Advice for young artists

I have been interested in art since I was a young child. My mother was and is very artistic. She encouraged crafts and anything creative and imaginative. Although I didn't know I would take my love of art into a more serious path, there are a few things I wish I could have been told about art and the art world when growing up.

So here is some of my best advice for young artists.

1. Date all of your work.

One of the best things is looking back at old work to see what I use to like to make and to see how much I have evolved as an artist.. Making sure you put a year on your art and it will ensure you know how old you were when you made something. Just TRUST me on this one!

2. Not every work has to best your best.

When I was younger, I would start a drawing or painting and it sometimes didn't end up how I wanted it, which art can sometimes do. This is something that even experienced artists deal with but I wish someone could have taught me this early on. Just because a piece of artwork doesn't come out the way you were hoping,  doesn't mean that you are not talented. Sometimes what we want it turn to out to be isn't even close to how it actually ends up being. Let it happen naturally.

3. Do not compare your art negatively with other's.

This is something that I use to do a lot but mostly to myself in my head. I rarely verbalized my feelings about how I thought my art wasn't very good because another person's was so much better. Please do not discourage yourself from creating art because of envy of another person's work.  Let it be inspiration that fuels you instead and one day you will be the fuel for someone else. 

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4. You don't have to be a realistic artist to produce great art.

So many people tell me they wish they could draw "they can't even draw a stick figure." This makes me so mad that many people think that they can't create art if it's not realistic.  Think of all the world's amazing abstract painters for example.  If you love art and practice hard enough,  just like anything in life, you can be successful at it.

5. Enjoy what you do.

At the end of the day you want to make sure that you are enjoying your art and the process. Making art is a freeing and meditative experience if you view it as such. The minute you start to stress or loose interest, think about trying another medium or even take it back to a simpler art like coloring. It will calm you and might just be exactly what you need to get you back on track with a happy inspired path to brilliant artwork.

If you think this helped you or could help another artist you know,  be sure to share and let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. Thanks for coming by and if you would like to get notifications for my art blog hit the blue subscribe button at the top right of the page.

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy featured art of the day:

Little Boys Nursery dream wall art 

Song of the day:

Color of the day:
new age - 1444

I am in the mood for some reading!

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Hello again everyone! Today is the first day of October and boy does it feel like fall has finally arrived! My favorite time of year and I couldn't be happier! Mercury is still retrograde until the 9th. (Click here is you want to know what this means) This Mercury Retrograde has been more difficult then I anticipated. I haven't been able to go inward or even wanted to like I normally feel pushed to do as soon as mercury retrograde appears. Today I felt it.

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All I have wanted to do all day was read. I want to dive into a book and get lost in the world it brings like I have so many times. I have a long commute to work and it has been a year this month since I discovered audio-books. It really has changed my drive and allowed me to always stay with books even when life gets busy.

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I remember as a child when I fell in love with a book for the first time. I had read many books before and enjoyed them greatly but nothing captured my attention and made me lose reality along with sleep than Harry Potter. I truly believe that Harry Potter and the entire series will always be the most amazing thing of my childhood. I think every time I start a new book or search for my next one I am hoping that it will even come close to grabbing my heart like those books did. 

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     Sometimes I feel guilty reading books. I have this undeniable need for constant production. Even to the moment before I go to sleep I have the need to check emails or update a listing on my Etsy Shop. During movies you can normally find me sketching or writing this very blog. Reading doesn't allow me to be "productive" and I have convinced myself that taking time for me to read is selfish and I feel I will fall behind. I have been thinking about how to change this. How to read more and change my feelings of guilt and anxiety about reading. It is something I love and I should take time to do it without a negative aftertaste.

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Reading before bed instead of working on my phone is a good start. Does anyone else feel the way I do? It's sad, books inspire me so much. Books help awaken parts of my imagination that are so crucial for making art. I would love to use reading as a tool for creativity.

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Right now I am reading a wonderful book that has me gripped by its world and characters. It's called "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly. I am not going to tell you anything about the book. Just trust me and go get it!

