sunshine factory – artwork by tracey kazimir-cree

nonstop hilarity t-shirt by traypup

It’s First Friday again, kids! As I was rushing around the house, getting ready to leave so I could open the gallery on time, I was struggling with making order forms for tonight. I was so aggravated and SO behind schedule that I vowed I am never leaving my own stuff till last minute ever again.

PUT ON YOUR OWN OXYGEN MASK FIRST

And I mean it this time!

So here’s some news:

Every month, when Fort Collins First Friday Gallery Walk visitors come into my studio, my painting “Nonstop Hilarity” is the one that makes people smile the most. At the urging of my husband, I printed it on a t-shirt and it looks awesome! It’s available now on my Zazzle shop if you’re interested. The image is also available on blank cards.

Tonight, during Gallery Walk, I’ll be taking orders for t-shirts, modeled by yours truly.  8-)  If UPS comes in time, I’ll also have cards on hand to sell. I’m really excited about this, so stop by if you’re in Fort Collins. If you’re not in the area, you can pop over to the Zazzle shop and order your very own Nonstop Hilarity t-shirt!

I have other news and musings, about things like fracturing and/or spraining my ankle and watching a documentary about Henry Darger and the state of network tv and how intensely I feel what little humidity we get in Colorado now and then. But it will all have to wait for another day. I’m off to get the studio ready for guests tonight! If you’re in town, drop by!

You’ve read the tweet. You’ve liked the facebook status. Now, read the blog entry! Here’s all of the awesome stuff that happened today:

1. I had a Facebook message from Mike F., my boss when I worked at Universal. He is, hands down, the best boss I ever had. I learned so much from him and he was always such a fabulous person. I was thrilled that he got in touch.

That was just the tip of the iceberg!

2. I went to the accountant’s office to pick up our tax return paperwork. We only owe $12 to federal and we’re getting a refund from the state. This is a huge relief, even if it means I made pretty much NO money last year. And the refund will cover the accountant fees! Bonus!

3. I spent the day in my new studio at PRAC, getting things squared away. I’m almost all done, but I already feel great in the space. The move was really a smart idea — being closer to the front door and to the lobby makes my job as marketing coordinator and gallery administrator a heck of a lot more productive.

4. I won $4 in the Colorado lottery last night. I went to 7-11 to cash it in and saw that they had my favorite candy, Bottlecaps, in stock. I haven’t been able to find them in forever and only one store in town was carrying them, but now I have my Bottlecaps again! Also, I got a diet A&W and man, doesn’t a cold root beer taste good?

5. I found out today that, thanks to President Obama and the Making Home Affordable dealie, we can still afford to keep our home, even with my reduced income. This, of course, is the biggest and most awesome news of the day. And our new monthly payment and adjusted interest rate are even lower than I thought they would be. It’s a MIRACLE. We’ve been waiting about 4 months or so to hear if we were approved and thank God we were.

6. I may have found an affordable projector for us to use at PRAC and I had a really yummy sammich at lunch. Oh, and Tim just suggested we get Five Guys for dinner, which saves me from cooking. These are little things that all add up to an AWESOME day, don’t you think?

I might even be happy enough to do some art tonight!

Hello! How are you? I’m doing well. What’s going on with me? Well… Today is my 4th wedding anniversary. Tim is the kindest, most supportive and funniest man I’ve ever known. Whiskey dog continues to barf up her dinner randomly because she gets so excited. Dougie dog is currently wearing the cone of shame because he refuses to stop licking. Work is busy. Things are moving along at the arts center. I am making local friends. I’m getting involved in the community. Oh, and Jacqueline Sullivan comes to town to teach this weekend, but I don’t have any extra cash.

I’ve spent time this week wandering around my studio, trying to figure out how to swing just one eensy weensy workshop. I realized that I haven’t actually advertised all of the art and craft supplies I put up on Artfire last week. I thought that if there’s anything that could raise $125 quickly, it’s gotta be a sale offering 50% off on cool arty supplies.

CLICK HERE FOR 50% OFF ARTY STUFF!

Right now there are rubber stamps, jewelry making supplies and a LOT OF BEADS. 50% off makes them awfully tempting, So GO! SHOP! Get fun little things that delight you. I’ll keep adding items as quickly as I can. Thank you!

Im not sure this will work.

sparkle!

Hello! Stop googling me to see if I died. I’m here, I’m here.

Since I last wrote here, so much has happened!

