gret mackintosh

Garden & Gun's International Sporting Excursion 2018 - England

This fall, Garden & Gun’s International Sporting Excursion was held in England, and like last year, I helped create the place cards for the finale dinner at Lucknam Park. The theme this year being British-inspired: phonebooths, the Union Jack, roses, pheasants, horses, and tea time were the focus.

Here are some shots of the table scape at the dinner:

Here are some pictures of the in-progress place cards from the first sketches in my studio at Redux to calligraphy by Page Palmer….


Watercolor Place Cards for Garden & Gun .....

In September I did a series of 40 small watercolor paintings that were used as place cards at an event in Italy at the Lo Sparviere vineyard that Garden&Gun hosted.

Here are some images of the watercolor pieces pre-calligrapher.....

And here are some pictures (post-calligrapher for the names!) from the place cards at the event...

The Gadsden House

A wedding gift for my brother and now sister-in-law : )

A pen & ink (and watercolor, and gouche) of the Gadsden House, their wedding venue in downtown Charleston.

If you're interested in commissioning an architectural drawing like this, shoot me an email and we can work out the details - currently, I charge $195 for an 8x10 (on paper/unframed), including shipping.

Update:

Here’s another watercolor commission of the Gadsden House - but from the other side….just wanted to have them both images here for comparison….same thing applies, contact me for info on commissioning a painting for your invites, guest registry, or wedding gift!

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Mini Watercolor Paintings for Sale!

Next Friday, August 19th from 3-8pm at my Studio Sale, (1244 Marvin Ave - Charleston, SC 29407) I will have (unframed) watercolor paintings for sale in 2 sizes:  4"x 6" (for $15) and 5" x 7" (for $20).  These are watercolors I've created during my Carolina travels over the past year or two.

A few of the settings:  Linville Gorge, Beech Mountain, and Topsail Island in North Carolina,  John's Island, Rockville and the Congaree Swamp in South Carolina...

Here's a preview of the available assortment:

Flash Studio Sale: Friday, August 19th from 3:00-8:00

...at 1244 Marvin Avenue, Charleston, South Carolina 29407

where I will be turning my house into an art shop for a day!

Cleaning out the studio and all of the art that has accumulated!

Need art for empty walls in your house?  Looking for a few early Christmas pressies?  I'll be selling everything from (unframed) mini watercolor drawings (lots under $20) and greeting cards with my art printed on them ($5) to large abstract pieces - everything will be priced to sell!

Follow me on instagram ( ----> gretmackintosh) to see pics of the pieces i'll be selling with prices of each - posting a different one every day until the sale!

The Big Apple on a wooden egg...

For the past few years I've been painting themed Easter eggs for each member of a friend of mine's family here in Charleston - it's not something I would want to do in mass quantities (hello miniature painting + on a hard to hold wooden egg) but it's a refreshing change to switch up subject matter and medium and challenge myself in different ways - and every year this commission project surprises me in new ways....

She gives me a rundown on the important events of the past year for her little girls (castle beds and purple blankets for the babies!) and for her and her hubs, and I do my best to represent that on a wooden egg for everyone's Easter basket!

I should also say that this is originally inspired by my mother and an artist named "Bonnie" in NC that paints easter eggs (among many other things like faux finishes and murals). My mom has kept up this tradition my entire life, so I have a representation of each year of my life painted on a little wooden egg that my mom pulls out at Easter - and it's SO fun to look back at them all now!

So, this year, a trip to NYC was on the list, so I decided to paint the NYC skyline with the Statue of Liberty front and center (this was also in the list). I love the way it turned out so much that I've been pondering reasons to do more miniature skyline paintings...

 

2015 Animal Portraits #bygret ----

2016 is already off to an incredibly busy start with the animal portraits ...but before I get too submersed in the new year, it's nice to look back at some of my work from last year....

Pet Portrait Process Pics.... (and fun with alliteration!)

Here are a few in-process shots I took while painting this cute little Yorkiepoo named Dixie.

I always start by putting a few coats of color on the background (that way, there isn't any bare canvas peeking through if certain spots of the background do show through).  Then, I sketch the animal onto the canvas in pencil and build the paint up from there!  It's neat to see the phases captured in pictures - It gives it a sorta color-by-numbers look to the process.  The highlights and the details always come last, along with a coat of varnish for protection.

Carlos, my latest pet portrait subject...

...and on a side note: with Christmas right around the corner (crazy, I know ), the holiday commission orders are already coming in!  Turn around time is usually around 4-6 weeks depending on size of painting, so contact me soon to get on the list!