Lately

I have had the opportunity to work with some really fantastic people the past few months on their commissions. 

In February I got to paint an awesome landscape scene for a kind gentleman. He lost his wife last year and wanted to have a painting done in memory of her and her favorite thing- sunsets at the Outerbridge right outside her home in Staten Island. The gentleman also had me paint him and his wife sitting on a bench in front of the whole thing. He had a reception and unveiling in his home for the painting. I was floored by the amount of people that came to see the painting in her memory. That was truly an amazing commission.

Later, I painted a set of windows from a building erected in 1888 in lower Manhattan. The patron that commissioned me to paint them is a construction worker that helped restore that building. He saved this set of windows from the garbage and had an incredible idea to have an artist paint what would the window would have seen in the years it was first put in. He wanted the NYC harbor as it was in 1888. So I went to researching for old photos and details of what the boats would have looked like. He recommended that I put the SS Germanic in the picture because that boat is known for carrying over Irish immigrants in that time. I should note that my patron is Irish.- I thought this was such a grand idea for him to think of and I am quite honored to have been apart of his grand idea.

I have also been working on lots of little pets lately and I still have several more to paint! It is such a great experience to paint someone's pet and watch their face as I unveil the portrait to the owner. It is usually laughter, because they say I capture the personality so well. I love these responses! 

If you have a commission you would like me to do, please do not hesitate to email me. It takes up to 6 weeks for completion so if you would like your commission for a gift in time, please plan accordingly. Once you email me, I will email you my Commission Request Information sheet and you can make your decisions about your commissions more knowledgeably. Emailing me does not mean it is set in stone, inquiring first has to happen so that you may know more about what I do, so please don't hesitate to ask! 

Here are some of the commissions I have mentioned in this post:

Ama's Sunset. 2012. Oil on Canvas. 30x40

1888 NYC Harbor. 2012. Acrylic on Window glass.

Gabby. 2012. Acrylic on Canvas Board. 8x10.

Trying to clear up some questions:

So I have been asked a lot about sizes of canvas... Unless you have the canvas right in front of you, it is hard to imagine how large it would be on your wall. I've been asked to take photos of my work and compare them to objects and people. So I have done just that! I really hope this helps and I can always take more photos in the future!

My wonderful fiance helping me out! :) From left to right the sizes are: 30x40, 24x30, 18x24, 16x20, 12x16

Showing them again with object to compare them to.

And this is a 30x40 (Boats, 2010) on my living room wall.

TWO discounts, ending Friday!

This week I have TWO great specials running! 

I am giving customers half off of their commissioned pet portrait. So for $10/hour + cost of canvas you can have a painting of your pet (with or without beads)! If you are interested you can email me at samanthafloyd821@gmail.com and you can tell me what size canvas you want and I can give you a quote. Initially I had 3 spots open for this special, but 1 has already been taken so act fast because this special ends Friday.

Example of Pet Portrait: "Charlie". 2012. Acrylic and seed beads. 8x10.

Also, my hand painted decorative clocks are all 20% off! Email me for purchase! I take Paypal or any major credit card. $7 shipping if applicable.

Lily Icon Clock. 12x12. $30. Acrylic on Canvas.

Baby Owl Clock. 6x6. $30. Acrylic on Wood.

Sun and Moon Clock. 12x12. Oil on Wood. $35

Aboriginal Style Clock. 8x10. Acrylic on Canvas. $30.

"An Introduction" for sure

This weekend was the opening reception of Artist Street's "An Introduction". To give you a little background on Artist Street: Raul "Rez" Barquet was the first friend in Staten Island that I met. We began having conversations about the artists and the art scene in general in Staten Island. We asked, "where are all the young emerging artists like us?". We soon met Gustavo Galvan at Art Lab at their "Open Show" Reception where all of us had a piece showing. Soon after, Gustavo was on board with finding other artists like us. We wanted a community of us. Meeting at the local diners and then soon moving our meetings to Gustavo's apartment, we started "Artist Street". The mission of Artist Street was simple: "Artist Street is a group of young artists that work together to enhance the experience of being an artist on Staten Island through collaboration and cooperation." The reason for the name Artist Street is because it is an avenue of opportunity that can be anywhere. We have no one place we belong. We are on Artist Street. The ideas were flowing limitless between the 3 of us. Art Lab is a large part of all of our lives and we thought that their gallery was perfect to have our first show. Art Lab's gallery is beautiful, professional, and perfect for Artist Street. Once we got an acceptance letter from our proposal to the board members, we put the call to artists out and the response was great!

"An Introduction" is a self portrait exhibition. Since it is our first show, we wanted to "introduce" ourselves and show the community who we are not only personally, but artistically. I think we did just that. The artists that are showing in this exhibition are:

Erica DiNiso

Desiree Arroyo

Dannie Compono

Samantha Floyd

Raul "Rez" Barquet

Gustavo Galvan

Cana Sarnes

Zoe Tirado

Tabitha Turchio

Jimmy Bricks

Emily Peters

Keri Sheheen

Jason Passalaqua

Imam Asad

I am honored to show with each of these artists and without them this show couldn't have happened.

Here are some photos from the opening. The show runs until the 24th so please go to Art Lab in Snug Harbor Cultural Center (1000 Richmond Terrace, SINY Building H).

As you come into the exhibition, this is the first thing you see

The gallery was filling up! We had this gallery jam packed!

NY1 even came out to interview us!

 For more info on anyone I have mentioned you can visit
 www.facebook.com/artiststreet
www.artlab.info
or email
artiststreetinfo@gmail.com
For the NY1 interview visit: http://statenisland.ny1.com/content/top_stories/162389/self-portrait-exhibit-opens-in-snug-harbor

And you can click on my "Upcoming" page to see more info on the show card for "An Introduction".