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

Why everyone should be coloring.

When is the last time you remember coloring? Not drawing, doodling, or painting, but actually coloring in a coloring book. Well I'll cut to the chase...I colored last night and it was AMAZING! Coloring is the most calming and grounding thing for me besides meditating. Speaking of meditating......

I believe coloring is a form of meditation. So for all of you out there who want to meditate but have tried sitting with your eyes closed and felt unsuccessful at clearing your mind, TRY COLORING! You can go as easy as a color by number so you really don't have to think or step it up and get a more detailed coloring book with beautifully detailed images. Just sitting down, relaxing and staring at a page and the colors will definitely put you in a meditative trance. Don't believe me?! Give it a try!

Thursday's are very important days for me. Every week I spend time over at my grandma's house aka gramcrackers. She's my best bud. We normally talk and drink tea together. For the last couple of months I have been working on finishing a large wall mural for her but it got too late for me to work on it so we decided to color. 

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My grandmother LOVES to color. It is something her and my papa use to do when they went down to Gulf Shores Alabama on vacation. They would sit together and color. He used colored pencils and she used markers. She still enjoys this very much even though he has now passed. She has been sick for about a week so she has really been in a coloring frenzy! I took her to a local craft store and helped her STEP UP HER COLOR GAME! We got her fun new markers and some more advanced coloring books. 

(Gramcracker's new marker set for under $15)

(Gramcracker's new coloring books! More advanced than color by number and under $15)

Here are a few great coloring finds I stumbled across on ETSY! Check out these wonderful coloring books! Oh the possibilities are just endless. There are little ones and detailed ones and buying something on Etsy helps support small businesses! 

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Don't know what to color with? Here are also some really great things found on Etsy to color with. You can buy more expensive markers like Copic or use great wooden rustic colored pencils! Check out the links below for the wonderful Etsy products to take your coloring to the next level!

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ANYWAYS! She worked on her color by number and I took one of the more advanced books and tried blending some of the colors together. We stuck on some meditation music and just relaxed into the pages of our books. You don't have to put on meditation music any music will do! If you want to sit in silence you can do that as well but music makes it easier for me to really relax and smile.

Kevin Braheny - Galaxies

Coloring can make you feel free and child-like again and is an easy think for people to do to awaken their creative bones! Even those who consider themselves "can't even draw a stick figure" people, can color. In fact those who do recognize themselves as not-so artistic should really be the ones getting on the crazy coloring train! Free yourself people! 

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Bracelet from colored pencils by - carbickova

Song of the Day:

Feist - The Water

Color of the Day:

Inner Glow by Benjamin Moore

Art with the help of Meditating.

Art with the help of Meditating.

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       Ever feel a lack of focus when trying to make your art? Ever feel a drought of inspiration? Maybe you can't find enough time in the day for the art time you have been craving? I have a secret to change it all. Meditation.

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     I assume some of you have meditated before. You might even be a meditating professional! In case you have never heard of meditating or have always wanted to try and didn't know where to start. Here is a great beginner's video to meditating.

So now that we are all on the same page, how can meditation help with ART?

1. Meditation helps to center yourself and your thoughts, which greatly effect your art. If you are stressed or overwhelmed with daily life, just 5 minutes of meditating can set you back on track and put you in a perfect state of mind for creating.

2. Out of ideas or don't know where to start? I know this one is huge for me. When I don't know what to make or can't seem to organize my ideas I meditate and ask to see what I need to. I always know I have the ideas in there somewhere but sometimes moving all the other junk around first helps me see clearly!

3. Stepping away from your work. I don't do this nearly enough and sometimes it really costs me with time and energy. Ever been so immersed in a piece of artwork that you forget to step back and look at the whole thing? By the time you are done and you do step back you notice things you could have done different or that might be a little off. Taking a few minutes for a silent break can mean a huge difference in the finished quality of your work.

4. Do you want to make more meaningful art but don't know what you want to say? I tend to make a lot of "sell-able work" and sometimes I lose the love for a project because I am too focused on the money value it will bring me. By meditating I can look within myself and see what is on my mind that I want to express. This always helps me feel recharged and inspired to still make sell-able pieces but that say something at the same time.

Meditation is great for so many reasons but since this is an Art Blog I wanted to cover some of the ways it's really helped me and hopefully can help you! Creating comes from a very internal place that's is expressed externally and to ensure everything is in order I think the best and easiest way is through MEDITATION!

         How has meditating helped you in your life? Do you already use it as a tool for your art? Comment some of your thoughts on what this topic has done or might do for you!

Until Tomorrow -Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

I want to start doing something new at the end of every blog. I think would be a great addition to the blogs! Every blog I will have a featured Etsy Item, Random Song & Color of the day! It's just a little extra flavor that I think might be fun!

Featured Etsy Item of the Day:
DIY Cross Stitch Pendant - Wood Pendant Blank - Small Heart (RedGateStitchery)

Song of the Day:

Matt Simons - Catch & Release (Deepend Remix)

Color of the Day: 
Benjamin Moore Regal Select Winter Gray 2117-60