We made it to Charleston! May 25, 2012

SOCIETY STREET • 16 inches x 20 inches • ©2012 Marie Scott

Today marks the opening of the
2012 Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibit

So I thought it was appropriate to show a photo of my most recent oil painting called “Society Street” 
— a portrait of just one of Charleston’s many beautiful historic homes.

If you’re visiting Charleston for either of the Spoleto Festivals and love bright, vibrant paintings,
be sure to stop by Marion Square. I’ll be exhibiting my paintings in Booth #25.

I’d love to meet you and show you more of my bright, cheerful oil paintings,
which include lots more paintings showing scenes from around Charleston and the Low Country.

The show runs from Friday, May 25 — Saturday, June 9th and I’ll be open every one of those days from 10am — 6pm.

Booth #25 is located on Calhoun Street in Marion Square.

 Oh-how-we LOVE Charleston, SC. It’s blazing HOT here, but that’s all just part of the summer fun!

Here’s a quick video showing the painting “Society Street” in progress.

SocietyStreet

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music © The Spencer Davis Group “Give Me Some Lovin’”

Goodbye, Hydrangeas… May 23, 2012

This hydrangea bush is my favorite thing blooming in our yard right now. I will be sad to say goodbye to it tomorrow.

Charleston here we come!

I am not thrilled about leaving my hydrangea behind. It is in full bloom right now, and by the time I return from my time exhibiting at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, it will probably be spent and faded.

There are some other things I’m not crazy about leaving behind either. Our son, my yard, our friends.

I am also not thrilled about the fact that my entire inventory of paintings and prints from the last three years will be sitting out in a park for 17 days. (And that’s assuming they make it there safely.)

However,  I’m sure once we get to Marion Square tomorrow, and I hear my favorite sound — the noise that tent poles make when clanking together — any thoughts I had about all we’re leaving behind will soon be forgotten, and the excitement of the show will begin.

Oh well.. it’s only for a couple of weeks. And at least we have Tim’s parents staying here to watch over things.

Including… our son, my yard, and our friends.

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If you are a person of Faith… I’d appreciate your prayers as we embark on this big adventure tomorrow. If you really like to pray, and believe in its power as I do, click here for more details. Thank you!

A cute little card brightened my day! May 16, 2012

My friend Bess sent me a card yesterday.

Leave it to Bess to have a fun stamp on the envelope too.

 Much to my surprise, I opened it up to find one of my old paintings on the front of the card. Which made me smile!
(I think this is actually the very first sunflower I ever painted.)

SUNNING FLOWER • ©2005 Marie Scott

I always forget about these packs of notecards which I’ve been toting around to art shows for years. These days, they don’t sell too often, as people send so many e-mails.

They really are pretty cute though, aren’t they?

Maybe I’ll start sending more cards. (Especially since I have a zillion of them in my garage.)
This one sure brightened up my day.

You can make your own cards HERE  on www.shutterfly.com.
It’s as simple as uploading a favorite digital photo. Then select the “Classic Collage 3 x 5 Folded Card” as your design. They’ll walk you through the rest.

You can do it too…
send a hand-written card to somebody you love this week!
You’ll brighten their day.

NOTE: A couple of people have asked about ordering cards since this post came out. Below are the sets I still have in stock.
(e-mail me at info@mariescottstudios.com if you’d like to order a set.)

set #1 (flowers)

Set #2: water landscapes

Set #3: field landscapes

2,500 staples and 3-1/2 days later… May 11, 2012

This is my new (and only) power tool. An ELECTRIC staple gun! It saved my wrist much wear and tear last week.

39 Flower Prints were born!

I spent the better part of last week working on stretching a whole new batch of Giclee prints for some upcoming events I’m participating in.

It was a marathon of stretching for me, as I assembled 30 small flower prints and 9 large prints. Thank goodness for my new POWER Stapler — AND the ear plugs! (Why didn’t I think of using these two invaluable tools years ago?)

Here are six large flowers. They are 36 inches tall x 18 inches wide, which was the size of the originals.

Here is my studio being taken over by the smaller prints. They are each 16 inches high x 8 inches wide.

Below are some photos I took throughout the process of getting these prints onto the wooden stretcher bars.

 

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Here’s a close-up of the 10 different flowers that are available in this series of fine art prints.

If you look to the top left corner you’ll see my new full-sized prints hanging up on the yellow doors.

The first event where I showed my prints happened last Thursday night at TWIGS Tempietto. It was a fundraiser for the National Pancreas Foundation. Even though this event was brand new, it still raised $6,300 for this great cause, thanks to all the hard work of Christy Dias (founder of the Cranky Panky.)

Click here to read more about the event.

