Making Hard Decisions

I've taught art in the same district for 29 years.  The last 25 of those have been in the same classroom at the high school level.  I guess I must not like to change things up very much.  So, for me to make this important decision, was very difficult.  I made the decision to retire from teaching.  I have been thinking about it off and on for a year or so.  Although I have, for the most part, enjoyed my little home away from home.  I have spent more time in that classroom than I have been home.  I really enjoyed getting to know my students who loved to come to the art room to create and explore and enjoy the process of learning.  It was a blessing to see so many students enjoy my class.  But, it was time for a change. Change is good.  I retired from this job, but I plan to continue to be an artist, hopefully sell some things along the way...hopefully a lot of things!  But I know that I will probably continue to teach art in some way.  I don't know what or how yet, but creating art and teaching art seems to be my purpose...and I cannot give up that part of me.  It will just be in a different place. I have some ideas rolling around in my head.  For now, I will continue to create in my home studio that is bursting at the seams with supplies that are begging to be used.

Beth ♥

Summer break is almost here!

Clay Owl Sculpture
by me...

I call it summer break, but I really don't just sit back and do nothing! Actually it is not really a break from work, just from the rushed schedule of having to be at work at a certain time and meeting school deadlines.  After school is out, I start on my "To Do" list.  It starts out very long. Most important items at the top of the list and the least at the bottom.  I never get through the entire list, but I usually get the most important things done.  Among some of the things that I do are cleaning and de-cluttering around the house.  I do some deep cleaning that does not get done as much during the school year because of lack of time and energy.  But most important is the time that I have to work on extra art projects of my own or commissions for other people.  That list is growing as I write this! And that is a good thing!  One of my goals is to replace my dead laptop!  So hopefully those art commissions will help me reach that goal!  My need for a new laptop seems to get pushed down on the priority list quite often.  But that is just the reality of having a family and having a kid in college!

I recently created a clay sculpture of an owl (to go with my owl painting series), but it looks a little crazy. But that is how I feel this time of year trying to get everything done for the end of the school year.  Everything happens so fast at school, and so much is going on that it just boggles my brain. So I thought I would share this photo of my owl sculpture, just so you would understand!  I'm looking forward to time to paint and work with clay, just to clear my mind!

Beth ♥

The Calendar says January...

...but the weather doesn't really say January! So far January has been fairly calm, weather wise anyway. Temps have been up and down, but not extremely cold. That's fine with me, but I do love snow and would like to see at least one or two good snows this year! Before the holidays we had two snow showers that covered the ground, but not the roads.  Snow days are really good days for some good creative time.

So this weekend was a three day weekend, in celebration of the Martin Luther King holiday.  Friday was my birthday, so it was a good start to the 3 day weekend. But it is almost over. I started a dog portrait commission this weekend. I know that is different for me, but I am enjoying it and hope to work on more samples so that I can start doing more pet and people portraits, not just home portraits.  The dog portrait that I am doing is being drawn in color with colored pencils.  I will post pictures after the customer approves the portrait and the recipient has received the gift!

Pen and Ink House Portrait

 Beth S. Macre© 2012  

  

I have finished one pen and ink commission early in January and have a few more orders that I can work on in the next couple of months. But I am excited to work in color for a change! I guess that is why I do so many different media and styles. I like variety!


Beth♥ 

Vacation?

Colored Pencil ACEO
by Me

Wow, the time goes by so quickly when you a very busy! Semester finals are over, tests are graded and posted, room closed up for the break. Now for the baking, drawing, shopping, wrapping, cleaning, and traveling...whew...I need a nap!


Beth♥

What did you do during the summer...back in the day?

