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♥ 

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.

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

New Artwork...

I 'Hare' You!

Colored Pencil on Uart Paper 400

Beth S. Macre 2009

ScribbleTalk Exchange

I have two pieces that are done and ready to be delivered, but I couldn't post them until the recipients saw them first. The rabbit is for the ScribbleTalk ATC exchange, and the other is a painting for a friend. The rabbit will be heading out to Arizona next week, to my online friend, Toni. She is a wonderful artist, mentor, and a funny lady!

The painting was delivered today to Emerson and her Mom, Leigh. You can read about their adventures here. Toddlers are so cute! I wish that I had this blog technology when my kids were little. There are so many things that would be cool to remember and let them read about. My journal on paper is just not the same. Sorry the picture here is dark, but I delivered the painting before I looked at this image on the computer. This painting matches little Emerson's bedroom with the pink and green and lots of polka dots! Its really cute!

Spring break has been very nice, both in my time in the studio and weather wise...so far. It has rained quite a bit, but its been at night and sunny during the day! But Monday we go back to work and start working towards the end of the school year! My advanced art classes will be working with clay, so that means I will have some new clay work to show.

Have a wonderful day!
~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

October ATC Exchange

by Brandy Perez © 2008
I am the lucky recipient of this little beauty that was created by Brandy Perez. Some of the members of ScribbleTalk.com, a website for Colored Pencil, and other pencil media, participate in an exchange of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). For the October exchange, I received this drawing by a very talented young artist. Brandy Perez is an award winning artist who, I predict, has a very bright future with her art. She is known for her amazing colored pencil paintings of cows, but she has proven to be talented with many subjects.

Strawberry ATC

"One Strawberry"

2 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Prismacolor on Stonehenge

Beth S. Macre © 2008

This ATC (Artist Trading Card) will be traveling to England to its new home. The latest ATC exchange on ScribbleTalk was announced Sunday. As usual, there are some very nice little works of art on display.

Where is Spring?

One more week until Spring Break begins! I'm waiting patiently until Spring Break to re-engergize! I've been too tired mentally to even think about starting a new drawing. When I get home from work, I have to recharge my batteries. Spring Break is always a welcome break in routine from work and 100s of teenagers that have various degrees of illness ranging from spring fever to full blown Senior-itis! So needless to say, my days can be exhausting!

I need to work on an ACEO for the ScribbleTalk trade for March. I've been taking some pictures of fruit for ideas. I hope to start some sketches this weekend. I will try to post a sketch or two this weekend.

For now, I will post this experiment I did a couple of years ago. I worked from life, setting up a couple of apples, and experimented with different techniques of applying color in nine sections.

The first section and the last section are watercolor pencil, cut into pieces to look like mosaic. The second section is pointilism with markers. The rest are all colored pencil using crosshatching, circulism, blending, and contour lines.




"How 'bout Them Apples"
Colored Pencil on Stonehenge & WC Pap
Beth S. Macre © 2006

Tulips ATC

"3 Tulips"

2 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Prismacolors and Neocolor II

Blue Colourfix

Beth S. Macre © 2007

This is my latest ACEO. I used neocolor II underpainting with prismacolors on top. This is included in the online trade of ATCs at ScribbleTalk. ScribbleTalk is an online community of colored pencil artists (and some others who use other drawing media).

Pumpkin ATC

Beth S. Macre © 2007

Here is my latest ACEO for the trade on ScribbleTalk. This is prismacolor on white stonehenge.

September ATC

“Three Apples”
Colored pencil Stonehenge

Beth S. Macre © 2007

This month has been extremely busy because it was the first full month of school. The first couple of months are always very busy trying to get organized, learning new procedures, computer programs, meetings, etc. etc. Plus I decided to paint my kitchen and breakfast room this month. It is mostly done, but I still need to finish up the baseboards and the wall going down my hallway. So, I haven't had much time or energy for completing much artwork. I did manage to complete a small piece (ACEO size) for the ATC trade at ScribbleTalk. So here is my image that I will be trading. "Three Apples" is Prismacolor on White stonehenge.

I have 2 projects on the drawing board that I will post later. Hopefully this month will be more productive, artistically.

Candy anyone?

"Lemon ~ The Chosen one"

Colored Pencil on Stonehenge

3 1/2" x 2 1/2"

Shown here is my most recent addition to my ACEO size colored pencil artwork. It was created for the August ATC trade at ScribbleTalk. August has been a very busy month with school beginning last week, two weeks of in-service before that, and the CPSA exhibition the week before that. So, my artwork has been limited this month. Also the temperature outside has been over 100 degrees plus the heat index in the 110's. Not that I work outside, but any activity in this kind of heat can be draining...especially after working with 140 teenagers all day! Hopefully I will be able to work on some of my art this weekend. I'm beginning to get cranky from not having something on the drawing board. ...plus I have a group art show to get at least one new piece ready for. So back to stare at the blank papers on my drawing table.