Explore My New Art Prints and Greeting Cards Online
Posted on September 3, 2025 Leave a Comment
I have opened my art to allow a limited number of my works to be printed. They are available on Fine Art America. I just ordered the 18″ bag and 10 blank greeting cards and I am impressed with the print quality. Please hop over and take a look. Let me know what you think…leave a comment.
Art World – Whirlwind
Posted on October 17, 2024 Leave a Comment
If you haven’t visited my site lately then you haven’t seen the recent updates yet. CHECK IT OUT!
I’m gradually transforming a significant part of the site from a focus on writing to a showcase of artwork. Over the past year, the art world has completely captivated me, and the momentum hasn’t let up.
Here’s a quick update on some exciting milestones: In August, I was accepted into the SAAG Art Gallery here in Tucson, followed by my acceptance into the shop at the Tucson Museum of Art. I then had the privilege of doing an art demonstration for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and to top it off, I taught a class in my latest obsession—Gel Printing!
WHEW!
It has been an exciting time which has not left me with much of it to update all of my website, but until I do, please don’t mind the dust!
If you are interested in seeing more of my work please pop over to the website or to see a full gallery, check out my Instagram. I also have ART News that will keep you informed of my upcoming classes and shows.
As a “Thank you for Reading” here is one of my latest Gel Prints:
Welcome to the Gallery
Posted on May 13, 2024 Leave a Comment
I am excited to share with you all a new page on this website:
ART
Over the past year I set my writing aside to expand my creative outlet to include the visual arts. I began in watercolor and have now moved to a mono printing process called Gel Printing. I have become obsessed! Don’t get me wrong…writing is still an important part of my life, and you can still find my wordsmithing mostly on my other blog, AbitraryDustBunnies. My excitement for gel printing has prevented me from keeping up to date here, and now you know why.
ART is an abbreviated version of the full gallery you will find on my Instagram feed @kathiescrim
I hope you enjoy this added dimension of my artistic journey. Join me on Instagram! I can’t wait to see you there.
5 Reasons You Should Join a Writing Organization Right Now
Posted on April 16, 2023 Leave a Comment
Being a volunteer with a writing organization makes the world a better place! Thank you Kim Olgren for such an insightful article.
I’m the president of my local writing organization, Pikes Peak Writers. The term is a minimum of two years and a maximum of six. Sound like an enormous commitment? We have volunteers who have been consistently volunteering in big ways with the organization since its inception in 1993. We are an all-volunteer organization with an all-volunteer board of directors. Volunteer time is dictated largely by the volunteer and the positions they want to fill. Heavy lifters are usually members of the board who fill at least one position in addition to their board position. We are what you would call a “working board”. We have volunteers at conference that just moderate a couple of workshops. One thing is true for them all. We value and appreciate their service no matter how…
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Journeys into Possibility
Posted on April 3, 2023 Leave a Comment
Just Published!
It is so exciting to see another anthology come to fruition. This one is a little bittersweet as it will be the last one I manage for Pikes Peak Writers. It has been a fantastic journey getting here and now I will be turning to whatever possibilities come my way in the future.
Until then?
Are you ready to go on a journey to a place you have never been before? What would you like to do? Maybe a swim with dolphins, meet strange new creatures, or see John Dillinger behind bars? You could take a trip through time, visit a new planet, or hop on a train worn with memories. The possibilities are just a page away.
So, strap in and get comfortable as we travel into the imaginative realm of possibilities. Together, we will journey into all things possible and impossible. Once you’ve been there and back again, you won’t be quite the same
NaNoWriMo – Why I Stopped
Posted on November 1, 2022 2 Comments
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is here once again. To be in awe of those who manage the requisite 50,000 words in a month is an understatement. It has been a couple of years since I made a brave attempt at this, and this year will fall by the wayside as well. This writing challenge is taken up by thousands of writers who do crank out fifty thousand words (plus some) during the month of November.
After the last attempt I declared myself NaNo Dropout and I am okay with that.
If my memory banks are correct, I started NaNo about three or four times and each time I got about twenty thousand words in then bagged it. Why would I quite when I was nearly half-way done?
Stress.
My personality and stressful situations do not blend well. To spend an entire month at the keyboard, like a deer in headlights, is just more than I want to do. I did attempt the variations on the NaNo theme (Camp NaNo, Rebel NaNo, and others that you can look up) which were fantastic ways to set a goal that fit me.
Alas, I didn’t finish those either.
