DIY Pencil Holder

Keeping the Pencils Organized

Do you have a lot of pens, pencils, markers? 

When you have a lot of art supplies, you need a system for keeping them organized. I have a lot of colored pencils. When I draw with my colored pencils, it is very important to know where I can find certain colors when I need them. I shared my system of keeping them organized a few years ago (here), but I thought I would share it again and offer a few of my tips.

Here is a photo of my colored pencils organized by colors in my handmade pencil holder.

I use my holder for my colored pencils, my Prismacolor Colored Pencils and I have a lot of them.  But this holder could be used for pencils, pens, markers, or paintbrushes, or a mixture of all of these. I should probably even make another holder to hold all of these items.

DIY Pencil Holder

Whatever your pencil or pen obsession is, you may face the same problem that I do.
How to keep them organized and easy to use.
A few years ago, I needed some way to keep my growing colored pencil collection organized. I had gone to a colored pencil workshop where the Instructor had made a holder for her colored pencils. I liked her idea, so I took her concept and made my version of it. Actually, I made two of them.


Small Pencil Holder
The art instructor's version is smaller than the one I made. Hers is great for individual projects, but I wanted mine to hold my entire collection of colored pencils. Or at least the ones that have been sharpened. Yes, I have that many pencils. She used smaller PVC pipe and a thinner, more lightweight, base piece of wood.

Her pencil holder would be great for keeping your pencils for one or two current projects organized. (If you use colored pencils, you probably understand that you may use 20 or 30 colors in one project.)
The smaller version could also be used to keep a variety of drawing tools.

The Large Pencil Holder DIY

Supplies for the Large Version

Cutting Tool - We used a table saw.

3 Inch PVC Pipe -  We bought 2 pieces and cut into five 4" pieces with an extra 2 1/2" piece.
Tip #1: Cut them short enough that the pencils will stick out of the top and tall enough to hold the pencils upright. I had one shorter extra piece that I placed on the end to hold short pencils.
Tip #2: Thanks to a reader tip, I have learned that the printed letters on the PVC pipe can be removed with fingernail polish!

One 8 ft. piece of 1x4 Lumber -  Cut into two pieces to the length that you want your holder to be.
Tip: You may want to place the cut pieces of pipe onto the board to see how many will fit then cut. I cut 2 pieces that fit on top of a bookshelf.  (I painted the board white to match the PVC pipe) You can cut as many strips as you need for your supplies.

E6000 Glue - Clear
Use the E6000 tube of glue to attach the pieces of pipe onto the pre-painted board.
Tip: I made sure the letters that are printed on the pipe was facing another pipe so it would not be so obvious.
Let the glue dry and it will be ready to use!

For more how to details, check out my previous post. You can find it here: Pencil Organizer

Now go make your pencil/pen/supply holder! Hope this inspires you!

Until next time!

Beth♥

Studio Organization - Colored Pencils

Colored Pencils
Artists are notorious for having lots of art supplies. I'm guilty as charged. It is a necessity. It is a passion. It is like baking supplies for a foodie. And to make matters worse, I work in a variety of media...from colored pencils to pen and ink to acrylic paint to watercolor paint to oil paint to clay.

So I am constantly fighting to keep things organized and within reach at the same time.  So I thought I would post a few photos of a project that I've done to 'try' to get my studio organized a little.  But keep in mind that this is a work in progress.  One step at a time, right?  So, one side of my studio is devoted to drawing. The other is devoted to clay and paint...the 'messy' media.  Today I just want to talk about the colored pencils on the drawing side of the studio. In case you cannot tell, Prismacolor Colored Pencils are my favorite. I have a lot. I have more stored in containers in my desk.


Organizing Colored Pencils

Problem: Keeping said colored pencils organized (in one place) enough that I can find the colors when I need them and make good use of 'small nubs' of colored pencils.
Solution:
Buy (2) 2' length White PVC Pipes
( I used 3" diameter, cut to preferred size to hold the pencils)
** I cut 5 pieces approximately 4 1/4" each with the remaining piece being 2 1/2" for pencil nubs.

NOTE** You may want to get more, or longer, PVC and cut all pieces the same size.  But I always have little nubs of colored pencils that I want to keep up with.  I use them to glue onto new pencils!  But that is another story!

