with a teaser a couple of weeks ago and filled in the course description this week. I am so excited about this course, I’ve been working on developing it for months and am in the final throes of completion (hence, the need for KaNoJoMo). It will start January 9 and will run 6 weeks. I’ll tell you more about it in the coming weeks! Registration will open soon at wishstudio and I’ll let you know when that happens too.

2. I put my last name on my profile. This may seem like a silly minor change, but to me it’s about owning my work and bringing my whole self to this space in the virtual world. My full name was appearing in other places I was writing online, so why not here, in my own space?

3. You can follow these links to easily subscribe or find me in all of these places. Before, I had a badge for Facebook, a badge for Flickr and the Followers block on the sidebar. When I wanted to add Twitter, I needed to free up space and make them all easily visible. Since you already follow me in one way or another, you probably don’t even notice this space.  Pretty soon I’ll have blog buttons available for my Find Your Eye e-course and for Exploring with a Camera to share that will use some of this space too… Watch for them!

4. I added a “Search” box for the blog. I only post the Top Labels on the sidebar, and go through and periodically add and remove based on the labels I’ve been using, so this search bar lets you easily find things on the blog that aren’t available as Top Labels. If you want to see photos from say, Paris (which is not one of the top labels), you can type that in and find all of the posts that reference Paris. I don’t know if anyone else will use it, but I’ve been writing this blog long enough, I’ve discovered that I can’t even find things all of the time. 🙂

5. The “Join In” section is not new, but I wanted to highlight that I change things here periodically, depending on what’s going on and what I personally participate in. Coming up VERY soon is the Mortal Muses “We are Thankful” blog hop. More information is available here or if you click on the image in the sidebar. I hope to see you in the hop!

For those of you who wondered, I changed the blog header in mid-September (the subway image is from my last trip to Paris) and added the tabs sometime this summer (I actually can’t remember when anymore). The color of the tab section changed when I changed the header image in September, probably making it more visible now that it’s orange.  Thanks so much for participating and leaving your comments! I learned a lot. And if you are sad you didn’t win, there are more postcards that will be given away… since I finally got my order. 🙂

I will not be posting on the blog for the next week, I have a seriously intense week of work this week and will not even be online starting tomorrow. Another reason for KaNoJoMo! (I managed to not join anything this week, even though there were a couple of temptations along the way.) That also means that the next Exploring with a Camera will be delayed for a week or two until I can get things caught back up.

So with that, I wish you a great week, and you’ll hear from me later!

by

What’s new? (Giveaway time!)

Yesterday was the first really foggy morning in Parco di Monza of the season. I love fog, how it blankets everything and slowly reveals more as you move through it. I like this photo, which gives a hint of what the day is going to become, all sun and blue sky, while still showing the deep fog that exists down below. Maybe it’s an analogy for the direction in our lives, when we are having trouble seeing where we might be going. Instead of looking forward, try looking up.

I’m inviting you to take another look today too. I know many folks use blog readers – I do! – and don’t visit my actual site that often. I’ve made a number of changes lately, and so I’m inviting you to come by and take a look!

To motivate you, I’m going to have a little contest too… Come explore the site a little bit, then leave a comment with what “new” thing you specifically like on my blog, to enter to win. Contest will end on Sunday morning, 7am my time, and I’ll randomly select a winner from all of the comments that include something specific. If you are new to my blog, just comment on what you liked the first time you visited! I would love to hear your thoughts.

What will you win? Hopefully, a set of postcards, either those pictured below or one of my new sets, if they arrive soon! I ordered more postcards in September (I still owe some to a few of you, I haven’t forgotten) and they have been lost in the mail twice. I know, I wouldn’t believe it either if it hadn’t happened to me. So they should be reprinted and mailed this next week and I’ll be able to get them out to you. If they don’t arrive in a timely manner, I’ll find some other interesting Italian thing to give away to you. I have some ideas brewing!

So it’s kind of like a mystery giveaway – either the postcards or something behind door number two!

Upcoming Events