Tiny Clay House
Listed on Etsy

When I was in school, we filled our summers with activities that took some creativity and imagination. I have always liked to do artsy and crafty things, but I think that came about because we had to entertain ourselves.  I have always enjoyed creating little houses and villages and creating little imaginary places. Even to the point of creating a little village in the dirt, using moss for the grass and little sticks for trees, and the little boxcars that I played with back then.  Yes, I played with dolls some too, but little cars were up there on my playtime to do list.   We had to find things to do to entertain ourselves during the long summer months. (summer vacation was actually 3 months long back then...in the 60s and 70s).  Of course, this was before  I was old enough to drive, so I had plenty of time to fill during the summer.  This was also before video games, cell phones, computers or internet, and probably even cable TV!  I don't remember when we actually started getting Cable, but I do remember the summer when the only thing on the 3 channels (+Educational the channel with things like Mr. Rogers...ugh)  that we got on TV was non-stop coverage of court hearings about some boring old political corruption called Watergate!  Being too young to drive, I was pretty much stuck at home to play outside in the heat, ride my bike to a friends house, or ride my bike to the pool.  I even played softball a few summers, even though I am not athletic...at all! My sister was the athletic one. I was the creative one.  I certainly was not interested in watching Watergate hearings.  So when it was too hot to go outside, we (my sister and I) spent time reading books, playing games, and stitching designs on dish cloths for our Mom, going to friends houses, talking on the telephone (that was plugged into the wall).  I didn't have a lot of art supplies like paint or clay or access to a kiln back then.  I can only imagine what I would have done if I had had that!  (After I started driving, that's another story!)  But now I am never 'bored' or have 'nothing' to do.  I have paint, colored pencils, and clay to create my little houses and buildings and accessories. So this summer will be filled with some creative time, mixed with time to relax and watch some TV (not much), even though there are 100s of stations on the TV now, and  internet time (which I love), and maybe even a little cleaning around the house (not too much).

What did you do during your summer break...back in your day?


Beth♥  

More experiments with textures

Just thought I would show an experiment before I show current projects. Currently I'm working on some custom clay tiles that aren't finished, then I have some
pen and ink custom home portraits.  So for now I will show a project that I worked on a few months ago.  Along with my students, I have been experimenting with mixed media paintings.  I tend to be very detailed with colored pencils and pen and ink, so I love the looseness of working with torn papers and modeling paste for textures and layering the variety of media allowing for previous layers to show through in places.  Here is a piece that I experimented with, although I still feel like its not quite finished.  The roof of the house needs another section on the right side. Although I was going for whimsical, it looks a little off balanced, so I am going to add a little more to it.

Some of the layers include: paint, then torn papers with architectural details and musical notes, tissue paper (crinkled up), black pastel for sketch, more paint, more layers, more paint. I didn't take photos as I went. I really need to start taking photos along the way. But here are some close ups so you can see the layers and the textures.

  

Enjoy the process!

Beth♥

Blog or Website?

HeartHomes

...or both?  If I want to market my art, what is the most effective use of my time and money? I have been blogging for several years now.  Before I discovered the blogging world, I was journaling about my art on my computer, which no one saw except me. Then I found blogs and it took me awhile to get the courage to actually start my own.  I really didn't think I had anything to say, much less anyone would want to read about it. Well, along the way I did pick up some readers and met some very nice artists.  I have no idea how much this blog is actually read, but for me its still more about journaling about what I'm doing with my art.  I'm not sure that it has any effect on marketing my art, but I guess it gets my work seen by some people, at least.  Being from a small town, there are no art galleries or local places that sell original art. (That's the subject for another blog post.)  I do have online shops where I sell my artwork and I have links on the sidebar of this blog, set up to both of my Etsy shops, Hearthomes, where I sell my little clay houses, and BMacre, which I sell my pen and ink drawings and other drawings and paintings.  I also set up a page on Facebook to display my artwork, which has brought in some business from local people, which is great!  It has always been hard for me to talk about myself and show what I do either because (1) I feel like no one is interested, or (2) it feels a little like showing off.   But I can't sell my work if I don't show it to people, right?   ...This is why I did not go into sales, but I'm learning.

