New work on my website

Hello, I've posted a few new pieces to my website www.maconststudio.com The originals are available as well as prints you can order through the site.

From the Solo Show

I had my first Solo Show March 15th at the Main Street Gallery in East Nashville. The space was amazing and the process of setting up the show went really well. I was really proud of how it all came together and grateful for the help and support I received from my friends. I measured success from the show in that people I didn't know came to see my work. Having family and friends take time out of their day to come see my work and give me support was amazing but having people who came out specifically to see my work was so unbelievable. I was really happy to be able to share my work with so many people. Thank you for stopping by and I will post again with my next show information.

New Work and My First Solo Show

I am very excited to announce that I will be having my very first solo show! March 15th there will be an opening reception from 6-9pm. The show will be up until March 20th. You can view my work at the Main Street Gallery located in the Parosouth Creative Building 625 Main St. Nashville, TN. There is plenty of parking located around the building. I'm hoping to find a musician to perform and there will be snacks and refreshments. I am very excited about this opportunity and taking the next step in my career.
I wanted the body of work that I am showing to be cohesive so I am focusing on Alaska as my subject matter. When I lived in Alaska I was so inspired by the scenery that I started painting again after a long hiatus. Painting for me is a very important part of my life and something that is necessary to my overall well-being. Living in Alaska was a real turning point in my life and although its now in the past I still look to those experiences as motivation to keep painting and keep searching for my path to happiness. Sometimes we are our own road blocks. I chose Bound as the title for the show because for a single word it has very many different ways to be used and all of them I feel reflect the struggle I have with myself. I am hoping that painting will continue to be the respite that I need but also be the force to get me where I want to go.
Here are two in process pictures of what is currently on my easel. This is an image I took during my flight seeing tour over Denali National Park. I have always loved aerial images and am very happy to capture the patterns created by the glaciers and the passage of time. I hope you'll come back to see how it is progressing.

The first image is after about an hour of work setting up and outlining the main shapes.

The second image is when I started to lose light. I was able to work in the clouds and I am pretty happy with how they are coming along. I do have a little more to adjust but that will happen eventually.

What I'm Working On

I've been enjoying my time in Virginia and neglecting my blogging duties. I have at least continued to paint. I'm getting ready for two shows that I am really excited about. The first is the Yorktown Art Stroll September 30th from 12pm-7pm. I'll be set up in the Maritime Museum that is located at the Riverwalk behind the fountain. The following weekend in Colonial Williamsburg I'll be at An Occasion for the Arts October 6th and 7th from 10am-5pm. My booth will be located on Boundary St. between Scotland St. and the Community Center.
I've been working in my studio in Richmond on new work to include in my shows. I've been painting different places from Alaska, Virginia, to Germany. I also have started a facebook page for my work that I hope will be easier for updating. You can Like it here Macon St Studio

                                               A Small Watercolor of Denali in Alaska

                                An Acrylic on Masonite of a Vista on the Blue Ridge Parkway

                          Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian Alps, Germany Acrylic on Masonite

                            An aerial view of Denali National Park, Alaska Acrylic on Masonite  

                         What I'm currently working on a waterfall south of Anchorage in Alaska  

                         I'm also working on a watercolor of a building in Colonial Williamsburg
                                       

Finished Paintings!

Well I managed to finish my painting of the Trail through the Birch. It took me a few days after I stopped painting on it to decide if I was really finished. While I was deciding on the completion of this painting I took the opportunity to experiment with the linen canvases I had purchased a while back. These are just one idea that I had and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. There are two and they are views of the horizon in southern Alaska.

I really like the texture and color of the linen so I wanted to do something that would utilize it while also letting the paint colors pop. They started out a little more fluid but I added a little more detail. I still have a few more of these canvases so I'm not sure how similar my next work on them will be to these. I still have a lot more work to do in order to be ready for the show in October. I also have entered in some other shows and will hear if I have been accepted soon. Which would be really exciting, but would also mean I have a lot more work to do...

Quick update

A quick post of some recent progress. Still have a bit to do but should finish soon.

Progress today before break

I've been painting for a few hours today. Oscar has informed me now that it is time to pay attention to him. We're going to take a quick trip to the doggy park. Hopefully running around will entertain him enough so I can get back to painting. Here's a picture of my progress so far.

Inspiration to get painting

I took a trip today into Nashville because I wanted to hit up Plaza Art Supplies for some new canvas (they were having a sale) as well as other painting items. I picked up some great colors that I am excited to add to my palette as well as a few linen pre made canvases. I'm really excited to see what I will do with the linen as it has a really special dark color. I think I will do something a little out of the box for me but I have a bit of a vision at the moment. I was really inspired by the work I saw in Nashville of artist Lela Altman she is doing really great abstract pieces that really utilize the color of the linen with her painting technique. I really liked this one which is grey bleed. Check out her site to see what other techniques she is doing.

