Finished Oil Painted Wall Mural Commission!

Welcome to the weekend! It's wonderful to have a day or two off after working so many days in a row for the gallery and traveling. Plus I am getting SUPER EXCITED for all the holiday fun coming up! Ive already started shopping and thinking about decorations. I am trying my best to hold off as long as I can though I do admit that I am listening to some Christmas Music Playlists while I write today's blog....shhhh don't tell anybody.

This past Thursday I spent as usual at my gramcrackers house for dinner. As I have recently talked about in the blogs, she has had me painting a rather large mural on one of her living room walls. Last year for Christmas I gave her a wood burned piece of art from Cloud Nine Studios - Feather and birds

 (Click for more on this piece)

My grandmother loved it so much she wanted me to paint a more realistic copy of the piece on her wall. It's been months and months but I finally finished the piece! When I began I knew it would take quite some time. Mostly because I could only get over to my grandmother's house once a week for dinner for a few hours and by the time we caught up and ate I only had an hour or two for painting. 

She was incredibly patient and it was so nice to see it come alive a little but at a time each week. Many times she would be impressed with simply the under layer of the painting. It was exciting as the artist knowing how I could make it come over more alive when it was finished.

I have painted on walls a few times before this but mostly I have only worked on movable surfaces previous to this mural. It was interesting to figure out how to move my brush in ways I was uncomfortable with to hit spots I may have missed or wanted to fix when the paint was wet near my hand. Normally I am able to rotate my surface it I need to but with the painting being on the wall, I had to learn to adapt.

I am typically I pretty clean and organized painter. I don't use a ton of paint on my brushes and I tend to be able to wear whatever I like because I am very aware of were all my paint is. At times I thought I should have changed from my nice gallery clothes but chose to stay in whatever it was that I was wearing so I was extra careful not to get paint on parts of the walls I didn't want to or drop anything on the carpet! Oil paint is almost impossible to get out of things without ruining the original surfaces with chemicals/mineralspirits.

We added a Leo symbol above the feather to represent my Papa who passed. To my grandmother, the feather is symbolic of his spirit leaving the physical world and evolving into the the next. Each one of the three birds is an representation of the transformation. The first on the left is blurry and undefined, the seconded with a few details, and the final very defined and bold.

In the end, I am extremely happy and proud of how it has turned out. I tried to take some photos along the way and don't have the best finished product images. When I finished it was late and the lighting is difficult to photograph with. But here you have it! 

Thanks for stopping by today's blog! I hope you enjoyed the images of my process and journey through the feather mural! It was a great experience that taught me many new things and also gave me confidence in areas I might have been lacking. Hopefully I can show better pictures of the final piece soon! Let me hear you thoughts in the comments below! 

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Feather Bracelet by - LeChaim

Song of the Day:

Seal - Fly like an Eagle

Color of the Day:

Garden Oasis 699 Paint

How to turn your dream into a color scheme - Week 5

HOLY FRIDAY I've been slacking on the blogs! Everyday I think about the blogs but I have been struggling to make time and for that I am sorry. But some good news is that it's DREAM SCHEME FRIDAY! My favorite day of the blogs. For those of you who are new, Friday's I take a dream that I have had either recently or from one of my past dream journals and turn it into a color scheme!

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We are on the 5th week of Dream Scheme Friday's and since I began them, I haven't had one usable dream! That is very shocking to me because I have always been someone to have many dreams and very vivid ones. So that fact that I haven't had any really bummed me out! Thankfully I have loads of dreams to refer to from my past that I have taken detailed notes about since I was a young girl.

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Guess what! I had a dream last night and it was so different. I am very excited to share a recent dream and it might not make much sense as I felt the dream skipped around a lot and randomly kept showing me different images but I am thrilled to share it with you and turn it into a wonderful color scheme! Here we go!

 This dream was from last night

Thursday October 22nd, 2015

The dream started out in a subway and I felt depressed behind the counter where it was very slow. I went into the back room and my mother was working there too. She was on the phone and seemed very busy. I realized I was at a second job that I picked up for extra money and she probably helped get me in. It felt right seeing as I could spend time with her even if I didn't want to be working there, at all. 

I went back in front to check if anyone come in and it was packed. There was an old man that had come behind the counter and started making his own sandwich. He had his hands completely submerged in a green vegetable and was scooping it out for his meal. I was panicking and gently told the man he couldn't be behind the counter and that he needed to go over by the tables. I rushed back to my mother, who was still on the phone, hoping for help. She signaled for me to go and so I did.

I was walking down side streets and seemed to have a far walk. Next thing I remember I was entering a building that was a mix between I large open office, a Barnes and Nobles, and a Game Stop. I knew everyone that was working there and I realized this was my main job. I felt content with my position there. I was treated equally and paid decently but wanted better for myself at the same time. I did feel relief when I walked in and we all sat down for a meeting. 

It was a laid back meeting and my boss was a woman that I seemed to have a good relationship with. She was talking to everyone about how some people had yet to come and pick up there diamond car decals. Then I saw sheets with random works in different fonts that were comprised of little studded diamonds. 