Custom Pen and Ink
House Portrait

So my dilemma is, should I have a website? Do people actually go look at websites that stay the same for long periods of time? How often do websites get changed?  So far, having the blog and facebook page has worked for me.  I can very easily add pictures of what I am working on currently. But would a website make a difference? I have a free website with WIX, but it is very limited on what I can add to it. And it needs updating if I keep it. But I think that if I have a website, I will be using my domain name. Problem is, I just don't know how to set up a website, or the time to learn anything very difficult.

If you have any thoughts on this subject, I would like to hear your comments.

Beth♥ 

One more week...

...and I will have more time to sleep, play with clay, draw, paint, and maybe even take some time to clean the house and paint my studio! I've been avoiding that last one for a long time now. If you knew how much stuff is in my studio, you would understand! If you are an artist, you understand! It is definitely due for a good clearing out of things that I don't use anymore, but that takes time to go through and decide what to do with those things that are perfectly good art supplies!

Mixed Media Collage
Acrylics, paper, and feathers

So for now, I will just share a couple of photos of projects that I have been working on at school with my students.  The Altered Book project is a work in progress. And the Mixed Media Project might be finished. You never know when I may decide that it needs something else.
Have a great weekend!
Beth♥ 

Altered Book pages
Some progress...but not complete

Adding a New Blog...

...to my list of things to do! Yes, I know what you are thinking, if you have kept up with this blog! When do you have time to keep up another blog? Right, well sometimes I get so busy with school related stuff that I don't have time to work on my own art, but there are so many cool things that my students are working on and I wanted to have a place to share some of those things.  I also create projects for demonstrations for my students, so I think this new blog will be a better place to post those pictures. So this new blog , Mrs. Macre's Art Room, is going to be about what goes on in my Art Class. I have been teaching for 28 years, and so many people that I know have no idea what we do, or how talented my students can be.  So I hope that you will check it out occasionally.  Right now it only has one post, but I hope to go back through my files and add some pictures from the past and add new things as we go.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Beth♥

Altered Book Project Update and Spring Break

Well Spring Break is more than half over. I haven't worked much on art yet, but the rest of the week will be devoted to creative time.  The first half of the week(and weekend), was taken up with time spent visiting family. It was nice to get out of town for a few days, but as always, it was nice to get home.  Yesterday I spent some time adding some things to my Etsy shop. I have several things to add, but each one takes time, so I have to work on a few at a time. 

Spring is officially here and I finally saw some trees and daffodils blooming this week. The weather has been nice, but it is supposed to change tomorrow and get cooler.  So it will be easy to stay inside and work on art related projects! But I will be looking for more signs of Spring and warmer weather to come.

I mentioned in an earlier post, that one of my classes is working on Altered Book projects.  These are made from discarded books and can be made into anything you can imagine. They could be made into journals, scrapbooks, or simply a work of art.  Here are some photos of more of my pages from the altered book project.  This is definitely a project to work on over time (at least for me). I have painted and glued together more pages.  Some pages are completely painted, some are painted partially allowing the text and illustrations to show through the paint.

This is the Title Page of the Book, "Drawing with Ink".  I have painted a glaze over both pages allowing some of the text and illustrations from the book to show through.  This is just step 1.  I will be adding more things to these pages as I go.

Step One:  Starry Night Page

These two pages were simply painted blue with some swirls. There was an image of a handprint on the right side page that I allowed to show through the paint. 

Step Two:  Starry Night Page

Here I have glued an image and some text that was on one of the pages that I removed from the book.  It is an illustration of Vincent Van Gogh with some biographical info. in the text.  I tore the edges to roughen up the look.  I will be adding more to these pages in the future and I will post some updated pictures when I do.

Tips for altering books (so far):

~ remove several pages throughout the book. The pages will get thicker as you add paint and glue things onto the pages. This will help keep the thickness of the book manageable. You will probably want it to close when its finished.  I removed pages that did not have elements that I want to use in my design and I removed some with images that I will glue onto other pages. 