• There was Christmas, which was lovely, spent in the home of my awesome in-laws. There wasn’t enough snow for my taste, but it’s all good.
• New Year’s Eve was spent with my journal, my husband, his sister, and a trio of terrible movies, as is our annual tradition.
• Fort Collins First Friday Gallery Walk was fun and I made a few wee sales.
• I turned 43 in January. Yikes! The birthday was pretty good, although I woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. (I wonder why…)
• Art? What art? Oh, ok, I worked on a few pieces, but nothing is finished except for this one tiny snowflake screen. I’ve had four canvases in process for the past 6 months. Maybe February will be the month to finish?!
• I am the new gallery administrator at the Poudre River Arts Center. Between that, marketing, working in my studio, working on my web design business, taking care of the house, husband and dogs, well, I’m a bit overextended. I’m working on that, but right now, I’m very tired.
• However, I am also rejuvenated! I used to find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning, but since I’ve become so involved at PRAC, my life feels meaningful again. What a concept!

As soon as I post this entry (and quickly send out a letter to my mailing list), I am going into the studio for some uninterrupted art time. Gallery Walk starts at 6, but I’m sure whatever I work on will be dry by then!!

Ever have a piece that you just hated no matter what you did to it? This chipboard tag (along with another, slightly larger one) was one of those pieces. When I finally got a paint job on the tag that I actually liked, I let it sit in a box on my table for months before I got over my fear to do something with it. When I had an idea, it all came together in a flash and it is now an ornament for our Christmas tree. My favorite part is the delicious Diamond Glaze coating.

"Eva" Acrylic, collage, beeswax on wood panel

The past week has been riddled with extreme lows and some pretty good highs. I’ll leave out the lows, as they were intense on both a personal and professional level and I’m still sorting them out in my head.

But here are the HIGHS! These little boosts of confidence are the things that are going to help get me through those lows and encourage me to keep making stuff:

the area outside my studio on First Friday

The fabulous and lovely Bernadette was very excited about my handpainted serendipity ornaments when I brought them to PRAC last week. She selected 6 to purchase! Not only that, she encouraged me to price them better than I originally intended.

Mary Ann, one of the newest artists at PRAC, who is an amazing oil painter, loved my painting, “Eva”. As if that weren’t enough praise, she said it reminded her of Toulouse-Lautrec and Modigliani. Well, can you imagine a better compliment?

And if those two compliments weren’t enough, a CSU student emailed me today, saying, I am writing a paper for an art class about a piece of artwork done by a local artist. I was recently at the Poudre River Arts Center and really enjoyed your piece entitled “Eva”. She wanted some more information about the painting so she could write about it. This is blowing me away. Fran just said to me “I told you you’re talented. Maybe you’ll start to believe it one day!” (She is so good to me.)

our "garden" gate

Did you hear that sound? It’s the sound of snow falling…which it’s been doing since late last night. Tim works at Colorado State University and was home by 1:30 because they closed early. It’s so pretty, even though it’s the thick, wet icky snow like I used to enjoy in NJ, not the light powdery fun stuff we usually get. Either way, it’s hard to be a sole proprietor with an office in the basement on a snow day like this. Which leads me to procrastination.

Despite my very long task list, including stuff for eeep! productions and my clients, for PRAC, for my studio and Sunshine Factory, for Fort Collins Gallery Walk, for my art and for my little family, I still find time to procrastinate. And this leads me to get stressed.

When I get really stressed, I procrastinate (see the vicious circle?) by playing games on Facebook, taking a nap, watching tv or reorganizing something. It’s that old frozen fear we all get when we’re unsure the task at hand will be done correctly, will turn out as we planned, or will even get finished. It’s exhausting. Not to mention unproductive.

So I took a quick break and opened the new issue of Somerset Studio. I read Quinn McDonald‘s Business of Art column — is it serendipity that her topic this issue is STRESS? Quinn reminded me that all of those things I do to relieve the stress or to deal with it are only making it worse. It was quite the wakeup call, so I decided to start writing for my blog. Look at me — productive, not stressed and doing something I actually enjoy. Which (finally!) brings me to the point of this entry:

Today I was setting up a class schedule for my recycled envelope books class and for the composition book journaling workshop that I’ve mentioned to a number of you. I intend to publish that schedule this weekend, after many weeks (ok, months) of fear-based procrastination. While I was working on this, I realized that I had no holiday-related classes to offer!

Christmas Tree Screen Ornament -- oh, so pretty!

Now that’s it’s snowing, I am SO in the Christmas spirit. And with the economy being the way it is, I know most of my gifts this year will be homemade. What better way to show someone you love him or her than by making a wee, lovely giftie?

Enter the Christmas Tree Screen Ornament! To the right is a sample of the ornament. Yours will look different, of course, but the base will be a small framed screen (3×3 or 4×4) and we’ll paint the frame and attach any number of cool doodads and/or images to the screen itself.

Class details:

• The class will be 3 hours
• Cost will be $60 and will include all supplies (you bring your basic tool kit, of course!)
• You will leave with at least 1 finished ornament and the screen and doodads to make one more (additional kits will be available for purchase seperately)

Now, what I need to know from you is if this class sounds appealing and if so, what day works best for you. There’s a poll over on the right for you to respond to. This class is only open to local folks right now. Take the poll or email me or comment here and let me know your interest level by the end of the week, so I can be sure to order enough supplies and schedule the class according to YOUR needs.

