 Q: Hi Sam, I was recently asked if I do commissions and I have no artist friends to ask... I have never done a commission and have no idea how to work with a client on a painting, but I don't want to say no. It's a little different than doing a freelance graphic design job. Do you have any particular process you go through with a client?  "If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it." Yogi Bhajan Week 7 of Fearless Abstract Painting STUDIO CLASSES at Workshop SLC. I am so incredibly grateful for this amazing group & the humble privilege to be their fearless leader week after week. Honestly, I feel like I learn much more from them than they do from me.  BIG NEWS! My work was featured in a prominent local magazine! Thank You Western Home Journal | Park City for featuring my work in the SUMMER | FALL 2021 Issue. A special thanks to Danielle Vigueria for writing such a compelling article about my work: "Samantha daSilva: Becoming Fearless". This is the realization of a longstanding dream for me. I dedicate this accomplishment to my father, who passed away unexpectedly almost one year ago on June 25, 2020. My mother may have taught me how to draw and paint, but it was my father who taught me how to dream and imagine. Read the Article  One of my signature looks is creating paintings that look aged, weathered by the elements, and "distressed". Introducing one of these works into a modern interior - ripe with polished concrete and stainless steel, fills me with excitement. I delight in the juxtaposition. One of the ways to achieve this effect is make your own rust solution. The color of the rust solution is similar to the reddish-brown color Sepia. Make your own rust solutions using this simple recipe:  Week 6 unfolded in the most beautiful way! I felt like I was standing on holy ground. My heart is full of gratitude to be able to do what I love, and to share it with such beautiful souls. Without masks! Real time!! As an instructor, one of my favorite things to witness is students making connections - helping each other navigate the process with ideas drawn from their own personal practice and life experience. What a gift! We'll be taking a break for the summer in a couple of weeks, but Studio Classes will commence once again in September at Workshop SLC  Coco Channel said: "Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take something off." I love that! I take a similar approach to the way I choose my color palette: "Before you begin painting, take a color off." Less is more. Simplicity is elegance. Shop The Collection  We should all be so lucky to "work from home." If home is where the heart is, then by its simplest definition, home is where we are. To me, "working from home" means "working from the heart". This is by far the BEST way I know of to create paintings. It fascinates me that on a global scale, we've all been forced to "work from home''. Perhaps we can all use what we've experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to recalibrate our compasses and live a more heart-led existence.  Look what we made! Acrylics are a fast drying medium, and they dry even faster when exposed to the hot, gorgeous sun of the Wasatch mountains. Celebrating Day-2 of "Distressed" Mixed Media Workshop at the Kimball Art Center, Park City, Utah. Infusing iron-rich Utah dirt, salt from The Great Salt Lake, and foraged sawdust to create works of art that tell a story about place, home and belonging. So grateful for the opportunity and the privilege to meet !! IN PERSON !! at this beautiful venue.  It gets messy before it gets good! Incorporating collage, newspapers & paint scrapers to create simulated marks of age & wear. A SOLD OUT 2-day "Distressed" Mixed Media Workshop at the new & beautiful Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah. |