 I promise I will have some actual painting progress to show you soon. For now I'll share some images I took to work from for my Nashville paintings. I enjoyed a trip to the Frist Center to view their current shows. I was really inspired by the collection from the Royal Victoria and Albert Museum of the work of John Constable (1776-1837). I was really inspired by the comprehensive collection spanning the career of John Constable. There were amazing drawings and watercolor studies, large full size oil sketches, and many paintings that illustrated his knowledge of clouds and experience in painting them. It was just what I needed to see to get a jump start to my own work. Getting into the process of painting can sometimes be slow but mostly for me it is about aligning everything up just right. It is like prepping for any big activity, I'm basically stretching, warming up, suiting up, watching play by plays as it were, except I'm not playing a sport or running a marathon. It's funny how much work goes into doing something I find so meditative. Here's an image from the Frist Center of John Constable's work. I really think that work needs to be seen in person, it has such a better impact than staring at a lightbulb.

I'm not used to painting architecture or urban scenes after so much time painting Alaskan landscapes. I think that it will be an interesting exercise for me and broaden my skills. I still want to apply color the same way that I do when I work on mountainscapes I just will have to focus on what colors are there. I also was fortunate to have interesting clouds in the sky and because the is an important feature of most of my works to date I wanted to make sure that I captured them. I think that will help the direction I take my work capturing Nashville. With that... until next time.

Life and Art

While I'm busy trying to get my act together I'm often distracted by all of the other things going on in my life. The creative process is different for everyone but being able to create art often is inspired by those things that are going on in ones life. I've decided to blog a little more often and not just about my artwork. I'm going to add a little bit more about the process of creating my paintings but that will include some of my other ventures. 

I recently drove from Tennessee to Virginia. The drive was long but beautiful through the mountains. Here's an instagram pic... 

Time and yummy food with my brother at a great restaurant AW Shucks  in Ghent (Norfolk) Virginia

A great summer is never complete without the Dave Matthews Band! They were wonderful as usual!

 I had an idea for artwork that is a painting in an embroidery hoop with some embroidery. This is a northern skyline and I'm embroidering the Northern Lights in green thread. I'm trying to do a japanese stitch with a stem stitch border. I'm going to add some more as well as some french knot stars. I'm pretty excited to start working in a new medium. I don't think I'll get to do too much of this in the near future but it was an idea in my head that I just had to start so it'd give me some peace!

 I love knitting and this is a baby blanket I'm making for a friends new baby. I am so close to being done with this! I will actually be done before the baby is born! A miracle since the way I complete knitting projects I would expect the baby to be in college before I finished... The pattern is Umaro by Jared Flood from Brooklyn Tweed.

 A recent trip in Nashville to Textile Fabric Store to view the new yarn section led me to this great Tracy Reese pattern and sale fabric! I'm taking a sewing e-course Home Ec that I'm really excited about. This project will likely not happen for a while but I couldn't resist!

 My doggy Oscar is my travel and studio buddy. He lets me know when I need to take a painting break with his toys or he'll bark at me.

Then of course I have actually done some painting recently. This is a new piece I started of birch trees at Creamers Field in Fairbanks, Alaska. I really need to get to working on this but I'm a little distracted right now by all of my knitting projects plus getting things ready for storage, moving etcetera... Well after the photo bombing it's time to be semi-productive whether it's a trip to the dog park or organizing supplies or adding another knit row...

Artist's Reception Reminder!

It's almost that time! This month sure has flown by. I learned so much participating in the First Saturday Art Crawl. Getting to chat with the other artists and gain feedback from the gallery owner Olga was especially helpful. I'm always learning and growing as an artist and the opportunity to meet with so many people from the local area was so amazing. I already love Nashville and everyone was so welcoming and encouraging of my work. I really enjoyed being able to talk about my work and why I paint.

Saturday June 30th from 2-4pm at the O Gallery in the Arcade Downtown Nashville (42 Arcade, Nashville, TN 37219) there will be a closing reception for the artists on display in the gallery. This is a great opportunity to meet with me if you are interested in commission work as well as an opportunity to purchase any of the paintings on display. All of my work that is in the gallery is for sale and you can take it home with you that evening! The Gallery is located on the second floor of the Arcade, there is stair access and an elevator. There are several parking garages nearby as well as off street parking. Don't forget to get dinner afterwards in one of the great restaurants nearby! I especially enjoyed Pucketts Grocery (it's BBQ)! If you made it to the Saturday Art Crawl I hope you can make it out again, and if you didn't make it then I hope you'll be able to join me! 

