August 2026

August 31, 2026

August 2026

Happy 14th birthday, Otis!

Counting the days until fall! Fingers crossed - it looks like the worst of the heat and humidity is behind us. I’m ready for football, Gameday, falling leaves, bourbon and hopefully getting back to walks in the park once things cool off a bit.

The month began with taking some of my drawing students to the High Museum to see the Paper Trees exhibition. They loved it. I also showed them some of the key works at the museum that I think illustrate many of the concepts we discuss in class. My Acworth crew is so special. Never in a million years could I have imagined how much I would love this job. Worst paying job I’ve ever had and yet, it is the most fulfilling, happiest job on earth.

Scott and I made a quick trip to Charlotte to see the Caravaggio on view at The Mint. There are only about a handful of Caravaggio paintings in the US, so I felt like I had to go see it. The exhibition does a great job of showing Caravaggio’s influence on painters that followed. I see his influence on current artists as well. He was a Baroque Ass baddie.

On the way home we met my friend Renee and her husband for brunch. Renee is one of my favorite people. She was such a huge support person for me when I started selling jewelry at various Junior League holiday markets back in the 2000s. She is such a sweet, funny person and it was great to catch up.

We also drove over to Athens to see the Edmonia Lewis sculpture exhibition and had a really nice surprise … 6 John Singer Sargents … my lucky dayyyy!

Sargent’s charcoal drawings are some of my favorite works of art

Oh - and we went to see Adam Ant, Haircut 100 and SQUEEZE at The Fox! OMG, one of the best times I’ve had in a long time. I sang (screamed) every.single.word to all of the songs on the Singles CD. Felt like a little kid. Honestly, I can’t remember when I’ve had so much fun. Felt like shit the next day, but it was so worth it.

ART

Once again, my submissions did not make the cut for the American Impressionist associate member online show. Honestly, I thought some of the work that was selected was just odd - a lot of it wasn’t even impressionistic - at least it didn’t fit my definition of Impressionism. And there were SO many wave paintings. I feel like the only person on the planet who doesn’t like wave paintings. I *hate* them so much, and there must have been 10 of them in this show. I don’t get it. I’ll keep trying though, there’s another chance coming in a few weeks.

Here are a few oil paintings I recently completed. I also worked on a bunch of paintings for Palmetto Bluff.

On a positive note, one of my drawings (see below, the one on the right) was one of the Fav 15% on Faso for July. Never thought I’d ever see that happen. I’ve been entering work in the monthly Faso contest for 8 years. So what’s that? 72 entries? LOL. Miracles can happen, I guess!

I also submitted two paintings from my time in St Gervais to the Downtown Gallery in Cartersville. I should find out if anything is accepted in a few days.

Two charcoal drawings will be on view at the Acworth Art House as part of their SIMA exhibit (Student Instructor Member Artist), but what’s even more exciting is that several of my current and former students also have work in the exhibition! Wow! To go from never drawing before to having work in a gallery in less than a year … amazing. And that’s because they work between classes and are incredibly focused. So proud of them.

Things are still going extremely well at Palmetto Bluff. I can’t count how many times I’ve said how grateful I am for that opportunity but it bears repeating again. The gallery staff is kind, warm, funny, supportive and encouraging. They tell me they don’t have to “sell” any of my work. What’s better than that?? My sales are very consistent, so I am hopeful they’ll keep me around a bit longer, but I also know that nothing lasts forever.

I am still going to the gym 3-4 mornings a week. Whatttt?? Yes, me. And I am getting a little help from a personal trainer, Zoe. She’s so cute, very smart and totally gets me. We are doing our first leg workout on Wednesday so I may not love her quite as much afterwards …lol. I feel intimidated in the weight room, and I don’t really remember how to do the machines I used to do (back in the late 90s!), so having her guide me through the motions is extremely helpful.

TEACHING

My teaching business is skyrocketing and as a result, it’s going to be an extremely busy fall. Docent obligations are back so that means every other Monday I’ll be at the museum. I’m teaching Drawing at Decatur on Monday nights. Tuesdays and Thursdays are studio/docent tour days. Wednesdays and Fridays I’ll be teaching drawing at Acworth. And I’m teaching Acrylic painting in Decatur on Saturdays. I hope I survive. Whew, it’s going to be nuts.

SEPTEMBER

In addition to all of the classes I’m teaching, we have a couple of trips on the calendar: a visit to Connecticut and a wedding in Chattanooga. Looking forward to both of those!

OTIS, LOUIS and WINSTON

My sweet Otis turned 14 on August 25. Can you believe? He seems to be fine. He sleeps a lot but there’s still plenty of pep in his step. He delivers woobies to us every night and snuggles with me in the mornings. We have a little routine where he jumps in bed for snugs and a little smoochie. In other words, he gently nibbles my cheek :) and it is the highlight of my day.

Louis and Winnie are doing well. They spend most of the day on squirrel patrol. LuLu is such a psycho at dinner time that we’ve had to implement a new routine. Scott spreads Churu on nubby little rubber mats and puts them in the sunroom for the boys to lick. It keeps them entertained and occupied while we have a quiet, civilized dinner. Game changer for our sanity.

Thanks for reading - whoever you are - I’ll be back next month with another edition of “Nobody cares what Beth is doing” :)