Pallette of Color for Early Fall

Cindy's Pallette
Oil paint

The weather is finally cooling off and beginning to feel a little 'closer' to fall.  At least we aren't experiencing 90's and 100's everyday like we were for so long.  I love this time of year. I have been busy creating and doing some much needed fall clean up around the house and outdoors.  So I haven't posted on my blog lately.  But I'm going to change that!  Even if its just a simple photo post for the day. 

The photo today is of the oil paint pallette of an old schoolmate's.  She is a longtime dear friend who has a heart of gold.  And now after all these years, I find out that she also is a talented artist.  I knew that she played around with painting, but I saw her studio recently and I realized how talented she is.  Maybe later she will give me permission to post some of her oil paintings.  This pallette was in her studio and I took a photo.  I thought it was very interesting and a little like early fall!

I'm preparing to go to a colored pencil workshop this weekend. I am looking forward to that because I haven't given my colored pencils much time lately!  I love colored pencils.  Most people don't understand the interest in colored pencils for professional artists, but unless you have tried the professional brand colored pencils or unless you have seen some of the amazing artwork that can, and is, being created by colored pencil artists, you would probably question it. It is not just a school supply anymore. There is even a International Organization ( CPSA ) that is devoted to promoting Colored Pencils.  I am a member of that organization. I am also a member of the Memphis Chapter of the CPSA and we are having a cp workshop this weekend.  In the workshop that I am going to, we will be learning about experimenting with unusual surfaces and techniques to add to the colored pencil experience.  I will post some pictures next week about my experience at the workshop and hopefully something that I learned...or learned not to do! 

Have a nice weekend!

Beth ♥

Colored Pencil Workshop with Toni James

Last weekend I attended a colored pencil workshop in Memphis.  The workshop instructor was Toni James.  She is an amazing portrait artist from Arizona, and I am fortunate enough to be friends with her, so she agreed to come to Memphis to do a workshop for our chapter.  I love to go to workshops and learn new techniques, but her techniques I really think that I will make use of.  I haven't done alot of colored pencil drawing lately, because of all of the pen and ink house commissions that I've been doing.  But colored pencils are one of my favorite mediums and I hope to get more practice using them and actually do some portraits. 

(and yes...I am tall and she is short! In that photo, it looks like I'm almost a full head taller! )

 Toni is a natural teacher and did a wonderful job explaining and demonstrating exactly how she creates the beautiful portraits that she does.  She is shown above starting her demo on the eye that we worked on day one.  I was very pleased with the results that I achieved. And I think that everyone there was too.

Memphis Chapter CPSA
End of Day 1
Toni James Workshop

On another note, school will be out in about 7 weeks for me.  I cannot wait to really get alot done this summer in my art studio.  I may even finish painting the walls in here.  But who wants to stop to paint the walls when you can create other stuff like portraits, houses, and just spend time thinking of new things to do!? 

Have a great weekend!

Beth♥

Pen and Ink and More

Sorry for such a long pause between posts. I've been trying to stay caught up with everything else that needs my attention.  I just finished 2 pen and ink drawings and need to start 3 more! School is beginning to wind down. We are looking at our last 8 weeks of school. Much of that time is used for state testing and  getting the seniors ready for their departure!  And trying to keep them on task! The seniors come down with an 'illness' called senioritis..and about now it really starts to get more intense.  They see the end of this road and are a little panicky trying to figure out which road to take after graduation!  And I can't blame them. It is such a serious and important decision.

I'm on my way to a Colored Pencil Portrait Workshop with Toni James this weekend and I'm really looking forward to it!

Have a great weekend!

Beth♥

2009 CPSA Exhibition in Duluth, Georgia

Gee, its taken me all week to think about what I was going to talk about in this post about the CPSA convention! I usually have a photo to go along with everything, but there are a few things that I just didn't have the appropriate photo to go along with the story!

I came back from the Colored Pencil Society of America Convention on Sunday and I've been trying to catch up and recover all week! It was a wonderful week spent with other colored pencil artists from all over the country and even Canada (Teresa)! I enjoyed getting to see artists that I have met at previous conventions, online artist friends, and making new friends as well. I left on a Monday to pick up my traveling buddy, Toni James, at the airport in Memphis. From there we drove, well I drove, Toni read the maps, to Georgia. It seemed to be a very quick trip, but I'm sure that had more to do with the fact that Toni and I talked the entire way, across 3 states! We had lots to talk about, so the time flew by! We were given the nicknames of Thelma and Louise for the adventure that we were taking, however, we behaved, unlike the movie version of Thelma and Louise!

We were able to get to our destination with the help of preprinted maps to Duluth and some additional help from Charlene, the good lady on Toni's cell phone! She gave us turn by turn instructions to the hotel! (I must get one of those phones that can give me directions!)

Tuesday and Wednesday we had the privilege of going to the Presidents forum as representatives of our CPSA Chapters, where we learned about what other chapters are doing as a group. We also took a trip over to the gallery to view the exhibit. If you haven't seen a colored pencil exhibit in person, you should try to do so. This show is an international show, with the most amazing work in Colored Pencil. The CPSA website has the winners pieces posted here: 2009 17th Annual International Exhibition • Atlanta, GA•

I also attended two colored pencil workshops while I was there. I like to attend workshops to get ideas for myself, but also for my high school art students. Both of these workshops were full of ideas that I can take back to the classroom. The first one was taught by Betsy Holster, who gave us many ideas on how to be more creative with our work. She had a table full of supplies that we could use to experiment with. It was a lot of fun to play with the supplies and techniques. Then I went to the workshop given by Pat Averill about rendering water with various techniques.