(2) 22"  length 1x4 painted white boards (I cut them to fit the number of pieces of PVC I wanted AND to fit the top of a bookshelf that sits beside by drawing table. You may want to cut one wider board, instead of two to fit onto a table or desktop.)  I wanted 2 separate boards so I could move them around later. Also, I already had the wood pieces painted.
*E-6000 Glue (or any strong glue) to adhere the PVC to the boards, making sure the black words printed on the pipes are facing each other for a cleaner look.

I had my husband cut the PVC pipe on his electric saw.  Then I placed them on the board, into position, the way I wanted them to be glued.  I positioned them so that the 'unattractive' words that come printed on them would be facing each other.  Then I started by picking up the end piece and spread glue onto the bottom of the PVC and placed it back on the board.  I continued with that until I finished with all six pieces. Then I started on the second board.  I let it dry overnight before I organized my sharpened colored pencils by color groups and placed them on the bookshelf next to my drawing board.

And for current projects,
there is just enough room at the end of the two boards to hold two large mugs that will hold the colored pencils that I will keep while working on a project.   I think this will work pretty well for me! I've been searching for some ideas for keeping up with my pencils and found some ideas on YouTube, but I recently went to a colored pencil workshop and the instructor, Nancy Charles, had a similar version of this.  So I modified it to fit my needs and came up with this.  So, thank you, Nancy, for the inspiration!

Beth♥

We Love our Dogs...

"Dupree"
Colored Pencil
BethS. Macre©2012

February Love for the week.   Most people who have a dog, really love their dogs like a part of the family.  We love our two dogs and our two 'Grandogs'.  I've drawn, painted, and sculpted variations of dogs over the years.   Love your dog? Click here to order a custom portrait:
Custom Order a Pet Portrait from my Etsy Shop.

Dogs…

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."   Josh Billings

Beth  ♥

The Month for Hearts....

...love, flowers, candy, gifts, friends!  February is here! Heart Art is fun to create.  I love to put hearts on many things, all year, not just in February. It can express how you feel about so many things.  Plus, they are so happy.  So, during the month of February I am going to blog, quote, draw, paint, and photograph, things with hearts and things that I love and post them here.  Feel free to share what you love and add your comments about the things you 'heart' too.

♥Friendship ♥

So for the first day of February, I want to share a few of my favorite friendship quotes...

"...there is no greater gift than friendship."   Anonymous

"...a friend is someone with whom you dare to be yourself."  Frank Crane

"...how rare and wonderful is that flash of a moment when we realized we have discovered a friend."                                                                                        
                                         William Rotsler

"...it takes a long time to grow an old friend."     John Leonard

Beth  ♥

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 ♥

Something in Color!

"Dupree"
8x8 inches - Colored Pencil
Beth S. Macre  © 2012

Seems that I am always drawn back to color.  I've worked a lot with pen and ink, especially during 2011, but I just finished a colored pencil drawing of a dog!  It was really nice to use some color for a change.  This is a picture of Dupree.  It is 8x8 inches on Uart paper, using Prismacolors.  It was fun to do.  I'm still doing pen and ink drawings, but its always nice to mix it up a bit and have some variety.  I will definitely be adding more color to my palette this year.
Thanks for looking!

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♥ 

Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Colored Pencil ACEO
by Me

We never have a true white Christmas, but I would love to have at least see some snow on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  I love snow.  I thought I would share this version of Santa, that I drew, in his long john pjs and the snowy night background, in hopes that we see some snow around Christmas.

Shopping is mostly done. Wrapping is mostly done... thanks to my daughter!  Drawing commission is in the works and that is what I will be spending the rest of the week working to finish by Christmas Eve!  After Christmas I will be able to share the pen and ink home commissions.  I don't want to take the chance of someone recognizing their house before they receive their gift.

Hope you have a safe and Merry white Christmas (if you want one)!

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♥

Working Small with Pen and Ink

Rockin' on the Porch
Ink and Colored Pencil
Beth S. Macre © 2011

I organize an ATC exchange on the Colored Pencil Forum called ScribbleTalk. I have a wonderful collection of original art from a variety of artists from all over the country and some international artists.  ATCs are very small works of art. They are 3 1/2 inches x 2 1/2 inches.  Today I posted the most recent exchange on ScribbleTalk. I managed to finish this one for the exchange this time.  It will be going to its new home in North Carolina.  I will receive one from an artist who lives in Oregon. 

