Peace Painting

 Peace...don't we all wish for Peace. Peace in the world, peace at home, peace at work, or simply peace in our hearts.  This is something that I pray for every day.  Somedays I have it, some days, not so much. But to me, a freshly fallen snow is about the closest to Peace as I can be. 

So, the studio in Searcy, Second Saturday Studio, asked the artists to create a piece that illustrates the word Peace.  This painting will be on display and for sale December 11th at the Studio in Searcy, Arkansas.  I thought I would experiment with mixed media, texture, but also include a home, which seems to be my favorite subject. Here are a couple of photos of the painting, as it was finished.  The second photo was taken from the side, so you can see, the texture and the fact that the painting wraps around the
side of the canvas. 

So, I hope you find Peace daily, but especially this season.
Beth

New Houses and Grand Opening Pictures

 I took a couple of new size houses with me to the Grand Opening of Second Saturday Studio (SSS).  The green one is shown above, and the the blue one is shown below.  They are quite a big larger than the small ones, but a lot smaller than the largest ones that I completed about a month ago.  I like this size much better. They range from 6 inches to 7 1/2 inches tall.  They are much easier to handle, as well as display on a shelf or cabinet. 

Below is Christie standing by her beautiful jewelry display.  She is another artist that is displaying her art (jewelry) at the studio. I just met her on Saturday and I enjoyed talking with her so much! I look forward to seeing her more in the future.  We had a nice walk around the downtown square, where she told me about some of the old places there. 

Here is a photo of the studio wall that is filled with paintings.

 On our walk around the downtown square, I took several photos with architectural details.  They were very interesting.  So here is a photo of the beautiful courthouse in downtown Searcy.  It is about a half a blog from the SSS.

Below is a photo of me standing next to my paintings and some of my mini houses (in the bags).  This is definitely not a flattering photo of me, but I'm going to post it anyway, although I hate it!  I must have a talk with my dietitian and trainer! (haha...that would be me and me)  I definitely need to start walking 4-5 times per week.  We'll see when that will happen. Hopefully I can keep that 75-78 class reunion in mind when exercising. 

Just went back and edited this post. I was very tired when I originally typed it! Guess I shouldn't type when I am sleepy!

~Beth

The Grand Opening of Second Saturday Studio...

...is this Saturday. I will be traveling to Searcy to attend the grand opening day at the Studio.  Although it has been open 2 Saturdays already, they are celebrating the Grand Opening of the Studio this Saturday with give aways, food, fun, and lots of beautiful artwork for sale!  So I am going to stay with my parents, who live about 30 minutes away, and spend Saturday in Searcy, meeting with the other artists and, hopefully, lots of visitors coming through during the day.  I certainly wish all of you lived close enough to come by to visit, but since most of you do not, I will take pictures to share next week.

As an update to what I am doing in the studio, I am still glazing and creating more mini hearthomes, in preparation for the trip to Georgia in May.  Tomorrow (Friday) I will be unloading the kiln, that has lots of glazed and unglazed houses, along with lots of student pottery. So it should be fun to unload the kiln in the morning.  It is always exciting to open it up to see how the glazed (finished) pieces have turned out!

Have a great weekend and if you are in central Arkansas, please stop by The Second Saturday Studio, in downtown Searcy.  I will be there all day!
~Beth

One More Month...

...until time to go to my first Art Festival as an artist! May 8th & 9th, we will be in Dunwoody, Georgia for my first Art Festival, and also the first Art Festival for the town of Dunwoody.  This festival is organized by the same group who organizes a similar Art Festival that is held in Norcross, Georgia in the fall.  Check out the website to see the list of artists who will be at the Festival!  So it is definitely crunch time for me to finish creating the clay houses that I will be taking to sell at the Art Festival.  I hope to do well at this festival. If it is successful, I may continue to participate in this and other festivals in the future.  I believe this is one of those opportunities that found me for a reason.  In preparation for retirement from teaching in the near future, I am definitely looking for more opportunities to make a living with my art. So look for future blogs about my experiences in preparing for and going to Dunwoody!

Another opportunity that I have come across recently is the Art Cooperative in Searcy, Second Saturday Studio.  I recently posted about the Studio that opened up a couple of weeks ago.  Two Arkansas artists, Kelly VanHook and Micah Holden, who live in central Arkansas, have organized this space to give Arkansas artists a place to show and sell their art.  As artists, it is difficult to find places that are available for artists.  So I was very excited to hear about this space.  Normally they are open only once a month, but they are going to be open this Saturday, because of a local festival at the college in town. But the big Grand Opening event will be next weekend, April 10th, from 9 am to 5 pm.   I will be attending this event and look forward to meeting all of the artists that display at the Studio.  If you are in central Arkansas this Saturday, April 3rd, or next Saturday, April 10th, come by the Studio to check out the super Arkansas artwork! They are even starting a gift registry!

Wish me luck in these events, so that I will be able to move toward my goal to become a full time artist by next year!

Good luck in your artistic endeavors! I hope you will stick around to hear more about mine.
~Beth

Grand Opening Saturday!

Second Saturday Studio

Opening Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Searcy, Arkansas

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I took some of my art and clay houses to Searcy last weekend to sell in a new shoppe, Second Saturday Studio, that is opening up today. I will not get to go this month because it is a two hour drive from here. Since I was just there last weekend to take my work and get all signed up to participate, it is just too much to go two weekends in a row. I really wish that I lived closer to central Arkansas, where my parents are, but that is another goal that I would like to pursue in the future! Anyway, the paintings shown above are some of the ones that are available in the new shoppe. Both photos show a set of 2 paintings, which can be purchased together or separately. I also have lots of little houses that are shown in the photos on the SSS Blog. They are hanging in bags below the paintings.

Sunday they started featuring the artists who will have their work in the shoppe. And on Monday, they featured me here: Introducing Beth S. Macre!

So I am excited to find out how the Grand Opening goes today! For now the shoppe is only going to be open once a month, but if you want to go in there to look around at another time, all you have to do is call one of the owners, Kelly Van Hook or Micah Holden. Check out the Facebook Fan page here: Second Saturday Studio Fanpage You will find all of the contact information and addresses that you may need if you are interested in visiting the shoppe. There will be a very interesting variety of items that will be for sale in the shop! So, if you are in central Arkansas on the second Saturday of each month, please stop by and see what artistic goodies you will find!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Beth

I've been out of town this weekend, visiting family and delivering artwork to a new gallery/art boutique that will be opening soon. The grand opening is this Saturday. I am pretty excited about this. So watch for updates soon about the Second Saturday Studio. I will post some photos of the paintings that will be for sale. If you follow the link to the blog, you can read more about it now.

Stay tuned for more to come! ;-)

~Beth