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What are some of your favorite books? Do you have any reading rituals? I love a good cup of tea and a blanket when I am reading. How do you think I could get rid of my negative feelings of guilt when trying to set time aside for reading? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away
Samantha Menzo
Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Book Necklace by - OxfordBright

Song of the Day:

The Best Indian Chill Out

Color of the Day:
Benjamin Moore Evening Sky 833

Catching up! My first Art Fair and inside Cloud Nine Studios!

              Hello Everyone! What a busy little bee I have been lately. I am grateful to have a second to breathe now and catch you all up on how my first art fair went! The Fair was from Friday-Sunday. Friday morning was set up from 9am-11am but when I got there they were still mopping the event space! We ended up only having about an hour and a half for set up which made me STRESS big time. When the event started it was like a ghost town. Friday I went home with $6 in sales. 

I felt very defeated.

Saturday came and I showed up with a positive attitude ready to hustle my stuff! I rearranged my booth a little to help the flow of traffic enter easier and I lowered my prices to see if it made some difference. Thankfully, the amount of people walking around was amazing! I was starting to see which things people were consistently drawn to in my booth and what was selling and not. I left Saturday with breaking even for the fair. I was happy with my decisions and feeling more confident about my work and space. 

Sunday rolled around and going into the day I was already even for the weekend. So anything that I sold was profit. This made it a little easier for me to let go of pieces for an even lower price. At first I was stubborn in my pricing but then I realized I can just make more of them and the more I sold the better I would feel about my first show. The traffic was a little slower again on Sunday but I end up about $100 plus for the weekend. 

(Mikaela and her homemade dog treats)

For my first fair I am extremely proud. My goal was to at least break even and get some great experience and advertising and I ended up in sales. I now know what people are interested in and what works for displaying my pieces and what doesn't work. Selling online is very different then selling in person. I had used a lot of strategies that I would for selling online at first at the fair and quickly realized the differences!

I was able to meet some great artists and people walking through. I handed out a TON of businesses cards and have some possible commissions that I am hoping will follow up! I am so grateful for all the help that my boyfriend George was able to do for me. I am so lucky to have someone who fully supports me and is always there if I need him. Also a HUGE thank you to my room mate Jessica for taking time out of her day off the help me set up! She really kept me in check when I wanted to break down before it even all started. 

My goal this week is to update my Etsy shop and list everything that I photographed before the show so if people decide to find me from my business card that everything is looking up to date and professional! I have a lot of work ahead of me but I feel only good vibes from the whole experience.....except for the parking ticket I got trying to unload my car! Oops. Oh well! 

Click here for my ETSY SHOP!

I should be back on schedule for the blogs now! Be sure to check out my Etsy for all the new items and updates! Also be sure to click the subscribe button on the top right of this page if you liked this blog and want more!

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Recycled Sweater Coat- 2XL by - LauraAnnLyon

Song of the Day:

U2 - Beautiful Day

Color of the Day:

Little Angel

Slow Down and Enjoy the Process.

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Hello, hello, hello! I have a feeling today will be a unique blog. I have been fighting a pretty bad migraine since last evening so I am in a different mental space. I wanted to try and get a blog for you guys today regardless and maybe typing can help take away from my focus on the pain. Anyone have any great migraine relief that's natural? I have pretty much tried everything. Hopefully it will be gone by the time you read this, but maybe for next time! ANYWAYS!

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Today I figured I would talk about something that seems to be happening in my own life and I think I might be able to avoid it by acknowledging it. OVER DOING IT. This is something I fall victim to far too often. I go, go, go and leave little down time for myself to recoup until my body rejects my efforts to be superwoman and I fall sick.

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Now I am not saying I am sick or am going to get sick, but I think this migraine is a warning sign that I need to slow down. How is this relating to art? I am getting there....but let's think just for a second about how fast everything is now. All the pressure of deadlines and due dates, appointments and meetings. Rarely do we take the time to slow our view of things down and focus on what is in front of our faces, instead of what is in the next coming week. I am one of those people but I work to fight it everyday. 