My inspiration was from a photo that I took while on a trip this summer with my old friends from high school. I posted a photo of the front porch here.    I'm sure at some point, this porch or house will be in another work of art from me. Right now its still in my mind, but it will be done someday. 

Have a nice week!

Beth♥ 

The Balancing Act

"Butterflower"
Colored pencil and Black Sharpie Pen

Beth S. Macre © 2011

I am trying my best to balance out my school teaching duties with my own artistic goals, which is important as an art teacher, without getting overwhelmed. Plus I also have a personal life to keep into the equation. Sometimes I am tempted to chose not to participate in activities with friends and family, because I am so busy with everything else, which is not good. So that is what I am struggling with. I really want to do it all, but unfortunately, I have to sleep sometime during the 24 hours a day that we are given.
This week was an especially busy week at work, so I was extra tired and got little accomplished after work each day. There are so many creative projects that I would love to start, but right now the time is just not available. I will definitely need to cut back on those time wasting activities that accomplish nothing, except procrastination.
But this little drawing shown is a drawing I did with my students who were working on line designs with black pens and colored pencils.  I call it 'Butterflower' because it started out as a Flower, then I added the antennae and the flowing lines. I just thought it looked alot like a butterfly too.  I'm not sure if it is finished yet. I need to decide how I will use it.  I also have a black and white digital image of the design, so I may play around with adding different colors in photoshop.

Well I'm off to go work on some clay projects then more pen and ink house projects.
Have a nice weekend!



Beth♥

Back home for a few days...

Dallas, TX

...from the CPSA convention and exhibition in Dallas, TX. That is the Colored Pencil Society of America, for anyone who does not know what CPSA is.  This year the convention was held in Dallas, TX where it was a balmy...well...just plain HOT... 100-105 degrees every day that we were there.  But it was just as hot back home in Arkansas, so I couldn't escape it!  But I was indoors most of the time anyway.

The convention was very nice, as usual. I spent the entire week with artists from around the country, who have similar interests as me. I also made some new friends that I look forward to staying in contact with.  I really believe that artists who belong to the CPSA are the friendliest bunch of people! I enjoyed the entire week, but was ready to get home to rest.  But I am off again this weekend to go visit with family, so this post will be short.

We made a side trip on Friday to the butterfly garden in Dallas.  We took pictures for as long as we could stand being in the butterfly room. We took a lot of pictures, that i expect to see some in future works of art.  It wasn't too bad, but it was a little muggy in there.  We had to get back to get ready for the awards night banquet.

View the award winning entries here:  CPSA.org
It was a beautiful show this year. Next year the show will be held in Cincinnati. I look forward to going to that one and seeing a part of the country that I haven't seen!

Beth♥

Yellow Rubber Duck ATC

Yellow Rubber Duck ATC
Colored Pencil on UArt paper
Beth S. Macre © 2009

Just thought I would share a colored pencil piece that I did over a year ago, but never posted it, for some reason.  Anyway, I painted a dog portrait for my niece with the yellow rubber ducky. I enjoyed painting it so much that I drew it for an ATC exchange a while back.    At the time, I planned to do some more things using the Rubber ducky theme, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.  I think I will try to do something with soon.

Have a great Friday!  
Beth♥ 

Artist Spotlight - Tim Hunter

By Tim Hunter © 2011
ATC in Colored Pencil

I wanted to share the illustration that I received in the mail a few days ago. I asked an online artist friend to create an illustration of me.  He makes the cutest illustrations and I hope that he will be illustrating a children's book someday!  So I sent him some sketches that I had done and he took those and added his touch and this is what he came up with.  I think its perfect!  If you know me, you know that the glasses on top of the head are perfect! They are either on my head or on the tip of my nose. Those that know me also know that I wear alot of turtlenecks and light blue is one of my favorite colors!  Pink is also one of my favorite colors and he added the pink scarf, which I thought was perfect too. 
Tim Hunter is the artist/illustrator of this little gem.  Check out his Etsy shop: Timbo's Art   and Hambo's Stamps  where he and his wife Monica create and sell Rubber and Digital Stamps.  Hope you will check out both of his sites.

