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

Is Snail Mail a Dying Art?

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         When is the last time you got a hand written letter? Better yet.....when is the last time YOU wrote an actually letter to someone? Have some of you never ever wrote a letter?! Thinking about that being a possibility makes me so sad for kids today. Writing and receiving handwritten letters is so satisfying!

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I love to get fun mail. When I pull mail out of the mailbox nowadays I am just expecting to fish through coupon ads and bills. Every so often you get a cute wedding invitation or an artistic dentist appointment reminder that makes me smile! But when I get an actual letter from someone it makes my whole day! It's like a little gift and I get giddy like a kid on Christmas.

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So have I got you interested in writing a letter for someone? You don't have to have a reason to write to someone and actually someone getting a random letter might even be more special! If you were to send someone a random letter who would it be too? A friend, a cousin, an old neighbor? 

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Today the internet and other technologies make it so easy to stay connected to most people anywhere in the world and I understand how mail has mostly fluttered out of the picture. It doesn't mean I have to like it though! There is something different about taking the time to actually write out a letter. 

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If you go above and beyond and decide to decorate the letter in some fun way it just adds that much more love. Plus it is a great way to get crafty and use those rusty artistic muscles you have been putting to the side. Get a fun stamp or stickers (Yes this may seem like a childish thing to do, but it won't seem like it when that person sees all the extra time you put into it. They will feel special!)

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       This past winter my boyfriend's kids kept saying they were bored. So we came up with a great idea to send personal letters to kids with life threatening illnesses. They wrote the letters and decorated them and the envelopes. They had so much fun and I could tell that it made them feel good to do something nice for someone else who might need a pick me up! Here are some pictures I found from that day. :]

I enjoy writing letters and receiving them so much that I had a pen pal :] My beautiful cousin out in California has always lived in other states as me but I know we are blood because we have so much in common. I use to get so anxious waiting for her letters in the mail to hear how she was doing and then I got to decorate and write my letter back to her! Below are a few pictures of the envelopes I created for my snail mail back to her! 

So let's bring snail mail back and let some of our creative juices flow in ways we never thought about! Make someone's day by surprising them with a ways to let them know you are thinking about them. I KNOW you will make them feel amazing and in return you will feel just as good!

Let me know your thoughts! Do you already have a pen pal? What is your favorite part about writing letters? I want to hear from you and your experiences with bringing back the dying art of snail mail!

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Envelope cookie cutter, 3D printed by - Printmeneer

Song of the Day:

Nat King Cole ::: I'm Gonna Sit Right Down & Write Myself A Letter

Color of the Day:

Delicacy Pink

10 Throwback Arts and Crafts from the 90's

Sit back, relax and prepare to feel all types of artistic nostalgia. 

Here is 10 throwback art and crafts from the 90's. Cool Dude...

1. Magic Spin Art

This is a timeless toy that's pretty fun for kids. I never had one and that was probably because it was the so messy but just seeing it still brings back all the feels. Although this didn't take much skill or thought to it, it did the trick for getting kids interested in art. 

2. The Classic Art Starter Kit

Every kid into art in the 90's should recognize this bad boy. It was the stereotypical art kit that was always given at Christmas or birthdays. It wasn't a bad collection of art supplies although the tips of those markers were a tad on the fuzzy side.

3. Kid Pix

If you had computer class and were at all electronically savvy, your free time was with this lovely program. It helped turn anyone into a regular graphic artist. Plus it made some pretty fun sounds when you tried to undo things or use any on of their funky stamps.

4. Gel Pens

I am not going to lie on this one, I wish I still had some gel pens. Even though you spend half of your time shaking them so they would work, when they did work it really jazzed up your homework or notes to your BFF like nothing else could. 

5. Lisa Frank

I think I had a folder just like this activity book. If you had Lisa Frank you were ahead of the game with style points. Plus if you were bored of listening to your teacher the bright neon colors were great to stare at and zone out. 

6. Glitter Glue

What an fabulously messy and never drying product! Try giving these to a child and telling them to go wild, then don't touch their art for pretty much 3 days or it will smear everywhere and never come off. Nothing like finishing a piece of work and barely breathing and having it smudge the whole thing. Plus the air pockets inside would cause it to burst out in big chunks instead of gracefully. Yet I still kept coming back to them. Fun times! 

7. Magnadoodle

These were some of the smartest art tools a kid could have in the 90's. You could draw your masterpiece and then no messy clean up for the parent!  You couldn't lose the pen because it was always attached by a string which I always dragged it around by (I am sure that's not what it was intended for). Be sure not the step on them though or you'll be stuck with a permanent footprint on all of your art!

8. Crayola Stamp Markers

This seriously makes me smile just looking at these. I was obsessed with these wonderful stamp markers. I would draw a house or a dog and the rest of the 75% of the blank paper would be covered in kisses and hearts. You could use them to color too but you really had to smash them hard and risk losing the shape and that was something I really wasn't willing to gamble on. They were my babies.

9. Stacking Stationary Crayon

     I pretty much made that name up but you all know what it's about. It was a 3 in 1 fine tipped crayon and was super fun for multicolored letters. It even came equipped with a handy cap. Make sure you don't lose any of the pieces though or the whole thing is useless. So tell that to a kid. Don't lose any of it. Other than that this was great!

10. Lite Brite

Oh how I envied my best friend and her Lite Brite. I always thought the possibilities were endless and magical but alas I never was fortunate to had one of my own. I do remember her letting me use it once but she wasn't very thrilled because its not a very two person friendly object. But oh how it glows your work to life!

                   Grand Finale: Watch this and really take it back.....I promise you won't regret it.

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios