In the studio

 In the Studio

 

 

August has been very hot, as usual, but the temperatures here in Arkansas have cooled down to a much more comfortable level this week. I seem to have more energy when the weather is nice so I am beginning to look forward to fall. I would say it's my favorite season but I love something about each season. 

What I’m working on…  

I shipped the first small batch of rainbow houses last week and finished making the next batch of houses to glaze. While those were drying, I have been sketching some ideas and thinking about plans for future projects.

I worked on some sketches for my next tiny house design. Last year I made Halloween themed tiny houses, and only a few fall themed houses, so I decided to go with fall this year. Many of my customers have become collectors so I want to make sure I offer a variety of themes for customers to collect. The photo below is my first sketch. I will make a couple of samples when I make another batch of rainbow houses. My priority right now is finishing the rainbow houses and hope to have enough time to get the fall houses made!

Ready to Ship Sales

Since I started taking pre-orders for the tiny houses, I have not been having many ready to ship restocks. The pre-order system seems to allow for more of my customers to purchase a house, but it takes me quite a while to fill all of those orders, which doesn't leave much time to make extra houses. However, I do have some samples and some slightly imperfect pieces that I will probably put up for sale in the near future, so if you missed out on pre-orders, make sure you are following me on Instagram or signed up for my newsletter to get notified of the details when those events happen. 

Link to Instagram: Beth Macre on Instagram

Link to Newsletter Sign up. Newsletter Sign Up

Blog post updates

Also, check back here weekly if you are interested in finding out what I'm working on. There is a link at the top of my website, BethSMacre.com. (See photo below)

I think email inboxes have become so full that many of us, me included, miss seeing the newsletters that get lost in the advertising emails. The social media algorithms don't always show us the accounts we want to see, so I thought that if I started blogging again, you can come to my website and catch up on what I'm doing, if you are interested. It won't disappear after 24 hours, it won't get lost in your emails, and it will be here as long as I am here. 

This blog dates back to before Instagram, Facebook, and all of the other sites that have come and gone. I originally started it to document what I was doing with my art while I was still teaching. I stopped blogging for awhile because social media kind of took over that goal. But time changes everything, so I thought I would get back to blogging and document what I'm working on again. I plan to create some long form videos for You Tube, but I'm still learning to create content that would be interesting to watch, and trying to figure out what I want to vlog about. I love to draw and paint and would love to do more of that and maybe create some drawing or painting how to videos. Working with clay is very difficult to video and my process with clay takes so long and would be kind boring to watch, in my opinion! Like watching grass grow. It is a slow process. 

So if you've made it this far, leave a comment below and let me know if you like to watch videos and what you would enjoy watching. I will share a link when I upload some video content. 

Until next time...

Doodling on Black Paper

New, to Me, Paper for Doodle Sketching

I had some black paper that I used to use for my colored pencil drawings, so I decided to try them out with a white pen (Uniball Signo Gel Pens).  I created a few drawings and loved the look, but wasn't thrilled with the way the pen was going onto the paper. It did not always flow evenly.

I saw these little packs of black paper at my local craft store, so I decided to try it out. The first drawing I did on this new (to me) paper turned out so much better than the other paper!

So I got online and found the same paper, Strathmore Artagain in a larger tablet size and ordered it right away! I ordered mine through Amazon, but it is also available through Blick Art Materials.

I've been playing around with the square tile paper to see what it can take and what I can do with them.

Here are a few of my doodles on the black tiles. 

I took one of them (so far), and added color with colored pencils. I always use Prismacolor pencils. I plan to add color to all 3 of these doodles.

I had hoped to use some paint pens, but the first kind I used did not work like I had hoped. So I will need to experiment with some other types of pens to see if I can get the look I wanted. For now, I will stick with the colored pencils.  I have tons of colored pencils! I hope to find some pens that leave a bright color on the black paper, similar to the white pen that I am using.


If anyone knows of some colored pens that work well on black paper, I would love to know! And if I find some, I will definitely update this post!

Hope you are having a nice 3 day weekend!

Have a great week!

Beth♥