This illustration is ATC size, 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches, done in colored pencil and ink. 

I think it is important to support, not only handmade, but American made. So please consider supporting the creative individuals that are working very hard to make a living, or just to supplement their incomes.  And understand that an artist works as hard to create, as your local professionals that you hire and pay good money for their services. 

Support an Artist Today!
Beth ♥

Hearts and Clay

So Valentines Day has come and almost gone. These holidays always sneak up on me.  But my little houses all have hearts on them, so I have sent many of them off to new homes over the last few weeks.  So I will be busy making more little houses to restock my Etsy shop! Which is a good thing! 

Me in front of my Artwork on display at Bennetts Nursery in Jonesboro.

My display includes my colored pencil artwork also.

Last week I attended the artist reception for the opening of the "Love of Art" Show in Jonesboro.  The weather had been terrible most of the week with snow and extremely cold weather, but Thursday turned out to be warm enough to melt away alot of the snow. So we traveled to Jonesboro for the opening.  I'm glad that we were able to go. I met some very nice people, including several artists who are displaying their art in the show also.  The show will be up until March 10th.  

Happy Valentines Day!

Beth

Happy Fourth of July!

Have a Happy and Safe 4th of July!

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

Landscape Workshop & Busy Week!

Oh my, its been a busy week! I haven't even posted an update on the workshop and artshow from last weekend! After coming back from the workshop on Sunday, I tried to recover enough to get through this week. At school, we had 2 late days at work for parent/teacher conferences and a teacher in-service day on Friday. But apparently I didn't recover well enough, because I got sick this week. All week, I have been...well not sick, but not feeling up to my usual self. At first I thought I may be coming down with a cold or the flu, but it never really got that bad. Just enough to make me feel yucky. I'm feeling better, but I still have the sinus issues that are complicating my breathing through the nose. (I'm trying to say this without too much unwanted details! haha)

So, all that to say, its been another busy week! I'm ready for things to slow down! Work just isn't going to cooperate though. I'm really thinking that the time is getting close for me to hang up the teaching business. My goal is to get through next year and see what life brings to me.

I won a ribbon! It was a People's Choice ribbon. No cash, but its nice to get recognition. One of these days, I hope to win a ribbon that gets money with it!

I stayed with my cousin, who lives near the area. She went to the reception with me and my husband. It was really wonderful to get to spend time with Kay. She is a very special part of my childhood (and adult) memories.

Linda Wesner is shown here during her presentation of her colored pencil workshop.

She does beautiful landscape drawings.

Here is my landscape drawing that I started at the workshop.

It is unfinished, but I will go back and finish it.

I don't do alot of landscapes, but I did enjoy this and we learned alot about taking our own photos for drawing ideas. I took some photos on the way to the workshop on the 2nd morning, that I'm looking forward to doing something with in the future! Even though I am not a morning person, I loved the light that time of the day. And to always keep the camera handy!

Hope you have a beautiful day!

~Beth

The Door...

...is from a photo that I took on my trip to France last year.

It was interesting to me because of the colors first and the intricate details of the door. It is attached to the hotel where we were staying, but I'm not sure if it was an apartment, or an entrance for employees of the hotel. I went for a walk to take some pictures. While I was taking photos, I noticed that there was movement inside the door, so I cut my photo shoot short and moved on. I didn't want to seem invasive to whomever was on the other side of the door. So the shadow figure is a mystery as to who it is.

This piece is, like the French Cafe, done with Prismacolor Color Pencils on UArt paper. This will be in a group show with the CPSA Chapter in Memphis starting next Friday.

I haven't been able to think of a title for this besides "The Door"...but anyone has a suggestion, I'm open to them!
~Beth

ATC Exchange and Future Project

We just finished another ATC exchange over at ScribbleTalk** and this is the little piece that I created for the exchange. This one will be going to Nancy. I hope that she will enjoy it. I am also working on a larger version of this door in colored pencil also. I don't have much time to get it finished, so I will be working on it alot this week. That is, if these sinus headaches don't put me out of commission!

**You do have to be a member to see the other images on ScribbleTalk. But it is a great forum to be a member of and the exchange is set up for members who actively participate on ScribbleTalk.