Happy May Day! (a new month = a new calendar) May 1, 2012

DAHLIA #2 (from my garden) • ©2011 Marie Scott

This Dahlia was one of the last flowers of the season in my yard last fall. I just couldn’t resist painting it.

To see this painting in person, just visit…

Metropolitan Arts Council Gallery • “One-Stop Open Studios Retrospective Exhibit”
April 10 – May 14, 2012
16 Augusta St., Greenville, SC 29601
Artists’ Reception on Friday, May 11 from 7 — 10pm
Special Artisphere Weekend Gallery Hours: May 12, 10am — 6pm • May 13, 11am — 6pm 

Click here to read about this painting.

Click here to see photos of this painting in progress.

When I FINALLY stopped caring so much… April 27, 2012

Eastside 64 gallery • located in Highlands, NC

…A gallery from Highlands, NC called
to say they wanted to represent me!

And now seven of my oil paintings are hanging in this adorable gallery, which is run by the nicest man you’d ever want to meet.

The owner, Ken Johnson, had seen my work in downtown Greenville during Open Studios in November of 2011, but had misplaced my contact information. But then when one of the other Greenville artists who are currently in his gallery gave him the  Open Studios catalog, he saw my work, remembered me and gave me a call.

He came to my home studio on Monday, loaded up his van with seven of my floral paintings, and by Tuesday afternoon they were ALL hanging up in the front window, looking as cute as can be.

I am honored to have my work hanging in Highlands, NC alongside some of Greenville SC’s most well-known artists, which include Kent Ambler,  Diane Kilgore Condon, Paul Flint, and Teri Pena (sorry if I missed somebody!)

And all this was happening behind the scenes, while (for once,)
I WASN’T worrying about my business.

How nice is that?

I guess it was just meant to be.

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The Eastside 64, LLC is a gallery for regional artists in the South Western, North Carolina Mountains. Located in Highlands, NC it represents artists from the Highlands/Cashiers/Asheville area in addition to artists in Northwestern South Carolina. From sculptural to wall art, in a variety of elements from bronze to iron, acrylics to oils, clay to porcelain, Eastside represents a wide variety of artists both regionally and nationally recognized.

Open Tuesday – Saturday 10 – 5pm, Eastside 64 is  located 1 mile off of Main Street Highlands, on State Route 64 going towards Cashiers. 

ph: 828-526-8800

Just one of many GoodWill treasures… April 25, 2012

My NEW/OLD desk!

I just got this NEW/OLD desk from GoodWill. [ It was only $10!]

I think I paid $4 (or possibly $5) for the perfectly matching desk chair back in 2003 at The Salvation Army store in  Bayview, WI (53207 to be exact.)

My NEW/OLD  desk is just ONE of the many amazing treasures I found on Friday during a time I was supposed to be painting.

However, as I am using all these new treasures for my newest venture which begins in July…
I think it was OK that I played hooky from work for a couple of hours.

A pile of hedge apples April 20, 2012

HEDGE APPLES • 30 inches x 40 inches • ©2012 Marie Scott

Here’s a painting I created in February, called Hedge Apples. It was for a contest for Countybank. They were looking to purchase 12 paintings for the lobbies of two of their Greenville locations.

THIS particular piece wasn’t chosen, but I DID enter three of them…

Below are some photos showing the Great Hedge Apple Adventure.

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And then he’s a quick movie showing the painting in progress.

hedgeapples

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Check it out on my website to read more about these funky apples.

So much beauty to share April 13, 2012

 

Foxglove • I pulled this flower into the parking lot of Wal-Mart to simply photograph it for a painting. Somehow in those few short minutes, it captured my heart. I had to bring it home for my yard. It's not living happily beside my blue hydrangea bushes.

My  blog-fast is officially over, but where do I even begin?

I guess I’ll start by saying that I gave up my blog for Lent, mostly because I’ve realized over the last couple of years that the “success” of my painting career often teeters on the brink of becoming an idol in my life. So I wasn’t so much giving up my blog, but rather control of the outcome of my decade-long pursuit of becoming a “successful” an artist.

So I’ve spent the last seven weeks, going about my life, making paintings — not worrying about if it will ever “get me anywhere” or not.

The irony is, throughout this course of theoretically not caring, some of the most exciting things have transpired with my business, since moving to Greenville, SC in 2008.But in the spirit of keeping all of this from being my idol… I’ve decided I’d rather just share with you some of God’s creative work that I’ve been enjoying during the past weeks.

Oh, how-I-LOVE spring. It helps me to SEE and FEEL how much God really loves us.

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April Calendar April 1, 2012

"ON THE ROAD TO ARLES #2" • ©2011 Marie Scott

I’m still sticking with my Blog-fast for Lent.

But I really need my new desktop calendar (and so does Chris!)

See you after Easter…

Click here to read about this painting.