I spaced out and spun my chair around to see a big glass window  and there was a family with two small children walking by. One of the toddlers came up to the window and put his face against the glass and was looking at us. His face from our side looked hilarious and I interrupted the meeting so everyone could see him. Everyone laughed and waved to the kid and that's all I can remember.

              This dream had many different visuals but when remembering it to record for the blog I got the sense of a few colors!  Each color represents a certain part of the dream or feeling the dream gave me. The color scheme works backwards through the dream.

Color 1 - The blue/grey is for the comfort & stability the main job gave me and also the feeling of wanting more. 

Color 2 - The lighter shade of the first color represents the pause in meeting to laugh at the child through the glass.

Color 3 - The blue jean blue is the overall color that I felt the main job's wall and desks were when I entered.

Color 4 - The brown in for the in between state I felt when walking from one place to the other down the side streets.

Color 5 - The pale mustard yellow is the color that represents the subway job. Behind the counter and the lighting.

Color 6 - The final green is for when the older man has his hands in the food behind the glass. It was something like green peppers or pea pods. 

There you have it! I was so excited when I woke up this morning. At first I knew I had a dream and could remember if I just relaxed and didn't try too hard. Then after I got out of the shower, the image of the child through the glass appear in my head and the entire dream came flooding back! It was amazing. What great timing!

(Check out the cute blog this image came from!)

This is something anyone can do! Write down your dream and create a color scheme from it. Use it to make a meaningful painting for your bedroom or to pick out your outfit for the day. I believe we have dreams to guide us and show us things that are hiding in our subconscious. This is just one way to use the wonderful information your mind has given to you while asleep. 

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That's all for today!   Has anyone had any dreams that they have written down lately? Have you tried this yourself? Let me know in the comments below and maybe I can make a color scheme of one of your dreams! Don't forget to subscribe and everyone have a wonderfully inspiring day!

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Candyland Tote bag - printed heavyweight canvas tote bag - by Mab Graves

Song of the Day:

One Direction - Drag Me Down

Color of the Day:

BENJAMIN MOORE COLONY GREEN 694

How to turn your dream into a color scheme - Week 4

It FRIDAY! It time again for another Dream Scheme Friday! Every Friday I take a dream that I have had recently or from a past dream journal and I turn it into a color scheme. Friday's blog always gets me inspired and ready to go into an art-filled weekend. Let's Begin!

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   We are reaching back into the past again to a dream journal entry that I actually can't remember! Almost every single entry I can retrieve the imagery instantly as I read it and it is like I had the dream the night before. There are only a handful of dreams I do not remember and this is one of them. Also the dream stops so abruptly that I thought it was interesting enough for the blog! This was written in my dream journal on

Tuesday February 28th, 2011

    I was standing on a platform in the clouds and it lowered me down dramatically like an elevator. When it finally reached the ground my closest friends and I are standing in an "Avatar-like" field. There were close to 50 mere-cats dancing together in the magical grass behind a jeep. We walked toward a bush and they all followed me. 

We then heard a scary growl coming from a large hole in the bush. We all stepped back in fear and then a giant bunny hopping out all cute and innocent. We all laughed together and then continued walking along taking in everything around us. 

We then saw two women who looked like twins but felt more like mother and daughter. They were sitting on a white deck with very nice patio furniture. They welcomed us to the land and told us how amazing it was here and how lucky we were to have found it. They were very happy to live in their crazy little paradise. 

We went inside this clean and simple hotel-like room and set down luggage like we had been traveling for days and finally arrived..... Then the dream ended.

              This dream had many different visuals but when reading it I got a general sense of a tone of colors! I tried to represent that feeling in each color. Each color represents a certain part of the dream or feeling the dream gave me. 

Color 1 - The first color is the general color of the "Avatar-like" field that we landed in from the clouds.

Color 2 - This was very close to the first color but just darker for the scary noises that come from the large bush.

Color 3 - The blue is representation of the clouds as we came down from the sky and entered the dream.

Color 4 - The pale tan color was for the dancing mere-cat herd.

Color 5 - The darker tan was also for the mere-cats but for the feeling of them following behind me.

Color 6 - The final grey-brown is for the sudden ending in the dream but not leaving uncomfortable feelings.

Bonus Color - Stark White - I couldn't show the white in the color scheme but it needed to be added because the deck and furniture that the women are sitting on felt very important.

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This is something anyone can do! Write down your dream and create a color scheme from it. Use it to make a meaningful painting for your bedroom or to pick out your outfit for the day. I believe we have dreams to guide us and show us things that are hiding in our subconscious. This is just one way to use the wonderful information your mind has given to you while asleep. 

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Well there you have it! Another week, another color scheme. How are you guys enjoying it? Has anyone had any dreams that they have written down lately? Have you tried this yourself? Let me know in the comments below and maybe I can make a color scheme of one of your dreams! Don't forget to subscribe and everyone have a wonderfully inspiring day!

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Mugwort Dream Oil by - MotherMountainHerbs

Song of the Day:

Blondie - Dreaming

Color of the Day:

Benjamin Moore Barren Plain