Making Hard Decisions

I've taught art in the same district for 29 years.  The last 25 of those have been in the same classroom at the high school level.  I guess I must not like to change things up very much.  So, for me to make this important decision, was very difficult.  I made the decision to retire from teaching.  I have been thinking about it off and on for a year or so.  Although I have, for the most part, enjoyed my little home away from home.  I have spent more time in that classroom than I have been home.  I really enjoyed getting to know my students who loved to come to the art room to create and explore and enjoy the process of learning.  It was a blessing to see so many students enjoy my class.  But, it was time for a change. Change is good.  I retired from this job, but I plan to continue to be an artist, hopefully sell some things along the way...hopefully a lot of things!  But I know that I will probably continue to teach art in some way.  I don't know what or how yet, but creating art and teaching art seems to be my purpose...and I cannot give up that part of me.  It will just be in a different place. I have some ideas rolling around in my head.  For now, I will continue to create in my home studio that is bursting at the seams with supplies that are begging to be used.

Beth ♥

Summer break is almost here!

Clay Owl Sculpture
by me...

I call it summer break, but I really don't just sit back and do nothing! Actually it is not really a break from work, just from the rushed schedule of having to be at work at a certain time and meeting school deadlines.  After school is out, I start on my "To Do" list.  It starts out very long. Most important items at the top of the list and the least at the bottom.  I never get through the entire list, but I usually get the most important things done.  Among some of the things that I do are cleaning and de-cluttering around the house.  I do some deep cleaning that does not get done as much during the school year because of lack of time and energy.  But most important is the time that I have to work on extra art projects of my own or commissions for other people.  That list is growing as I write this! And that is a good thing!  One of my goals is to replace my dead laptop!  So hopefully those art commissions will help me reach that goal!  My need for a new laptop seems to get pushed down on the priority list quite often.  But that is just the reality of having a family and having a kid in college!

I recently created a clay sculpture of an owl (to go with my owl painting series), but it looks a little crazy. But that is how I feel this time of year trying to get everything done for the end of the school year.  Everything happens so fast at school, and so much is going on that it just boggles my brain. So I thought I would share this photo of my owl sculpture, just so you would understand!  I'm looking forward to time to paint and work with clay, just to clear my mind!

Beth ♥

The Busy Time of Year...

...is usually at the beginning of the school year and at the end of the school year.  That is the case this year, as well, but it never really seem to slow down all year long!  It has been a very busy school year, so it has gone by very quickly!  Only a few more weeks until summer break and I plan to spend many days in the studio! I do plan to relax and recuperate from the school year too. But I have several projects already lined up for this summer and want to try out some new ideas as well.

We just had the district wide 'All That Jazz' art show, so I have been busy working to get student artwork ready for that.  I haven't had the time or the energy to work on anything except that.  I did

I creat this 3D Owl out of newspaper and plaster strips earlier in this semester, as an example for my students, who were creating their own sculptures. (Shown here in my Art Class Blog ) It was the first owl that I created. After I did this one, I decided to start painting some owls on canvas that I have shown here in previous posts.  I've also made a couple of little clay owls that are not complete yet.

So, I'll be pretty busy with the end of school activities over the next few weeks.  I'll post something if I have time. But if not, you'll know I'm overwhelmed with end of the year paperwork!

Beth ♥

Mixed Media and Countdown to Summer Break

Summer break is coming much faster than I realized! Last week I counted the weeks and thought that we still had 7 weeks, but last week I was told it was 5 1/2 weeks (not counting this past week)! Last year we went to school into June because of snow days that we had to make up. This year we started school a little earlier and had no snow days...obviously, because we had little, if any, winter weather.  So it won't be long before I will have more time at home to create!

Today I just thought I would share a mixed media project that I created as an example for a student project at school.  We did a mixed media collage, using magazines and acrylic paints.  Since I create my little clay houses and clay house tiles, I decided to create a house with a fence and tree.  I used a stack of my favorite Arkansas magazines (At Home in Arkansas) to cut out Arkansas details, words, maps, and colors to put together to create my image.  I included a tree and since I have been doing owls, I had to include a little owl.  I painted a little mini owl and cut it out and put it into the tree.

At Home in Arkansas published some of my little clay houses a couple of years ago (June 2009). You can see it here: Cottage Industry in At Home in Arkansas. 

Becoming a night owl...

'Night Owl...almost finished'
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
11x14
SOLD

Well, actually I've been a Night Owl all my life. I enjoy staying up late and I used to be able to sleep in late, but now I just can't seem to sleep in anymore.  But I was referring to all of the owls that I've been enjoying painting lately. I recently painted a picture for my niece for her new baby's nursery which included a woodland theme. So looking for ideas for woodland animals, I came across many owls. So I put some owls in her painting and have done several additional owls, because they are so fun to do!  I do love whimsical style art, so naturally I love doing the whimsical owls.  I have plans to do more whimsical animals.