~ glue some pages together to create a more rigid surface to paint on.  Look for images or text that can be used in your design.  You can cut 'windows' in some pages to allow the next page to partially show through.

~ Take photos of the book before you begin...I forgot to do that! And more photos as you go. I like to look at the progress and it helps to have step by step photos when teaching a new project.  This is my first altered book, so I need examples to show my students.  I also have some books that shows altered book techniques, to show my students.

I'm working on more pen and ink drawings this week. I will post photos when I finish the set of 2 drawings.  I finished this one a few weeks ago.


Pen and Ink Home Portrait
8 x 10 inches

Thanks for looking!

Beth♥

Looking for Spring Break and Spring Weather!

One more week until spring break and I'm really looking forward to having a little break.  Even though I have alot to do during the break and before then.  This week was the last week of the quarter at school, so I've been busy grading papers while keeping the students on task with their current projects. They are ready for a break too, so no explanations necessary on how hyper most of the students are!  I am also looking forward to some warmer weather! Its been so cool and damp lately.  I now some sunshine will bring along with it some energy and motivation!   I've been really wanting to get into some clay lately, but haven't had the time, so I'm going to make the time today. 

Before I go off to the studio though, I was reading through some blogs that I follow and found a post on one that mentions that their is a 'widget' that you can post Treasuries from Etsy, on your blog.  This is news to me, so I thought that I would try it out also. My little houses have been featured in a lot of treasuries lately and I really appreciate all of the Etsy members who include me in their treasuries!

Thanks for looking! 

Beth♥

Here is one of the latest treasuries.



Altered Book Experiments and More

I just finished another pen and ink commission and have 3 more waiting to be started.  Commissions are good.  Lack of time to play and experiment makes me sad. Spring Break is in two weeks! I'm hoping that that break will give me a boost of motivation!  This dreary, rainy weather has me in a funk this weekend.  So I thought I would post a picture of my pink dog sculpture to add something whimsical.  As a project in one of my classes, we made sculptures out of plaster strips.  As a demo for the project, I created this dog.  I didn't take pictures as I created her.  She looked pretty rough at first and I didn't think she would make it to the final stage, but I think the pink color and the face added just what she needed.  Some of my students named her Rex, but we later decided on Roxy after she was painted pink! Later I will post a picture of some of their projects, if they want them posted online.

Another project that we are working on is Altered Books.  I was able to get ahold of some old books that were being discarded from the library.  I collected several stacks with the idea of doing a class project with altered art books.  I'm showing a few shots of the altered book that I have been working on.  My advanced art class is working on this altered book project as an ongoing project for the rest of the semester, as they have time. I am trying to work on one with them, when I have a little time.  They see me working on projects that they do and that helps to inspire them with what they can do with their books. They also inspire me, so it works both ways.  This is a new medium to me and it reminds me alot of mixed media collage, but in a book format.  I have seen some examples that artists used a journals along with their artwork.  So it looked pretty interesting to me and I hope to finish it, but it may take awhile, with all of the other projects that I need to be working on.  I'll post more photos as I go.

The first photo shows the book cover that I have already painted.  I plan to add some more things to the cover later.  The second photo is the inside of the back of the book that I painted.  The old library checkout card and pocket are painted also.  I didn't want to remove them. I wanted them to be part of the art.

Thanks for looking!

Beth♥

 

New School Year Begins...

...and I'm already exhausted!

Starting a new school year is always exciting and exhausting! There are so many things that have to be done and standing on a concrete floor all day can be hard on the legs!  But its always exciting to see the students come in. Many of them are so excited to be back in art and that makes me feel great! I am so thankful to have so many great students! It makes my job so fun. 