An Occasion for the Arts!

A couple of months ago I applied to An Occasion for the Arts in Colonial Williamsburg in October. I really didn't think that I would get in but thought I'd give it a shot because it's a really big local art festival. Well big surprise when I checked my email after getting to Virginia. I can hardly wait till the weekend of October 6th and 7th but I have so much to do to prepare for the event. I hope if you're in the area that you'll be able to check it out. Check out the website for www.aofta.org I'll write back when I know where my booth will be and will chronicle the work that I'm doing to get ready.

Nashville Art Crawl

I have very exciting news! I have artwork hanging at The O Gallery (located in the Arcade) in downtown Nashville. This is a stop on the First Saturday Art Crawl in downtown Nashville. I am really excited about this and will post a picture of my work hanging up this weekend. For more information on the Art Crawl head over to www.nashvilledowntown.com My work will be up for the month of June but if you can make it out to the crawl it will be a fun evening. I hope to see you there! Also check out the The O Gallery on Facebook. Thanks so much!

New Work

Hello! I just recently moved from Alabama to Tennessee. I'm getting settled in here and enjoying it. Nashville isn't too far from where I am and I get to go out there pretty regularly. They have a really great art scene. I managed to finish a commissioned piece before moving. I haven't painted flowers in a really long time. I found it challenging and I also managed to paint without utilizing any black paint. I really like how mixing without black turned out on the daffodils.

I also recently finished a large piece, "Portage Glacer Spring" it's 36"x36" in acrylic. I really enjoyed working on this piece utilizing glazing and washes. The water was pretty challenging and I'm really happy with the mountains and clouds. 

I also started a new website for my paintings where you can also get prints on demand. You can visit it at: www.maconststudio.com

I'm looking forward to entering more art shows this year and will update here with more information. Now I need to get back to painting!

New Work and Changes

hello world wide web! I have recently completed a new work taken from my flight seeing tour over Denali Nat'l Park. I love working on masonite panel and really enjoyed playing with some different techniques then I usually use. This one isn't going on etsy, and I'm thinking hard of changing my approach and no longer using the shop there. It's been a busy time for me getting ready for a big household move and getting school stuff straightened out. I'm leaving Alabama finally to head North to Virginia and home. I'm looking forward to all the creative opportunities ahead of me and of course finally finishing my degree!

New listings on Etsy

I have completed a few new paintings and have listed them on etsy. I also am experimenting with different ways to market my paintings. I am playing around with some different techniques in jewelry making and have made a few pendants or ornaments with images of some of my paintings. I'm seeing what works and practicing techniques. I'm pretty excited about them though.
I tried two different techniques, one I took microscope glass and printed images on cardstock and sandwiched them into the metal frames then wrapped a little foil tape on the sides to cover the joins. The second technique is an image printed on canvas then mod podged and placed inside the little metal pendant with liquid glass over the top. I'm still working on how much of the materials to use or whether to switch to different kinds. We'll see how it goes... I'm putting them in my etsy shop for a lower price then I plan to sell them in the future but because these are "experimental" I'm interested in getting feedback on them and more practice! Thanks for looking!

Very long break in posts

I've had a very busy... gosh closing in on a year since my last post...
I have still been painting but have also been preoccupied with school and work. I'll keep this short and hopefully will post a little bit more frequently...
This image is a recent watercolor that I completed. I started it last year and got caught up in a few other projects and finally was able to return to it. The image is of a shrine I visited in Japan. I was really struck by the shrine because it is an area for people who are orphans and don't have a family shrine to be interred. Family is really important culturally in Japan and often adoption is taboo, I was really moved by the placement of the shrine off to the side with the vegetation almost swallowing it up. While I don't know who the people are or if there is someone to remember them I hope I have honored them with my painting.

Thanks for looking at my site. I also will be updating my etsy site with new listings!

Recent Work

Here is a quick post of some recent classwork and a finished painting that I completed in December.

Give and Get is Here!

Give and Get is Here!: "Enjoy 30% off from November 11-14 at Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy plus we'll make a 5% donation to a non-profit."

Busy Fall

September and October went by so fast! I've been busy with work and home improvement projects. We also took a weekend trip to Atlanta which was amazing. I have finished my commission that I was working on. I also started working on an unfinished watercolor. I'm putting my etsy store on sale for 25% off starting tomorrow in honor of my 25th birthday Saturday. My how time flies. I'm also going to be generating some smaller pieces so that I can see if the lower price points help to garner some sales. It's almost time for the Winter quarter to begin which also means Spring tuition will be looming...