More sketches...

Why did I become a teacher?

I've been drawing and painting since I was a child, but I was never really got serious about it until I went to college. I took art classes in high school then in college, but I changed my major a few times, not thinking I could make a living from being an artist. I didn't, after all, know anyone personally that actually did that. So being the type person that plays everything safe, I decided that art degree needed a steady job to go with it. So I made the decision to become an art teacher. I know, most people say that they teach because they want to work with kids. Well, I have to be honest, that was not my motivation. I wanted a steady paycheck. I have enjoyed working with the older (high school) kids. But I also must say that it can be frustrating to get them motivated to work to their potential! (I'm sure my teachers thought the same about me, come to think about it!) Its great when the students really get it, enjoy it, and work at it! So I have taught high school art now for over 20 years and I've really learned alot from my students over the years. I think I have grown and evolved as an artist because of my teaching career. I have really grown to love working with the kids too! But on the other hand, it has limited my time to work on my own art, to the point of being frustrated by never having enough time to do what I want to do. I hope to have that time to work on what I want to do someday...but for now I have to go to work...I have duty this morning.




Here are a few more pages from my 'Artist Block Journal':











Ready to draw...
1/10/2004
Beth S. Macre









Ready to Go...
1/19/2004
Beth S. Macre


Sometimes I don't create because of other distractions...like having to go to work, grocery shopping, kids activities....







'Lizie and Lexie'
1/24/2004
Beth S. Macre

Sad and lazy. Sometimes I just get sad and lazy and don't do anything for a few days...especially this time of year!

Artist Block Sketch Journal

Artist Block Journal

About 4 years ago I decided to make art a bigger priority in my 'spare' time. My children were in high school and did not require as much of my time...they were going out with friends, going to events without me more and more. Before high school, they were more dependent on me and my transportation, obviously. Anyway, in 2004 I wanted to start drawing more regularly, as time allowed. But taking an hour or two of my busy daily schedule is harder than it sounds, and even harder to have inspiration to draw on demand! So I decided to start a sketch journal. I call it my "Artist Block Journal", because I only sketched in it when I couldn't come up with an idea for a 'real' sketch or drawing. I decided I would use a simplified figure in all of the sketches. That figure would have characteristics similar, but not exactly, like me. So I came up with a very rough charachter with a round head, that I named 'Lizie'...short for Elizabeth.


While I am working on the portrait commission that I have to finish in another week, I will post some of these sketches from that journal. Fortunately, 2004 has the most posts. Since then I have gradually been able to spend more of my spare time on actual sketches, drawings, and some paintings. But I enjoy looking back at the evolution of 'Lizie' and some of the projects that I have illustrated in those sketches. I plan to continue this sketch journal as much as possible.

Here are the first few pages of my artist block journal:

Page #1 in my Artist Block Sketch Journal

Lizie 1/1/2004

Beth S. Macre
Notice the very round head. She has evolved a little since then.

Page #2 ~ Artist Block Sketch Journal
Lizie 1/1/2004

Beth S. Macre

Notice the Turtleneck?

Page #3 ~ Artist Block Sketch Journal

Lizie 1/10/2004

"Wanting to Draw"

Beth S. Macre

Student Art Work

Student self portraits using a grid.

I started a pencil portrait commission of a family today. I will not be able to post it for privacy of the subjects and also because it is a secret for the recipients, so I will post some samples of my students' art. This class recently completed a project where they were to paint a self portrait using a grid, like the artist Chuck Close. (I would love to see that exhibition!) I wanted the students to learn to draw using a grid and to be creative in the way they painted the individual squares in the grid. As Chuck Close uses simple shapes in the squares to create the images.

These two students chose to pose in their reference photo together and match up their paintings as they were in the photo. The students really grumbled about this project in the beginning, but in the end, most of them were surprised and proud at what they accomplished! These two gave me permission to post their pictures here. (The cute guy may look like his mother...ME!) I may post some more later if the others want their pictures posted. They really got creative!

Could be a Tree...

"Tree of Colors"

Prismacolors on Colourfix

A week ago, I posted a small part of this drawing. I'm sure it was probably obviously a part of a tree...and yes I seem to be doing trees alot lately. So here is the whole piece. I finally had time to work on it yesterday. Its not quite finished though. I need to go back and punch up some of the colors in the background. Right now it looks a little more pastel than I wanted. So I'm going to finish this and try to move on to something besides trees. Maybe even do a still life...or a portrait...so much to chose from, so little time!

A Friend's Story

My close friend in high school has gone through a parents worst nightmare, for the last 2 1/5 years. Beth Holloway (Twitty) was on the Oprah show today. Natalee went missing in Aruba in 2005 and her family is still searching for answers. They may never find the answers, but I pray that someday Beth and Dave will. Beth has written a book that tells her story, from her point of view from the moment she got a call on her cell phone with the news that Natalee was missing. I could hardly put the book down. Although I watched all of the news shows that even mentioned the case as it happened (I was practically glued to the television that summer) and I got regular updates from family about the events, the book was very touching to read. If you have followed the story of Natalee Holloway and like to read this kind of book, I highly recommend it. The name of the book is "Loving Natalee" by Beth Holloway.

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!

What is it?

What is it?

Well it may be obvious, but this is a small portion of the colored pencil drawing that I am currently working on. To me it looks kindof abstract. The negative spaces and lines are what appealed to me with this piece. I started this a couple of months ago, but because of other commissions and my day job, I haven't finished this yet, but I have been working on this some this week. This is colored pencil on blue colorfix. I don't want to show the whole piece yet, but as soon as I get it finished I will post the whole piece. This image is about a quarter of the whole piece, which is on a whole sheet of colorfix.