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.

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 NestLearning 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

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.

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.

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. 

What's Your Door Personality?

Can inanimate objects have personality? I was wondering this as I selected this photo. I believe: Absolutely, they can! Maybe it's not that they have personality on their own, but they have personality given to them by their creator, or their owner. The personality of the inanimate object is a reflection of the personality of the creator.

Take this door. On it's own, it would just be a door in a wall of a building in Bath. That could be it, but look at how much personality the creator and the current owner have given it... obviously, color - bright pink! And style, it opens in two halves. And the touch of the pane window at the top with the lights both inside and out is nice. Also look at the tile on the step, no bare concrete here! The black drain pipe adds personality too. It could be painted to blend in with the wall but instead it's a dramatic design statement, along with the black at the bottom of the wall, giving interest to an otherwise bare wall, setting off the door.

Does this door have personality? Definitely! I would love to know the person who created this entryway, but I love just knowing that they are in the world, creating fun stuff like this for the rest of us to see. One of the things that caught my eye during our time in Bath were doors like this one. In a town where there is so much the same - Georgian townhomes of bath stone standing row upon row - the little touches like this show the individuality of the inhabitants. Truly a theme you'll find here over and over again in the Kat Eye View.

So, what's your door personality? Is your front door telling anything to the world? Would I want to know you from your front door? A thought to ponder on this happy Friday!

PS - Don't miss the postcard giveaway I'm doing! You have until Sunday 5-Sep to comment and enter.

Be still my heart...

Bright, fun color, peeling paint and such texture. Could it get any better for my creative soul? I don't think so! This picture just makes me happy. It is from one of my happy places, Burano. It made me happy when I first saw and captured the image last week, and it makes me happy to share it today. I hope that it also brings a smile into your day, if only to chuckle at my fascination with peeling paint lately!

Angles and Lines

I love all of the angles and lines that were in this corner, and the little bits of stucco that were left off to show the old building underneath. Just a little taste of what the building truly is on the inside. You see this quite often in Italy, and a lot in Brescia, just an arch of bricks here, a corner there to show the original stone or brick work. Enough to know that this really is an old place, without letting the entire building sit out in the elements to eventually crumble to the ground.

As an added bonus today, I share this quote I read this morning in Maya Angelou's Letter to My Daughter:
The ship of my life may or may not be sailing on calm and amiable seas. The challenging days of my existence may or may not be bright and promising. Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lovely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow.
Today I am blessed.

A Nod to Spring

When I left Oregon a week ago, the plum trees were in full bloom. I love the pink blossoms that give a sudden burst of color in the sky against the green and the brown of Oregon winter. So today's photo and banner change is a nod to spring in Oregon, and a hope that it begins here in Italy soon. (For those of you who read my blog in a reader, come visit to see the spring-y banner!)

I'm trying to get back into the groove of daily blog posts, hopefully this week will be back to normal!

Bright

In the mood for some color and sun today, so I pulled out this window box photo. It's one of my early ones here, from Pavia, and also one of my favorites. I love the unique flowers, that were matched perfectly to the building color. This was in a back street, not a normal thoroughfare, yet there was this attention to beauty and detail. I keep saying this, but this is something that I love about Italy.

Yesterday, I went to see an exhibition of paintings and drawings by American artist Edward Hopper at the Palazzo Reale in Milano. It was fabulous, he was an amazing painter of light and of unique American scenes. They compare his work to a "photographic view" so maybe that's why I resonated with it so much. My favorite painting in the exhibition was Cape Cod Sunset, but this image doesn't do it justice. The sky was the perfect rendering of the rainbow dusk sky that I've always loved. One thing I've learned about works of art, is that seeing them in a book or online is not the same as seeing them in person. The color, the texture, the feel is completely different.

It's interesting that I discover this wonderful American artist in Italy, but I guess that's just part of my rediscovery of art here. If you have a chance, take a look at some of his work. Or, maybe go see some art in person somewhere, to have your own artistic discovery. Happy Sunday!