In between the meetings that I attended were the other activities such as the members meeting where we viewed a dvd of all of the entries for the show and they gave away many art supplies as door prizes. There was also a silent auction of small cp works that are donated by artists who have been in the shows in previous years. The banquet on Friday was also a highlight of the week. After the banquet meal, the awards winners from the show were announced. Those are listed in the link I gave previously.

Saturday morning was the only free time that I had all week, so we had a late breakfast at IHOP and went to Joann's Fabric and Craft store. I didn't buy anything, but I did get some ideas for some drawings! Saturday afternoon we attended the Artists reception at the Hudgens Art Center where the show is on display. It is a must see if you are in the area!

Finally, Saturday, after the reception, some of the artists from ScribbleTalk got together at Luciano's Restaurant. We had 2 tables of ST members and guests. The food was wonderful, but the visit with online friends was even better! Its great to get to know people that I've talked with online for years!

Sunday we left Duluth, for our drive back to Arkansas. This time we took a different route, taking us through Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, and into Arkansas. The weather was great going and coming, but while we were in Duluth it rained off and on all week, but it did keep the temperatures cool and comfortable.

This week I've been catching up on sleep, rest, putting up art supplies and all of those things that don't get done while away from home. But I have been working on my Paris Cafe piece as well, so I hope to have an update on that soon.

~Beth

Working Vacation?

I am attending the Colored Pencil Society of America Annual Exhibition and Convention next week in Atlanta, Georgia! I call this a working vacation, but I think it will be alot more fun than work. I will be attending 2 workshops, plus all of the activities of the convention and spending time with other artists! So I'm sure it will be an enjoyable, but busy trip.

I am working on some ATCs for trading at convention. One of the new activities for this year will be a groupwide ATC (Artist Trading Card) exchange. I have one completed and hope to do another before I leave. So, I have to get busy packing and drawing!

~Beth

Memphis Chapter CPSA Art Show

I don't have much news this week, except that I have two drawings hanging in the Memphis Chapter of CPSA show at the Bartlett Performing Arts Center, Bartlett, Tennessee. This show will run through Oct. 29th. As I mentioned last month , I had my latest baseball picture and my Tree Scribbles framed for this show. You can see these hanging in these two pictures. That's my baseball above the woman's head in the picture. The collage tree with scribbles is in the 2nd photo in the middle. The opening reception was held last night.

"Stars, Stripes, and Stitches
"Colors of the Seasons"

Getting Framed...

School started 3 weeks ago and I've been busy with work and no energy left at the end of the day to post or create. But hopefully things will start to settle down with school and I won't have as much work to bring home soon. I do have a few clay tiles that have been drying and waiting to be fired, so I hope to get to that soon.

I will be in a group show beginning around the end of this month, so I've gotten a couple of my most recent colored pencil paintings framed. The show is the Memphis Chapter of CPSA that I belong to. Their annual show will be held September through October at the Bartlett Performing Arts Center in Bartlett, Tennessee.

One of my colored pencil paintings is my 'Tree Scribbles' that I worked on in the last year. It is a collage of colored pencil on stonehenge pieces, glued to a black stonehenge background. The Colors extend onto the black stonehenge, which is hard to see in the photo. You can see a better image of the drawing unframed here. I've been debating on the title for awhile, but I think I've decided on "Colors of the Seasons".

This was another loose piece that I enjoyed working on lately. As soon as things slow down at work, I hope to do some more colored pencils pieces using these loose textural strokes.

Another piece that I will show is my latest cp piece, "Stars, Stripes, and Stichtes". Here it is framed. I think it turned out very nice in the frame. I ordered the frame and mat online, but the mat came slightly too large for the image, so I had to go back and add a quarter inch around the edges so it would fit, and I like the way it turned out. You can see a better unframed image of this one here.

"Stars, Stripes & Stitches"

Beth S. Macre © 2008

Learning About Etsy

I have been busy working on some drawings this week but I do not have anything to show. I have also been doing a lot of research about selling on Etsy. I think I mentioned earlier that I recently opened a shop on Etsy.

So much to Learn
I've been doing a lot of reading about how to promote my shop so it doesn't get lost in crowd. There are so many artists with shops on Etsy that are very successful, but you have to learn how to be found. From what I have read, that doesn't just happen without alot of effort! I did have my first sale about a week ago (YAY!) to a lady in Greece! So my Pink Flamingo ACEO drawing (in the photo) should be in Greece by now. I guess that means I've gone International. I have also been working on a custom tile as a trade with an artist in Canada. I fired it in the kiln today, so hopefully, I will be able to photograph it tomorrow and post it here. I hope that she likes it!

On the Drawing Board
Some other things that I am currently working on are ideas for future pieces that will be put in my shop, a larger colored pencil drawing for an upcoming CPSA Chapter Art Show, and I'm also getting ready to paint a mural at my church soon. So I've got a lot to do, but my summer break will be over in one month! So I have to get busy! Oh, and life has a way of cutting into that art time too! Oh well, I guess I would rather be busy than bored! Bored? I really don't know what that word means!

The Lone Cherry

" The Lone Cherry"
Prismacolor on Ersta Paper

Last summer I took a workshop at the annual CPSA convention under Linda Lucas Hardy. She uses an artist sandpaper for many of her beautiful colored pencil paintings. Part of the day, we worked on these cherries. I loved working on this paper and was pretty pleased with the results of my cherry. I plan to do some more cherries sometime, so my cherry will not be so lonely anymore. Hardy used to use Ersta paper, but now uses an archival version of this paper from the same company. The new paper is called Uart . This paper comes in different grits.

This week has been busy at work, so I don't have an update on the previous post yet, but I hope to have one this weekend. Thanks for stopping by!