pink

October 31, 2011 by Kat

A Round of Thanks

Colorful flowers and pots in the Corvallis, Oregon farmer's market

Farmer's Market Flowers in Corvallis, Oregon

Now that the website has launched and I can breathe easier, I have a few people to thank for their help in getting me to this point. This was not a solo project in the least!

My graphic/web designer, Eric Zempol of Thick Widget, was fantastic! He was able to take the site I had living in my head, create it and make it even better. While I needed his web design expertise to make the site, his graphic design skills were what I appreciated most. He helped make the site visually pleasing, easy to navigate, updated my logo and educated me in the process. Not only that, he made me laugh along the way. You’ve got to love a sense of humor in the people you work with! I would highly recommend Eric if you are looking for someone to create a WordPress site for you. Thanks go to my fellow muse Holly, aka soupatraveler, for connecting me to Eric.

My husband Patrick deserves recognition for the 350+ blog posts he helped manually edit. Moving from Blogger to WordPress is a daunting task with 715 posts to import! Even with researching and reading and following the best instructions I could find, the posts didn’t import well in terms of formatting. For a while nothing was readable with text and words all overlapping, and an html edit was needed to at least half of the posts to fix the problem. Enter Patrick, who saved the day and edited the html so I could focus on the rest of the content needed to get the site ready. I wouldn’t have been able to launch this weekend without him!

Thanks also go to my friend, writer Munk Davis, for his review of my text and feedback on the writing. I’ve learned the value of editing, working with Munk over time on my class texts, and my writing has improved. He’s a busy guy, so I value the time spent on review of my content. I always appreciate his feedback!

I also must thank graphic designer Renee Rodriguez of Renee Rodriguez Designs. I started the whole website journey by talking to her after I saw a beautiful website she created using the Big Black Bag site. While it turned out that Big Black Bag didn’t have all of the functionality I wanted and Renee and I didn’t work together, she was instrumental in helping me to think about and plan what I wanted in a site. The discussion and pre-work I did with Renee was incredibly valuable as I started working with Eric.

I wanted to take this moment to pause and say thanks to the people who have helped me on this website journey. I couldn’t have completed this project without great people helping me along the way!

Now, it’s time to get focused again on photography. I think I have a few photos to edit and new software to learn around here somewhere…

August 9, 2011 by Kat

Where in the World

Here is part two of yesterday’s little “Where in the World” quiz. I’m not going to give you the answer yet, but this is the opposite place. After seeing this image do you revise your answer on which image is from Europe and which is from the US? Tomorrow I’ll tell you which is which.

It’s an interesting comparison, isn’t it? I have enjoyed finding that my images are not as different as I would have thought between the two places. Sure, there are definitely differences in the details. That’s the fun of photographing places, finding those little things that make each place unique. But at the core, my “eye” remains the same, and I’m loving the discovery.

May 21, 2011 by Kat

All Locked Up + Swap Update

I am in love with locks lately. I seem to have quite a few from our visit to Greece a few weeks ago. But, seriously, who could resist this color and shape? And those little embossed dots? The square bolts? Could you have resisted?

I’m considering this as one of the images in my next postcard order. We are so, so close to my goal — 195 people are currently signed up for the Liberate Your Art postcard swap! Isn’t that awesome? If we hit my goal 200, I promised that everyone signed up with get a postcard from me in addition to 5 postcards they will receive from other participants. I’m so excited to be this close to the goal, and it’s time for me to think about my postcards too! Especially since I liberated most of my current stock at the Do What You Love retreat last week. Postcards were a great way to give people something a little bit “more” of my art than a business card. Everyone seemed to really like looking through them and choosing their favorite too.

There is still time to help me get the word out or to sign up for the swap yourself! I’m going to close sign up on Saturday, 4 June, so that I can be sure that everyone gets the final details I send to the list in June. Go here for the rest of the details, to get a button for your blog or to sign up.

I’ve added tons of new links to the participant link list this week. That means it’s time to go visiting again. Can you find the artist who paints on rocks? How about an artist who lives in Australia? They are in there, and so, so many more amazing artists. Pick two or three links, go and visit, and leave a note letting them know you stopped by from the postcard swap!

