Showing posts with label favorite. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

DIY - PAINT BRUSH CLEANER (Made with hot glue gun)

It has been a weird couple of days but also an AMAZING couple of days. My love took me away for a night to the west side of Michigan with another couple. We stayed in an amazing castle and saw my favorite band Lake Street Dive. It was a magical two days and I felt very inspired and in love.

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Since I have been away all weekend I wanted to use my last day off to really get things done in my studio. I entered the room this morning and felt SO OVERWHELMED. There were things everywhere. I have started so many pieces and each are different mediums. I just couldn't get my thoughts together so I decided it was time to clean and reorganize everything.

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I started by getting all the random trash out and creating more space. I felt cramped and anxious and now I feel free! I had also been putting off cleaning a ton of my brushes that were just sitting in old mineral spirits. I was actually convinced I had ruined all of them because they had been sitting there for so long. I remembered this great idea I saw and decided to make one of my own!

I understand that this video was made for make-up brushes but it works the same for paintbrushes. I made one on a metal tray that I had left lying around. It works so well I wish I had more brushes to clean. I not only saved every single brush I don't think they have ever been this clean. It took maybe ten minutes to make and if you are an artist with deals with paintbrushes of any kind I DEFINITELY recommend making one of these.

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ANYWAY! Now that everything is clean and has a place I am going to organize my inventory on paper which is something I have never done before. I want to do this because like I already mentioned I keep starting all these little pieces for the DIY Art Fair but not finishing them and I feel all over the place. I want to know exactly what I have and how many of each so I can focus on what I want to have for the fair. I know as of now that I probably need to at least DOUBLE my inventory which is terrifying but I know if I can just get my thoughts straight I will make it happen.

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Before I left for the weekend adventure I did however finish my lovely little Alice in Wonderland inspired Watercolor piece! Sometimes I make pieces and I think "oh, that's cute.....moving on" but every now and again I make something I love and it might be vain but I CAN NOT stop looking at it. I really want to make more pieces like this and get prints to sell but I feel like I need to stick with what I can do for the fair for now and after this month dive a little deeper into my watercolor ideas.

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So that's all I have for today. I really want to get to work in here now that it's cleaned up but I wanted to make sure I blogged since I couldn't while I was away. I hope you all have a wonderland day!

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

USB flash drive 8 GB, kawaii blue cat, cat with constellation big dipper, back to school , cobalt cat usb flash by - CloverPower

Song of the Day:

Garden Sessions: Lake Street Dive - "Look At What Mistake" - Radio Woodstock

Color of the Day:

BENJAMIN MOORE CORLSBUD CANYON 076

Friday, August 14, 2015

The Wonderful World of Wood Burning - Pyrography

Hello Again! Today I thought we could talk about a type of art that I have gotten into within the past year and I am OBSESSED! Wood Burning or "Pyrography". I really enjoy experimenting with new mediums and different materials to create on. On a whim near Christmas of last year I decided to buy a starter kit just to play with......Well, I ended up making up practically all of my Christmas gifts to friends and family using it! I couldn't get enough and I was jam packed with different ideas.

This was one of the first pieces a made from an old TV tray. My mother and pops are moving to Oregon so I burned the state on the tray with their "clan name". I stained the outside and sealed it with varnish. They loved it! It was a fun, simple, and thoughtful gift. Homemade gifts are definitely better than bought!

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I have continued to adventure away with my wood burner and was lucky enough to get a ton of really great tips for my burner that allow me to create some unique lines and shapes. Also it came in a great organized container with different sections that I can separate however I want. If it keeps easily tidy I am already in love!

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What is so appealing about burning wood? I grew up in a very "rustic family' which is odd because I grew up in a normal suburban town in Michigan just outside of Detroit. Not the most rustic places in the world but that's just how my family was. My mother grew up in Colorado and most of our love for wood and nature was probably brought on by her. So even the idea of working with wood I was drawn too and had been painting on wood for a while and it feels much more organic.

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I have a love / hate relationship with the fact that it's pretty much permanent so if you mess up it is almost impossible to fix. I am use to oil painting which is easy to work with since it stays wet for so much longer and you are fix your mistakes much easier than say watercolor or even acrylic. I have learned this great "scraping" technique with a small razor to eliminate light burns in areas you don't want. But I tend to use the burner on the higher settings and it burns rather deep, quickly which tends to not scrape well. I end up with big divots in those areas.

(This video is a really great example on how to scrape some mistakes away from your burning.)

