On the Easel...

Last weekend I put a canvas on the easel and started painting again! It really felt good to be creating! Especially something that was larger than what I have been working on lately. This painting was strictly for fun and to hang in the spare bedroom in my house. Really it's my daughter's bedroom, but she moved away to college and took the furniture from the room, so it has been empty until last weekend. We got a new bed and moved some furniture back into the room, but the walls were empty! And of course, I have to have art on the walls! So I had to paint something to go with the new bedspread. This is what I came up with and the steps that I went through to get it there.

Steps 1 & 2:
1. I painted the canvas black.

2. I sketched the flowers on the canvas and painted red loosely around the flowers.

Step 3:

3. I mixed this golden yellow with modeling paste and applied it onto the background with a palette knife.

Steps 4 & 5:

4. I painted the flowers with red and green, both mixed with modeling paste.

5. I started to add layers on the background and flowers to add dimension and detail.

Finished painting in the guest bedroom....So what do you think? Do you ever create something for the fun of it? Or create something to match the decor?

~Beth

Drawing in Miniature

This little Heart Home is an extra-mini drawing. It is only 2" x 1 1/4". It is the first of the little Heart Home doodles. I outlined it with black pen and used my colored pencils to add the color. It is a challenge to draw this small, so it doesn't have alot of detail. More Heart Homes to come in the future, but I'm off to the studio to start a larger piece for a change.

"Heart Home Complex"

Beth S. Macre © 2009
Prismacolor, Micron Pen

Just doodling...

...on some little (mini) pieces this past week. I've been rearranging my art studio, so I didn't have a lot of time to draw, but I did sit down a finish a couple of little doodles that I started a week ago. I like to draw architecture and find myself doodling little houses alot. These are just fun little houses that I will call "Heart Homes". Maybe because I love to be home! I'm definitely a homebody! I would love to retire and stay home! Hopefully someday soon.

I'm planning to work on a portrait next. I also want to do a pair of paintings for the spare bedroom that is getting redecorated a little. So hopefully I will have something new soon.

What do you like the most about being home?

~Beth

Happy Valentines Day!

"Happy Valentines Day"
Beth S. Macre © 2009
Watercolor and Ink

I don't send out many cards, but my daughter loves to get mail. So I had a little free time this week and painted this little valentine card. So I put it in the mail and sent it out to her for Valentines Day. I hope that it gets to her by Valentines Day. We took our son out to dinner before he went back to school. I didn't think he would appreciate a handmade card from Mom, but I know he appreciated being taken out to dinner!

Hope you get something special from your special Valentine!

~Beth

A fun test to take...

...if you want to test your color IQ. Not really sure the value of it, but it was fun, for me, to do this. The lower your score the better. I made a 4 when I took it. I was disappointed that I didn't make a 0, which is perfect, but I guess I was close. Take your color IQ here...if you are interested!

Pair of Love Ducks!

" Pair of Love Ducks"

Beth S. Macre © 2009

Colored pencil on Uart

ACEO ~ 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"

I had so much fun drawing the last Yellow Rubber Duck that I decided to draw a pair of ducks for Valentines Day. Valentines Day is next Saturday. These holidays always sneak up on me!

This drawing was started last week when I had no electricity. The few hours in the middle of the day, when I had enough light through the window, I spent drawing. I had nothing else to do and would have drawn more if I had more light! I don't know how artists worked before electricity!

So, have you thought about Valentines Day? How do you honor your special loved ones?

~Beth

Back to Work...

Love that Yellow Rubber Duck!

Prismacolor Pencils on Uart ATC

Beth S. Macre © 2009

...with colored pencils. This is one of my latest colored pencil drawings done for the ATC (Art Trading Card) exchange over at ScribbleTalk. I used a sample of the Uart paper with the 500 grit. I really liked this grit. It has just enough texture to really grab the color. You do go through the colored pencils with it, but the color goes down pretty fast. I did another one on 600 grit, similar to this one, but I think I like the 500 better.

By the way, this Yellow Rubber Duck ATC is going to Timbo from hambostamps.blogspot. Timbo is part of the creative team from 'Talk to the Ham'. Timbo and his wife sell stamps and have lots of creative ideas of what you can do with those stamps! So please check out their blog.

...After being out of school/work for 4 school days because of the ice storm, we went back to work today. It was a pretty normal day except many of our students, teachers, and administrators still do not have power at home. Everyone understands how they feel. All of us have been there. We all have our power outage experiences. I think we've all learned to appreciate the conveniences that we expect to be available to us any time. Although I love the convenience and connections that come with the internet, that is one that I could do without...if I HAD to, but heat is one of those conveniences and comforts that would be difficult for me to do without!

What convenience or comforts do you value the most?

Hope you are warm and cozy wherever you are!

~Beth

The Ice Storm ~ Beauty and Destruction

The Ice Storm hit us hard last week. The rain started last Monday evening. The internet went out first. Then the cable. Then the electricity. Its been a long week. But we fared better than some.

Ice can be very beautiful when it's coating the trees and other things outside. But the beauty can be very destructive as well. This past week, we experienced the ice storm that blasted through the middle of the country. Freezing rain, lots of it, can be very destructive! The rain started freezing early last Tuesday morning. Because the temperature was hovering around 33 or 34 all day, the streets were not freezing, which was promising. However, it was freezing on the trees and power lines. Around lunchtime the power started failing at work. But it returned, which was great, but then it went out again. So we were sent home early.

During the night the freezing rain continued all night long! It was a steady rain. So the trees were getting coated with the ice. The power went out early in the evening. So during the quiet

night, we could hear the trees straining under the weight. Throughout the night we could hear cracking, popping, loud bangs in the neighborhood. The trees surrounding our yard were definitely breaking. The next morning, when the sun finally rose, we could see how bad the damage really was. And the ice was just as beautiful as the damage was terrible.

This tree in the neighbors yard, fell into our yard and put a branch through the roof of the storage building. Thankfully there was no damage to our house.

Our other neighbors were lucky too. This branch fell out of his tree, but missed the house.

The other neighbor had lots of branches down in his yard and this tree down in the street. Later I will post more pictures of the damage that was left behind, after the ice thawed out.