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With all of that said, I have been spending every waking moment I can inside my art studio trying to prepare for my very first art fair. I wake up and go to work to come home and go straight to work until the moment I fall asleep. I am determined to be properly prepared and ready! I even worked through a movie my boyfriend and I were watching late at night because I didn't want to waste time just laying there when I could have been working. 

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I know that my work process isn't always like this, but I want to remember two things. The First thing is to slow down and have confidence in myself that it is alright to take an hour before bed to read my book to unwind and relax my mind. I don't have to work every single second. The Second thing is to just slow down in general. I am knocking out a lot of great work very quickly but I am missing the those beauty of the process! I had painted three adorable wine bottles yesterday and worked on a wood burned piece that I had started and I barely remember doing it.

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For any astrologers out there tomorrow starts another Mercury Retrograde. Click here to learn all about it if you haven't heard of it. Recognizing that I need to relax and slow down to enjoy the process of my art and life, is a great way to start into a new Mercury Retrograde. With that, I will leave you to your peaceful day! 

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Sleep Eye Mask - The Fantastic Fox (Orange Burgundy) by - littleoddforest

Song of the Day:

Coldplay - Trouble

Color of the Day:

Benjamin Moore Regal Harbor Haze 2136-60

How to turn your dream into a color scheme - Week 2

YIPPEE it's Friday again! This is the second weekly Friday Dream Scheme post. Friday's blog posts are about one of my dreams that I have had either recently or from past years that I recorded in a journal. Then I make a color scheme to go along with the dream! Here we go!

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I haven't had any dreams in the recent past, so I decided to go back in my dream records again and revisit one from my past. This was written in my dream journal dated for 

January 15, 2010

       I had a little monkey friend on my right shoulder the whole dream. He looked like a Capuchin monkey. I was managing to float on top of what seemed like an inner-tube and I was in the middle of the ocean. There was a strange unknown man who was following me but couldn't seem to go fast enough to catch me. He kept shouting warnings to me until we entered an area of the ocean with a few tiny islands only big enough to fit one tree. I paddled my way to the center of the area with my hands and feet and I looked back and saw that the man had stopped. He was looking at something.

        Two huge Orca whales and a dolphin  were coming right for me. I was terrified but out of instinct I grabbed one of their dorsal fins and rode it a ways away and then let go. This feeling of being pulled away by the mammal was euphoric. The whole time the monkey remained on my shoulder. I remember feeling like I would fall off my inner-tube but I managed to stay attached to it. That is all I remember.

Here is my dream color scheme! Each color represents a certain part of the dream or feeling the dream gave me. The first color is the blue that represents the ocean. The second color is a brown-grey I see when I think of the monkey on top my shoulder. The third color tan is the general color I get from the small islands and the following fourth color green is the tops of the single trees. The fifth color of light grey was from the feeling of panic I felt when being chased my the man and feeling like I was fall off my tube. Lastly the sixth and final color represents the intense black of the Orca whales.

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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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It's great when I can look back at a dream journal almost 6 years ago and read a dream and perfectly picture the dream as if you had it last night. My dreams are very precious to me and even more so are my dream journals. I can do so much by just looking at one dream I have had. Color schemes are so much fun and easy to make I really recommend trying it yourself.

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It was interesting for me to see how my color scheme from last week and this week compare. They ended up being pretty similar because both dreams has very similar feelings of anxiety and euphoric moments. Very little color but when it was present it was vivid. Which is why the green of the trees ended up being so important. If I was to create a painting from this color scheme I would make sure to use the green as the highlights because it is such a contrast from the others.

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Well we did it again! 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:

Burlap pillow, dream pillow by - 112FarmhouseLayne

Song of the Day:
Cranberries - Dreams

Color of the Day:
BENJAMIN MOORE ORIENTAL IRIS 1418