Only 5 more weeks to get ready for the art show! So, I have to get busy again this weekend!  I finally received my new business cards this week. I ordered some of the mini moo cards a few weeks ago.  For some reason the  package had to travel many many miles all over the country before they came to my house though! I like the little card size, but I'm NOT extremely happy with the color of some of the photos on the cards.  I must go back and check the photos that I submitted, but I don't think they looked quite like they appear on the cards.  But they will have to do for this year.  Overall they look pretty good. Here are some photos of the cards.  I like the little boxes that the cards came in.

If any of you artists have any recommendations  or tips for business card printing companies, I would love to hear them! 

~ Beth

So many choices!

For several years I have considered myself to be a colored pencil artist.  But being the art teacher by day, I have to be familiar with many different materials to introduce to my students. Which also means that I get to experiment with many different materials! Which can be really fun!  I still work alot with my colored pencils, but over the last few years I have begun to work alot with clay and mixed media and collage.  I bought some painting mediums for my students a couple of years ago, to mix with acrylic paints to add texture.  Many of my students really loved the paint mediums, as I do.  At first we just experimented.  But I have come to love how they can add texture to the acrylic paints. The sample to the right is my first experiment/demo with the paint that I mixed with Goldens Molding Paste. I got a sample pack of the different textures that are available in the Goldens, so I don't remember if this was the Light Gel, or the Extra Heavy Gel.  It also has some tissue paper painted/layered in there to get another texture.  While it was drying, I also applied some objects that had textures on them, to get more of a variety of textures.  This one is not finished at this point though. I plan to get it out one of these afternoons and add more texture.

The sample to the left is one that I did this year where I demonstrated getting the texture down...not really knowing at first what I was going to do with it. This was an abandoned canvas that had pink painted allover. So I partially covered it with blue. 

Then, I decided to add the shape of a house, to add to my house theme collection!  I didn't have an acrylic painting of one of my little houses. After adding layers of paint, I decided it needed more embelishments, so I created some 3D pots of flowers out of clay. After glazing and firing, I glued them to the canvas. I think it needs some more work with some detail or added dimension somewhere. So it is a work in progress. You may see it again someday.

This summer, I plan to play around a lot more with the mixed media materials.  Mixed media really seems to be a popular technique with artists today.  I have been seeing more and more magazines, blogs, workshops and websites that showcase some really cool mixed media art. 

So many choices...and not enough time!  I have old books! I could alter them, I could cut out of them and use parts of pages!  I can create some printed text with my computer printer!  But I also need to making lots of little houses and some new things that I'm thinking about.  So there's never enough time! But that is a great feeling to have alot of ideas jumping around in there.

I hope to show some of my progress with a variety media and techniques this summer.  So many things to do, not enough time in a day for me to play!

I'm off to play in the studio. Have a nice day!
~Beth

Finally! A Much needed Spring Break...

I've been burning the candle on both ends for awhile now, trying to get art ready for multiple artistic events, plus my full time job. It finally caught up with me this week! Monday I began to feel a little achy and my throat started feeling a little scratchy. Then the sneezing joined the list of symptoms. By Tuesday night, it was a full blown cold with the coughing, sneezing, achey, stopped up cloudy head feeling. But no! I don't have time this week to be sick! With 2 parent teacher conference days scheduled for after school on Tuesday and Thursday, it was going to be a long week anyway. Not only the extra time at work, but Friday was a make up snow day for the students. But the students were at school today, the last day before spring break. They were antsy and ready for the break, and I was in no humor for any silly behavior. I did manage to take Wednesday off and pretty much slept the day away on the couch. But I had to be at school yesterday for more parent conferences. Today I felt a little better, but 3:15 did not come fast enough! Finally, after a couple of 'Art' movies and a little painting and colored pencil drawings later, Spring Break has finally begun! Not a minute too soon!

So here's to an art filled Spring Break!

~Beth

Almost time for School!

