tracey kazimir-cree's sunshine factory

Hello, World!

My goodness, it’s November already? I have no idea where the time goes. Days are full of caretaking and dog feeding and working and organizing and cooking and cleaning and and and…

…making art!

I bet you thought I was going to whine again about how I never have time to make art, didn’t you?

Believe it or not, I actually have been arting. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

• Playing with faces. I find it a struggle, but am learning more each time I attempt something. Once I can get myself going, I find it quite fun!


sabrina is thinking of changing her name to sarah -- acrylic and collage (WIP)

• I took a photo of the sky from the window of the men’s room at PRAC. I loved the way the window framed that bit of blue, with puffy white clouds. Fran encouraged me to paint it, which I hadn’t even thought I could do. So far I did a watercolor and I love it. Will attempt acrylics next.


fort collins sky

• Mary. I’ve been finishing up two pieces for our December exhibit, The Mary Show. The theme is representations of The Blessed Mother, Mother Earth, Gaia, whomever it is that the artist chooses. I’m ever so excited about the show…it’s going to be something special.

Mary has a secret


• The Sketchbook Project. Hosted by the Art Co-op at Brooklyn Museum of Art, I have until mid-January to finish a blank sketchbook. This will go on tour with the rest of the sketchbooks and will also be archived in the Art Library at the museum. NEAT! I don’t have photos of that yet, but intend to record my progress here.

Now I am off to finish some paperwork and head to the studio. It’s Fort Collins’ first snow and I’m so excited. I love the feel of the center on a gray, wet day. Perfectly cozy for viewing and making art!

I have been doing less and less art lately. Mom visited for a week and then we took her to her sister’s house in Carbondale and spent last weekend there. I’ve also been trying to catch up on work (which exploded) this past week while she was out there. Auntie and cousin and small cousin (once removed) and tiny dog brought mom back yesterday and we had an evening and morning of hilarity. They’ve all headed home and the house is fairly quiet again, but Mom’s still here for a few more days before life gets back to normal. We have a little crafty itinerary, so I’m hoping I will post something yummy here in the next few days. Later today, we’re going to The Artists’ Nook, since mom hasn’t been there yet and I’ll probably teach mom some techniques tomorrow. She’s already collected some fallen leaves from my yard, so we’ll do some prints, I think! yay!

For now, I’ll just post this collage I did the week before last as a part of Collage Play With Crowabout. Clicky to see a larger version.

Here are my project plans for this year.

Project 1: Finish all of my unfinished projects.

Project 2: Andrea and I are going to do a super special secret one-on-one journaling project in the new year. So that’s a big one.

Project 3: I want to make more books. I have been experimenting with using junk mail envelopes to make little books. I have one almost done and then I’m going to make more. I think that they’d make great birthday cards for special folks.

Project 4: I remember seeing a book project where the artist used a styrofoam pear for the covers. I still have the pears and I want to try that.

Project 5: I’m considering buying a sewing machine and a bind-it-all thingie with my Christmas money. I’ll have to learn to use them. That’s a project.

There are more, of course. Some of them rely on my unjamming my coil binder and/or buying a Bind-It-All. Some of them rely on my re-learning to crochet when mom sends me my grandmother’s crochet hooks. Some of them rely on the weather getting warmer so I can do things in the garage and outside. All of them require getting over my fear of failure. Wish me luck!

Today I’m working in my new journal for this year, as well as in Karen’s calendar journal for our round robin.

The day before yesterday, I was in a car accident. We won’t talk about that in detail. But here’s where we make lemonade: My automobile is being totaled. Yesterday Tim and I went over to the mechanic’s and got out all of our personal items. I also found some bulbs and pieces of metal and grabbed the CD magazine out of the smashed CD changer in the back. I’m taking a class tomorrow with Leighanna Light at The Artists’ Nook and it’s entitled “Reliquary of Inspiration”. I was originally going to do a shrine for my former dog, Zuni, but decided it would be more timely to do one for my beloved 1992 Ford Explorer, which is about to be laid to rest.

So today, I called my mechanic and asked him to pull off the rear view mirror and save it for me because I’m going to make art with it. He was amused, but I’m sure he thinks I’m a wacko.

And I’m ok with that!

Last night, after I finished reading Alphabetica by Lynne Perrella, I put it under my pillow in hopes that some of the techniques and good ideas would seep into my brain while I slept. Instead, I dreamed about visiting stamp stores with my sister. The stores don’t exist in real life, and they weren’t very good stores, but I managed to find something to buy in each one!

Well, soon, anyway. I’m slowly moving my art journal over from LiveJournal, but in the meantime, I’ll be posting all of my art-related ramblings here.

I’m also in the process of upgrading my site, and I’m very excited! I’ll let you know when it’s ready for viewing. Thanks for reading!