So, you may wonder why I even care about NaNoWriMo. You might even think I don’t like NaNoWriMo. But I do! Following those who participate and cheering them on is my favorite part of NaNoWriMo. Their ability to sit at their writing desks (chairs, cafes, parks, etc) leaves me in awe. For a person to produce that many words in such a short time is like watching an eight year old do El Capitan (yes, an eight year old just did it – read about it here).
It takes my breath away.
If you are participating this year please leave your NaNo handle in a comment so I can follow along and cheer you on. For those writers who are sitting it out or are done all together fear not, you are in good company.
Rock and roll all you NaNoWriMo crazies!! Now, get back to writing!!
Plot Generator
Posted on July 12, 2022 Leave a Comment
I have done this before and I will continue to do it because it is so darn funny.
I have been in a writing slump for almost a year now. I feel I have a good reason because of moving twice (one interstate and one local), plus I did help Pikes Peak Writers publish a book (check it out here).
Now that we have settled in our permanent home, I have realized I have basically not written much through all of it. Besides, I’ve also tried hitting the keyboard with little success. Now, you may ask, “How do you get over your slump?” Good question. I’ve been asking myself that for days now.
I have browsed through my usual haunts (social media, solitaire, news feeds), and find them to be less than inspiring. Today, I came across a site I haven’t visited for awhile, The Masterpiece Generator. It isn’t the most ideal place to find writing inspiration, but it certainly gave me a giggle. It’s a little like Mad Libs, but no one sees the results until you’re done. There are a few ways this can trip you up, but hey, it’s free and fun.
As you read this lovely masterpiece, keep in mind that this is somewhat unedited (I had to fix a couple of things because my OCD could not handle the grammar). So, I filled in the blanks and the program spit this out. Please don’t judge me…I really only provided a few of the words and the program slapped the rest out like a damp egg. (If you care to, here is the previous wonderous short story that Masterpiece Generator spit out.) Here are the results brought to you by, The Masterpiece Generator, The Short Story:
Two Optimistic Uncles Hiking to the Beat
A Short Story
by KJ Scrim (but more like…I only plugged in arbitrary words)
Karen Smitts looked at the heavy shoe in her hands and felt sad.
She walked over to the window and reflected on her dusty surroundings. She had always hated hot Catalina with its cooing, curly cactus. It was a place that encouraged her tendency to feel sad.
Then she saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the figure of Michelle Victor. Michelle was a perky witch with an athletic nose and rotund toes.
Karen gulped. She glanced at her own reflection. She was a brute, quiet, tea drinker with a slender nose and dirty blond toes. Her friends saw her as a silly, corned toad. Once, she had even rescued a damp egg from a burning building.
But not even a brute person who had once rescued a damp egg from a burning building, was prepared for what Michelle had in store today.
The dust storm teased like coiling scorpions, making Karen lonely.
As Karen stepped outside and Michelle came closer, she could see the pretty smile on her face.
“Look Karen,” growled Michelle, with a lying glare that reminded Karen of perky cougars. “I hate you and I want money. You owe me 2,796 dollars.”
Karen looked back, even more lonely and still fingering the heavy shoe. “Michelle, I know what you did,” she replied.
They looked at each other with frustrated feelings, like two frantic, famous frogs laughing at a very pessimist birthday, which had new age music playing in the background and two optimistic uncles hiking to the beat.
Karen regarded Michelle’s athletic nose and rotund toes. “I don’t have the funds …” she lied.
Michelle glared. “Do you want me to shove that heavy shoe where the sun don’t shine?”
Karen promptly remembered her brute and quiet values. “Actually, I do have the funds,” she admitted. She reached into her pockets. “Here’s what I owe you.”
Michelle looked bored, her wallet blushing like a breezy, brief ball.
Then Michelle came inside for a nice cup of tea.
THE END – OR IS IT?
DREAM Just Published!
Posted on April 11, 2022 Leave a Comment
Dream, Pikes Peak Writers second anthology, has hit the shelves. I am so proud of this issue for so many reasons. First, a little pat on my own back because, as Project Manager, I had the honor of designing the interior of the book. It was a first for me and an uphill battle all the way. Affinity Publisher* is a complex program to learn yet, once I got the hang of it it seemed almost easy.
The stories in this edition are amazing. The talent that came to us for this second edition was beyond compare. The authors hale from across the globe giving the stories and poems a flare from worldwide imaginations. Do I have a favorite story? It would be too hard to try and choose a favorite. So, I’ll say that they are all fantastic.
Graphic designer, Joshua Clark did a fantastic job of creating a cover that speaks to the entire book. Because the stories are eclectic, the cover had to encompass a wide rainbow of subjects. He captured this book perfectly. don’t you agree?
