My obsession for working with unusual materials reaches farther & wider. My latest large-scale commission paintings will be infused with 2 Los Angeles Clippers jerseys.
The paintings have been commissioned for a new upscale restaurant in the Post District west of downtown SLC called Urban Hill. Salt Lake City is growing at breakneck speed, and I feel so much gratitude to be part of the roster of creatives to contribute to the dynamic beauty of our burgeoning city. Thanks to Hearth & Hill, Hill's Kitchen & Semple Brown NEW Partnership Announcement: Close By Me Jewelry I am thrilled to announce a new partnership with Close By Me Jewelry to bring you beautiful one-of-a-kind jewelry & Memorial Paintings made with cremation ashes. Read our Q & A interview bellow:
https://closebymejewelry.com/blogs/news/memorial-paintings-by-samantha-dasilva How do you share a sacred experience without running the risk of bastardizing it? Describing my recent experience for a commissioned painting with cremains (cremated human remains) feels a lot like trying to describe a dream. For the dreamer, the dream is ALIVE. But when the morning comes, the very act of verbalizing the dream makes it seem flatter, limited in depth and scope to the listener. It is my sincere hope that this is not the case.
Sometimes the work chooses you. My latest commission painting was a life altering experience: Painting with cremated human remains.
The coincidences had been stacking for years: My reputation for using unusual texture-making materials caused many people to ask me if I had ever thought about infusing cremains (cremated human remains) into my paintings. The honest answer? Yes! But I was afraid of potentially inviting “ill-tempered, disembodied guests” into my life. When a dear friend recently asked me to create a Memorial Painting for her deceased husband, I felt with my entire body & soul that this was exactly the work I was meant to do: to be a gentle guide through the transitional time of death. The fear is gone. I have stepped over the threshold into a new frontier that feels comfortable, natural & right to me. I am in reverence & in awe. This is what it's like to feel on PURPOSE. In order to really understand a place, you have to experience it. In preparation for 4 large-scale commission paintings I made for a corporate client, I visited Bryce Canyon National Park for the first time. Utah colors are reds, yellows & ochres juxtaposed against a brilliant blue sky. The landscape is other-wordly, reaching, flattened, undulating, expansive and harsh. The texture is rough, smooth, slippery and deceiving. The feeling is that one is very small and the landscape is truly sacred.
4 large-scale commission paintings inspired by bold Utah colors, local landscape and texture for a corporate client in Lehi, Utah.
Raw, rare, and real.
Bright, beautiful and brilliant. Deep and high. Forever long and eternally wide. Every color of earth and sky, so perfectly blended and flowing in unison that there can be no doubt, as to a bold design in the works. Utah, A Poem by Smoky Ross Fear Is A Choice. I have to admit that when this canvas arrived at my studio today, I had a moment of overwhelm. This is a BIG canvas. I am a SMALL human. I feel both daunted by the journey and thrilled for the opportunity and the adventure. I think I might call this my "David & Goliath" commission.
One of my favorite large-scale corporate painting commissions at Mountain America Credit Union Corporate Office, Sandy, Utah Inspired by Utah colors, including a copper metallics & made possible thanks to the support of Alpine Art Gallery, Salt Lake City, Utah.
"As I review the EVENTS of my past life I realize how SUBTLE are the INFLUENCES that SHAPE our DESTINIES." Nikola Tesla
Large-scale commission painting for a client in Park City, Utah thanks to Ontario Design In Terms of Forever acrylic & mixed media on canvas 50 x 72 in. |
This blog was created to share my belief that the art-making process is a catalyst for transformation and personal empowerment. I am living proof.
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