website

June 2, 2015 by Kat

The Power of the Porfolio

You know that feeling, of having something in the back of your mind that you need to do? It’s not a priority so you write it down, you put it off, and it sits there, waiting to be done. Sometimes for a very long time. But when you finally get to the project and finish it, it feels sooooo good, doesn’t it?

That happened to me this weekend, as I finally got around to updating the Portfolio section of my website. Ever since I updated website themes early last year, I haven’t been happy with the way the porfolio worked. It just didn’t allow you to scroll through images easily or show off the work nicely. Add to that, most of what was in the portfolio was old work from my dSLR days, not even close to the style I’m currently creating with the iPhone. But it wasn’t a priority between art fairs and writing a book and living life, so I didn’t do anything with it other than write it down on a “do someday” list. Getting it updated felt like a lifting of a weight, or the relief of a low level tension that I’ve been carrying around with me. I didn’t even know that tension was there!

You know what I felt on top of that relief? Pride. There is something wonderful about choosing my best work, pulling it together in one place, and presenting it beautifully. Whether it’s an exhibition or an art fair booth or a portfolio on my website, it’s my opportunity to say to the world, “This is who I am as an artist.” And I feel really good about it when I look at my work that way. Strong and confident in who I am and what I’m doing. That’s an awesome feeling.

I’m especially happy with the Transitions portfolio. I’ve been working on these images of trees in transition for two years now with this series in mind, and it’s the first time I’ve pulled them together in this way. It is so exciting to see it as a whole! I love many images in this series but seeing them as a body of work, I love them even more.

You can visit all of my portfolios by clicking the Portfolio link on the top menu bar of my website. From there, click on any portfolio to view the artist statement/explanation and images. Be sure to click on the thumbnail images to see them larger and scroll through the entire portfolio. It’s all mobile responsive too, and looks great on any device. Can you see why I’m so excited?? Come visit and let me know what you think!

PS – If you have a WordPress site I highly recommend the gallery plugin I’m using for my portfolio. It’s called NextGen Gallery. Easy to use and very functional!

March 17, 2014 by Kat

Keeping Things Straight

Well, the dust has settled and the new site is usable! It’s amazing how much better I feel, now that I’m through the transition. Please take a moment to check out the new site, especially on your mobile device! Now that the basics are done, I can start looking toward the future and adding new functionality around here.

One of the new things here at kateyestudio.com I want to share with you is the Calendar. See the “Calendar” tab there in the menu at the top of the page? Click that tab and it will take you to a Calendar of Upcoming Events for Kat Eye Studio. I’m so excited!! I have so much going on, it’s often hard to get the word out here on the blog or in the newsletter without overwhelming you with information. Now you can go look at the calendar any time and see what’s coming up. You will find places you can meet me, see my work, take workshops, or participate online.

There is also a list of “Upcoming Events” on the sidebar and footer, so you can keep an eye on what’s coming up! Click the links and they will take you to a page with more information.

The calendar is updated through May right now, and I already have lots to add for later in the year. Please take a moment and explore what is going on here in the studio over the next couple of months!

March 13, 2014 by Kat

Under Construction

Things might be a little messy around here for the next few days! I’m moving to a new WordPress theme and we just made the transition. While I’d love this to be seamless, I’ve learned there is only so much you can do in advance on a live site. We’ve figured out the format and the basics, but then you just have to go live and then edit. There is nothing I can do at this point except work through the mess.

So please forgive the dust! If you find pages that aren’t working, see weird things going on in the text, etc. please let me know. I’ll be working through fixing all of this over the next few days and don’t want to miss anything.

Why am I going to a new theme, you ask? When my site was set up in 2011, I chose a great theme, but it turns out it wasn’t supported through all of the WordPress updates of the last few years and things were slowly breaking. My web guy and I kept having to do workarounds to get it to look right. Not only that, it wasn’t mobile responsive, so couldn’t easily be read on smartphones and the like.

Once I get through this transition mess, I’ll have a responsive, supported site that looks good across all platforms. I just have a little bit of work to do to get there. Bear with me!