School starts back next Wednesday, but teachers started back this past week with in-service workshops. Most of the workshops that we have are pretty long and boring. After 26 years of attending workshops for teachers, I have to say that they get very monotonous. But today was a little different. The district actually planned for the district art teachers to get together and discuss art lessons and issues that we deal with. Being the only art teacher at my school, it is nice to get with other art teachers! We had a lot to talk about. It is very motivating to get with the other art teachers and I'm beginning to be ready for the new year. I just don't understand how the time during the summer just flies by!

So after sitting in meetings for the past 4 days, I am exhausted from meeting. So I didn't feel up to working on my Paris Cafe drawing today, but I did work on it some during the week. So I will show an update and hopefully by the end of this weekend I will have more progress to show.

♥Beth S. Macre © 2009♥

No title yet, but I'm thinking about it!

I will be working on this today, because next week I probably will not have the time or the energy to work on it. I am having fun with this and wish I could just work on it all the time! I will definitely be using the UArt paper more.

Have a great weekend!

~Beth

This is why I Teach...

This is a note that one of my seniors wrote to me on her last day of class. I had Terri in class for 4 years. These little things are the joys that make the frustrations of teaching all worth it!

Thank a teacher...they really appreciate it.
~Beth♥

Experimenting with Texture, Paint, and Collage

"Paris Eiffel Tower"
Beth S. Macre © 2008

Acrylic Paint on canvas

As an art teacher, I am constantly looking for new projects for my 3rd and 4th year students. Since these students have been with me for 3 and 4 years, they need more and more challenging projects each year. Some of my students really love a challenge and I really enjoy seeing what they come up with. The latest challenge that we all took on together, was to create a map relief textured painting. They could choose a map of any place, pick out the interesting lines and shapes to create an abstract or semi-abstract design. The only other requirements were that they should use a gel molding paste to create textured relief parts. I told them they could add pieces of fabric, wire, paper, or other items if they wished to create a collage effect. I also showed them a few ways to add texture to the molding paste to create different effects. Some of which I included in my "Eiffel Tower Map of Paris" piece shown here.

When I applied the molding paste, I laid a piece of wire mesh on top of the wet paste and pressed it on, using a pallette knife, then removed the wire mesh, leaving the texture. You can see a close up of the textures in the 2nd and 3rd photos here. The textures show up after they are painted with layers of paint of a variety of colors. To see it larger, click on the image.

For my painting I used a map of Paris, from my trip last summer. I also collaged a cut out photo that I took of the Eiffel Tower and printed in grayscale, then painted around the edges and some on top of the paper.

This was one of those projects that I really had fun with and plan to do more using the molding gel. I really love the effects that you can create with the textures. One of my goals for 2009 is to do more of this type of painting.

Tomorrow I will be doing some studio cleaning and thinking about the rest of those goals for 2009.

Hope you have a happy and safe New Year!

~Beth~

One Week Down...

I survived the dreaded first week of school with the kiddos. Its always so exhausting. With all of the new lesson plans, teaching the rules, seating charts, schedule changes, and being on my feet all day long. I haven't had much energy at the end of each day for creating anything new. I'm hoping to begin to feel creative soon. I start to feel useless if I'm not working on something! That feeling is beginning to creep up on me...and I don't like it!

Back to School...

My summer break is already over! Teacher in-service started yesterday. Students come back in a week and a half! Where does the summer go? I am grateful to have June and July off, but it sure does go by quickly! Especially if you take any trips or have alot going on. Since I started the summer with the trip to France and ended the summer by moving my daughter, it just seems like it only lasted a few weeks!

I had hoped to get more accomplished with my art, but I did not have as much time as I would have liked. I did do alot of promotion and setting up of my new Etsy shop, so now I hope to start adding some more pieces to my shop. This year will be testing the waters as far as sales go. There are tons of blogs that give wonderful advice on selling, especially for the holidays. I will have to spend some time reading through some of them. Of course, that is more time out of the studio and I really need to spend time this weekend in the studio.