Here are the new links added this week:

Nomadic NotebookWell of CreationsCindyLew’s StudioOm2ArtHysong DesignsThe Weekend Photo WarriorTina’s TreeThe Studio 56Kristen WalkernaperieRosie GreyThis Life through the LensNot Everyone Has FilmSloane Solanto: A Colorful LifeRavenous RaesassyangelacMy Midlife CreativitiesMakieDollTracy Swartz, Whimsical Gourd ArtOne Thousand PaintingsOne Little PromiseAmber Leigh JacobsMarie Z. JohansonThe Queen of CreativityExpressive WorldRandom Thoughts Do or “Di”Lyrical JourneyKaren Koch, Life Needs ArtMy Sweet Prairiedye~ing to be yoursKnottyneedlemy heart artODDImaginationCrafty CreativityJenna Kannas InspirationsGoing a Little CoastalStarry Blue SkyQuilting, Calle and other thingsMatthew and LarissasightspecificStudio MailboxArtimagicaPoetic MappingSimple MansionBy JenPaper BirdMusings of a HennaphileShe Dreams of the SeaThe Little Things…Tangerine Megamaze, surprise & delightlove PEASStraightlinezKristen Laudick Photography
And of course all of the ones from before:How to Feather an Empty Nest Learning as I GoPaloma ChaffinchFiberworksAshley Sisk’s Ramblings and PhotosJenny ShihLife @ RuffHavenkharliebugHere and NowLiving in a Still LifeBastelmaniaDonna Did ItLeft in Front of RightThe Red TinAltered Muse ArtDreams and WhispersMaddy’s Stitching CornerSimply Life PhotographsPointy PixNatasha MayThe Vintage ArtistDigital Experiments by CarolynWJC’s Digital DesignsCreating my Lifeicandyi wanna be me when i grow upGiddy-Up Let’s RideThe Creative IdentityElizabeth GLZJofabi PhotoA New Day, A Different WayA Rural JournalAlchemy of ArteyechaiPicturing the YearSuperdewaHounds in HeavenBleuOiseau PhotographyAquarel RiversThe Wright StuffThe Mrs.Urban Muserdeustchemexicana{Furi Kuri}TravelsA Little Blue Skycarola bARTzSame Day: Thirty Years ApartCamperCottage 960

February 27, 2011 by Kat

Sunrise Sky

It’s amazing how many sky images are popping into my head, since I wrote the Exploring with a Camera: Capture the Sky post on Thursday. This one is from an early morning walk in Parco di Monza. I remember the morning well, I had to get up early to take Brandon to school for a field trip and started my walk just before sunrise. It was early, but the time paid off in the form of a gorgeous sunrise, and one more beautiful sky to share with you.

Stop by Ashley Sisk’s blog Ramblings and Photos today, to visit all of the photographers who are linking in their “Capture the Sky” images as part of her Scavenger Hunt this week. Thanks Ashley, for including Exploring with a Camera! I look forward to seeing all of the sky images the participants have captured.

February 14, 2011 by Kat

Ti Amo

Ti amo means “I love you” in Italian. Where there is graffiti in Italy, you often find this phrase mixed in. What is it about love that makes people want to declare it to the world in this fashion? It’s as if it somehow makes it more permanent, less subject to the whims of life and human nature, if it is written down. Not just written down on a piece of paper either, but on a permanent structure, something that will be around a while.

I have to admit that my personal suspicion is that many of the romances with declarations of love in graffiti don’t last. Call me unromantic, but grand declarations of love in spray paint are not what makes a relationship. To me, love is trust and honesty and acceptance, not words on a wall. It is support day in and day out, not flowers or candy on a specific day that calls for it.

While I love to capture these little message of love I find left about, I also wonder about the stories behind them. What brought someone to this point, and what happens after the ink dries and fades away? I hope the couples have found something more lasting than ink on a wall. I truly do.

February 2, 2011 by Kat

And this time, with Color

As I go through teaching Find Your Eye, I am following my students in their assessments of their eye and rediscovering mine all over again. It’s been a wonderful experience. I’ve been able to define my style even further, to state that my best images have an element of line, color or texture. Yesterday’s images were about line, devoid of color. Today I’ll show you more of the dance center Kirstin took me to – the inside is all about line and color together!

Such wonderful, bright colors, green and pinks together. Lockers of green, walls of pink. Hallways of green. Everything bright, cheery and open. Can I come study here?

I even played around with bokeh lines. How’s that for some influence from my muses?

Even wavy lines to catch my eye! There is a companion photo to this one, of me, floating around on Kirstin’s memory card.

Thanks again Kirstin! I hope you all enjoy this little bit of summer color today. I’m off to photograph some more fog this morning in the park.

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