The editors, Edward Raetz and Deborah Brewer, plowed through over 150 submissions to widdle it down to the final 27. They worked with each author making their stories shine. I am so happy they are staying on for anthology #3. More information on that soon.
About Dream
Your climate control is broken, the engine is overheating again, and the traffic has come to a dead stop amidst a swarm of horns. To top it off you’re late for work. In a heartbeat, you find yourself in another place, another time. Just for a moment, your mind takes a break. Your subconscious decides to get out of the traffic and set sail along a coast of white sandy beaches and palm trees. Later that night, you wake with a jolt but don’t remember what startled you. Your thoughts are racing as sweat beads on your forehead. What was it? Is someone there? Are you afraid to go back to sleep?
Whether you are awake or asleep, dreams take your mind and open it to a kaleidoscope of dreamscapes you never knew could exist. In a blink, the dream can transform from a bloody war to a little boy escaping his troubled childhood with his action figures.
In this second anthology from the Pikes Peak Writers, you will take a journey through the creative minds of the twenty-seven writers who penned the following works based on a simple one-word prompt – Dream. Let yourself experience worlds in a spirit-filled house, on a pirate ship, or teeter on the precipice of Hell. Then, with the turn of a page, walk through the beauty of far-off lands, watch purple ducks on a yellow pond, or run with terror through a town filled with monsters. Enjoy this stroll down a crooked path that could hold your worst nightmare or your most beloved wish. Be careful what you wish for, a genie may be lurking in the labyrinth of your mind waiting to be set free.
~Kathie Scrimgeour
PRAISE FOR DREAM
“Story after story this anthology keeps the pages turning. What will the next chapter hold? Will it be a cozy mystery, perhaps a ghost story, or something unexpected? No worries, there is something for every reader in this collection. Well done!”
*A note on Affinity Publisher…it is an excellent program for print publishing, but be aware that it does not produce any output for electronic publishing such as for Kindle or Apple books.
A Great Year!
Posted on December 16, 2021 Leave a Comment
Another year has almost come to a close, thank goodness. I usually have a positive outlook on life but the past couple of years have made it more difficult. 2021 has proven to be much better than ’20 though! With that in mind, I am going to close 2021 out with a listing of the positive things that happened through the year. These are not in chronological order, but in the order that they pop into my head.
Here goes…
- Comet Leonard will pass by earth for the first time in 80,000 years. You will be able to see this distant comet in the low western sky at sunset this weekend (December 18-21, 2021) . It is just a little bit of fuzz, but the astronomer who discovered it just found it early in January of this year. Way to go Mr. Leonard!
- I moved! After 21 years in our house in Colorado, my husband and I sold our house and headed to the Arizona desert. So far? We love it. I won’t miss the cold and snow. The heat in the summer here? It is HOT!
- My daughter got engaged. She has found an incredible guy and they will be married in 2022. Yikes! I have a wedding to help plan!!
- I built an awesome snowman with my 23 year old son in the backyard. We both felt like kids again. I recommend snowman building to cheer up any day.
- Since moving to Arizona we have visited Biosphere 2, Mt Lemmon Observatory, Reid Park Zoo, Tucson Botanical Gardens, Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens (they have an amazing brunch!), hiked many trails in Catalina State Park, and so much more!! There is so much to explore here and we plan to see and do everything.
- We are having a house built so it is fun watching that slowly become a home.
- I’ve picked up sketching again. I’ll post a few of my drawings when I have something I’m not too embarrassed by. haha. I’m no Rembrandt, but I can make a bird look like a bird.
You may be wondering at this point, “What about writing??”
The writing scene has been fantastic! I found Fresh Starts (Pikes Peak Writers first anthology) in our local bookstore, The Tattered Cover. Thank you for carrying it!! In about 3 months the second anthology, Dream, will come out. Myself and the editors spent the last few months furiously reading over 150 submissions that have now been trimmed to the final 27 authors. We will announce who they are right after the first of the year. We are expecting to publish sometime in March.
My personal writing has also been amazing this year. I am working on the edits for my first book, Murder in Sulpher Gulch, and I have several short stories in submission. I’m anxiously waiting for a reply. I’ll tell you, writing is not for the faint of heart. Well, the writing part isn’t so bad, but the waiting is tough. 🙂
Now that I am at the close of this post, I see that 2021 was a pretty wonderful year! With that in mind, I predict that 2022 will be be another great year for my family and I.
I hope life in your circle of family and friends shines brightly throughout 2022 as well!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
Kathie Scrimgeour, Fine Art 