Beth ♥

Spring Time and Clay Time

A few colorful clay houses to go along with the Spring Bloom photos from last week.  Spring came early this year. The weather has been warm for awhile so the azaleas and dogwoods already started blooming. I took a drive around some neighborhoods with pretty blooms.  I just wish some of these were in my yard!

Beth ♥

Whimsical Owl Trend...

"Night Owl"
Just Listed on Etsy

Lately, I have been so busy at school, when I do have time to create, I just want to have fun and enjoy the process.  I go back and forth between painting with acrylics and working with clay, creating my whimsical houses.  Both tend to be more whimsical when I am just creating for the fun of it.  My niece recently had a baby and the nursery theme is woodland animals with owls, so that got me started on the owls.  I sketched some out and ended up painting several in different media. One in watercolor and the others in acrylic.  I'm sure there will be some owls in clay at some point!  I just listed the 'Night Owl' in my Etsy shop. The other owl on canvas is on the easel now.  I will be finishing it soon.  Beth♥   

Trip to Crystal Bridges

This is Spring Break and I visited my daughter for her birthday.  Northwest Arkansas has so much to do so we took advantage of the time together.  Sunday we went to a Razorback baseball game. It was my first Razorback baseball game to attend. I've been to some football games and one basketball game, so this was new.  The baseball team is very good and they did win their game. The weather was pretty, although I kept worrying about the clouds that periodically clouded the stadium.  I knew the rain would be here soon.   

Me standing by the window overlooking the water
and the museum.

Then Monday our trip to Crystal Bridges had to be postponed until Wednesday because of the crowds and the rain. The rain started before we got up Monday morning, and thinking that the weather would keep any crowds away, we took our time getting to the museum.  Well, when we got there, I realized I was wrong!  All of the parking lots were full, so we decided to try again Wednesday. We still had to endure the rain, but we got there earlier, so we wouldn't have to walk 2 miles in the rain to get to the front door!  It was worth the wait, see the cupcake? That was dessert after a wonderful plate of chicken salad and fruit that was delicious!  I do want to return another time when the weather is much better.  We could not explore the beautiful grounds outdoors and many things were in bloom! 

Crystal Bridges is a beautiful Museum, inside and out. It just opened in Bentonville, Arkansas in Oct. 2011, built by Alice Walton, daughter of the late Sam Walton (Wal Mart). She collects American art and decided to build this museum here in Arkansas and I think it is just great! I'm posting photos of the grounds and inside a couple of areas, but not the artwork. I don't want to break any copyright laws or anything, but there are many famous artworks in there including some of Norman Rockwell's (Rosie the Riveter), Grant Wood, Chuck Close, Mary Cassatt, Jacob Lawrence, Frank Stella...and many more.
Here is a link for anyone in the area that may want to go for a visit: Crystal Bridges Website

My daughter always walks away from me when I am taking pictures! But I love this one for some reason.

Beautiful scenery outside! Wish we could have explored, but that will have to wait until another trip and a sunny day!

I wanted a photo of this tree sculpture that is just outside the front of the museum, and since my daughter will not pose for me, I asked her to take this one of me.  Yes, I was standing in the rain and it was a little on the chilly side, but its a cool tree sculpture. Not so much a good photo of me though. 


The rest of Spring Break will be resting! Back to work on Monday! 






Beth♥

Sick Computer...

Whimsical Love Birds ~ Watercolor and Pen
Work in Progress
Beth S. Macre 2012

My laptop suddenly died on me a couple of weeks ago, so I've been working on my son's computer. My beloved laptop went to the shop to get repaired, but things keep adding up, so I think that I may have to bite the bullet (save some $) and buy a new one. The photo editing program that I usually use is not on this computer, so I have not done updated posts. I like to edit my photos before putting them on the web. But unfortunately, I don't think my old computer will be making it out of sickbay. I did have all my important photos saved on an external hard drive, so that is safe!  My son mainly uses his IPhone for computer use, so luckily I have had his laptop to use.  I've pretty much taken over it. Thankfully he has not minded. But I have been working on some artwork. Here I will show a couple of watercolor paintings that I've been working on.  Hopefully the next post will be from my own computer with my own photo editing programs that I am used to.

Whimsical Owl ~ Watercolor and Pen
Beth S. Macre 2012

Beth♥ 

Adding Watercolor to Pen and Ink...fun!

Hearts and Flowers

After spending time looking at a lot of inspiration on Pinterest, I got the urge to work with watercolor and pen and ink. So I played around with a pen sketch and added some watercolor. (I love to do creative doodles!) I had some mixed media paper, by Strathmore, that I got samples of last year. I really liked how it took both the pen and ink and the watercolor.  So I will be ordering some of that paper and will look into purchasing some good pan watercolors. The Strathmore paper did much better than the second image that I did.  

The second image was done with the same pen and ink and watercolor, but on a different paper.  It was done on bristol paper, which is good for pen and ink, but it did not hold up as well to the watercolor.  But I already had the pen and ink sketch on the paper and thought I would give it a try.  

HeartHomes by the Sea

I really had fun playing with it and will definitely buy some good watercolors and more mixed media paper. 

Beth♥