For the past week, all I’ve been dying to do is put some gesso on something and make some layers. Have I done it? No. With my new responsibilities at the Poudre River Arts Center, I seem to be forgetting the main reason I got involved in the first place: To take care of ME! I am heading over there shortly and intend to do at least 30 minutes of something creative.

Last night, I unwrapped a Moleskine watercolor book I bought a year ago. I struggled with the Importance of a Moleskine and what on earth would I draw that would be worthy of those luscious pages? It took a while, but I just did it. Not gorgeous, and clearly, I need practice, but here are the first two experiments. I used my neocolor IIs and my Stampin’ Up watercolor crayon palette, as well as a Sharpie Pen and a water soluble black pencil.

This is going to take some time.

The Littlest Rose 5 3/4 x 7 1/2 on watercolor paper.	Bird Lady Acrylic, collage, wax on wood board.
Another Dream in Which I Am Flying Acrylic on canvas board.	Quilted Laptop Bag

I’ve finally had a few minutes to upload some of my artwork from Art Unraveled. It’s always so fun to take a breath and a step back and then look at the work with new eyes. I could tell you everything I hate about these pieces, but I won’t. I will tell you how they came about and what I do like about them, though! Some of them are finished, some may get a little more work — some detailing, or will become part of another piece of artwork. (Yes, that means I may tear things up. It’s ok, I’m brave!) Some of it is here, and the rest is on my Flickr site. You can click on these to go there and see them larger, with descriptions.

Art Unraveled was great. I had missed it last year, so I tried to make sure I really enjoyed it this year. It was so wonderful to

• see my friends
• take a vacation (mostly — I did do some web work while I was there)
• make art and relax.
• I made new friends, too, which was extra cool.

I didn’t really stretch myself in terms of the classes I took, but it was nice to have the extra time to try new things and keep working on the skills I’m trying to improve.

I stayed at the hotel with Leighanna, with the intention to move to Fran’s house on Sunday. That was thwarted when Fran’s husband got sick with a stomach thing and when my doctor called to inform me that my ankle was fractured (something I wish that she told me before I left for AZ!). So, the trip was a little more expensive than I would have liked, but I really do love staying at hotels. I love the soft sheets, especially. And this hotel has the most comfortable pillow top mattresses and soft pillows, I have never been so happy and willing to go to sleep at night! I also love the happy hour and the little kitchen area in the room, where we had a little version of Trader Joe’s to munch on for lunches and snacks.

Katie Kendrick taught us how to look at other artwork and use it as inspiration. Since I don’t do a lot of faces and people, I was extremely frustrated with my first attempt, The Blessed Mother is Laughing at Me! I ended up doing some intuitive painting and the other two I did in this class were a little more satisfying.

From Alex Shur, I learned how to use tube watercolors and assorted non-traditional techniques I can use with them. This appealed to me greatly, because I don’t ever intend to follow many rules in my art. I’ve used pan watercolors since college, so stepping up to tube colors was really cool. I painted a lot in this class and have a lot of works in progress as well as pieces to use in other work.

From Traci Bautista, I learned her method for developing project ideas. This was extremely reassuring, because I already do a lot of what she showed us. Neat!

Judy Wise‘s class was GREAT — the Bird Lady (above) is from that class. Judy is a very good teacher and she showed us her techniques for using collage, paint and wax to create depth and really interesting compositions. At the last minute, I decided to add one more class, since I didn’t feel stretched.

Monday night, I took a Crafty Chica (Kathy Cano Murillo) class. I had seen my friend Joanne’s bag, which she made after taking a similar class with CC. I sew a little, but still have some fear of sewing through my finger. It’s great to learn from Kathy because she just eyeballs it and doesn’t use a pattern and “figures things out.” I admire her so much!

OH! I got to meet Joanne, who is just wonderful and was so much fun to hang out with. She makes me LAUGH! I’m so happy about how much time she and Fran and I got to spend together.

And on Saturday night, we watched the 1000 Journals movie, and had a Q&A session with Someguy, the dude who got that whole thing in motion. The movie was a little long, but was really interesting. Then we had a chance to put our own marks in a few of the journals he brought with him. I decided it was a good opportunity to connect my Wreck This Journal experience with AU and 1000 Journals and I brought a page from Wreck This Journal, did some stuff to it and pasted it in. If you ever get 1000 Journals book #742, I’m in there.

Unfortunately, my Palm Centro camera isn’t that great and we can’t read this now. But it was stamped in each of the books and shows the journal number	Cover of the book I worked in.	My page that I glued into the book and doodled on.