I had sketchbooks filled with these great doodles I came up with for fun a while back. I never thought I would end up doing anything with them but when I decided to make small wood burned paintings out of them I was pleasantly surprised at how CUTE they turned out!

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Mixing paint on a wood burned area is so much fun because it can almost feel like you are coloring. you have to be very careful not to get too close to the burn or the paint tends to run down in the burn and it's very hard to "wipe away" but it is fixable for the most part and I think the finished look is really stunning!

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Well that's it for today everyone! Thanks for stopping by and if you are even slightly interested in trying out wood burning after reading this I ABSOLUTELY recommend it! For more on pieces like "The Owl" below, be sure to check out my Etsy Shop! Or follow me in Instagram where I frequently post these step by step pictures of my process through a piece! Thanks again!

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Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Custom Made To Order Wood Burned Sign With Pressed Flowers by - EarthenAllure

Song of the Day:

Ellie Goulding - Burn

Color of the Day:

Ben Moore Tuscan Red 1300

Sunday, August 9, 2015

My 4 kind of movies that INSPIRE ME!

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I have been in the mood to watch some movies lately. Movies that I have already seen multiple times. Movies that INSPIRE me to create.I thought, that's an interesting topic for the blogs! I have mentioned before that I do not watch TV and I find that very important for myself and staying on track with my day. I am an all or nothing girl so it's hard to just watch an episode or two of something. Once I realized this and cut TV out completely I have been much happier and definitely more productive.

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But LOVE to watch movies. I don't do it often but when I get to watch a movie that really connects with me I am in my element. Something stirs up in me and I am motivated to make art! I have a hard time sitting still though so if I watch a movie at home I often find myself sketching or working on an existing project during the movie. Sometimes I can even look back on a piece of artwork and remember what movie I watched when I was working on it.

What kind of movies inspire me the most? I would say I have FOUR major kind of movies that really get me into the creative art making mood

. So let's start with #4. HOLLYWOOD CLASSICS. I have had a love of old movies ever since I was a little girl. I really don't know where it came from but I use to fall asleep to Turner Classic Movie channel on my TV all night long. I would sing old songs and practice impressions of actors like Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Greta Garbo, Rock Hudson, Doris Day....I could go on forever. There is something about an old movie that instantly inspires me to think and create art. What are some of your favorite Hollywood Classics?

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#3. ARTISTIC FLICKS

This one may be obvious but maybe you are an artistic but get nothing out of artistic movies. Well I definitely do and some of my favorite movies of all time are the cliche artistic movies. I really latch onto a movie that uses all of the outlets for art. Wes Anderson is one of the best known artistic directors and most all of his movies really do the trick. The Life Aquatic and Moonrise Kingdom being my top two. I love Eternal Sunshine for the spotless mind, not only is it acted by two great actors but the color schemes and camera work flip a switch in my brain when I sit down and watch it. Anyone want to recommend a great artsy flick to me? I could use some new material. :]

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#2. MOVIES FROM BOOKS I READ

I am a big reader and nothing is more exciting then hearing that your book is being turned into a movie! When I was a kid and gripped by the Harry Potter series like everyone else it was my world to go see the pages I had read put up on the big screen. Since then I am not sure if anything else comes close or ever will but there have been a few really great books into movies. Not always is the movie as inspirational as the book but it is still fun to see someone put colors and sound to the story you imagined in your own head.

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#1. Disney Classics and Animated Movies

I use to feel so embarrassed to admit how excited I was to go see a new animated movie in theaters over other movies. Now I don't care I will shout it from the rooftops. Animated movies have really come a long way and nothing gets me more inspired for art then a good cartoon. Disney classics are probably my number one go to for putting on a film while making some art. Maybe the fact that I don't really need to watch it and I can see it in my mind so I can concentrate on what I am working on. I think it has to do a lot with bringing out my inner kid. My inner kid is highly creative and sometimes I forget how to play and be imaginative like my inner kid can. So Disney Classics and Animated Movies are my biggest film inspirations!

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Man I had a lot of fun making today's blog! I hope you enjoyed reading it. Now that you know what kinds of movies really get me inspired what are some of yours? Do we have any in common or are you the wildly action packed adventure movie lover? I love me some action but I wouldn't say it makes me want to make art. What are your thoughts?

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Movie Camera Giclee Art Print - Watercolor Camera Poster - Movie Art Print - Inspirational Wall Decor by - MaryWatercolorWords

Song of the Day:

Harry Potter - Prologue/Intro

Color of the Day:

Sandcastle