SamJen Arts on Etsy!

Our Etsy store is now open!

Samjen Arts - Simple Geeky Paintings and Romantic Acrylics! At least that's what we've got up so far. Soon we'll have some of our restoration projects up. Jen's working on some furniture projects.

Maybe I can get her to guest a DIY or her project? Hmmm...

Oh, and some new art from me will be going up, too, so there's that.


AND MAYBE my busy bee twinny will get her schtuff together sometime soon, too? Hmm, Em? ;) Called out on the internets!


I'm a little hopped up right now as I just spent 2 hours in a book store listening to and getting a book signed by THE Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess. SO EXCITE.


Night, all.

~Samantha

Simple Geeky Art

Oh, hello there, internets.

So I've started a new venture with my boss/coworker/photographer/friend Jen and will be opening an Etsy store to sell some of our art work (Will probably be called SamJen Arts. STAY TUNED). I've been working on a few things recently and decided to finally blahg about it. Basically, I'm an enormous nerd and want to show my nerdiness by painting simple things from my favorite nerdy genres, or as I like to call them: nerdoms.

This was the beginning. The Seal of Rassilon from Doctor Who I painted some time last year. I posted on a forum I frequent and immediately got a buyer. After that I was like "Hmm... nerds buy things?" What else would they like? I basically put the question out there and got some amazing requests.

This is the logo from the forum I originally put out to help raise funds and show some support for the board. Got a lot of feedback and raised a bit for my own broke ass and the forum. "What part of 'shall not be infringed' do you not understand?"

A requested modified version of the forum logo.

Then I got some inspiration from one of my hubby's favorite authors: Douglas Adams. Here's my favorite quote from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

That sparked a request based on one of the other amazing aquatic animal themed quotes from HHGtG

 Then came a few Texas themed requests!

This one was a strange one for a brother who moved from Texas to California...

This was all me. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and wanted a Deathly Hallows painting.The script is the last paragraph of the Tale of the Three Brothers. I always found it beautiful how the third brother and Death leave as equals rather than rivals.

Then my SIL demanded more Star Wars. "Do or do not. There is no Try". Yoda was the first, but I'm hoping I'll get to a Han Solo / Leia themed one soon...

Have an idea for a geeky/nerdy simple work of art? I'm always ready for a challenge!


Next Up: The TARDIS!


~Samantha



ps. dunno why I'm having trouble with some of the links. I'll work on it!

Coming Soon! Again...

Oh bloggy blog bloggiverse, we did not forget about you! I have painted about 16 paintings since the last time I was on here, so I've got some great material. I just need to start putting it together in a reasonable manner.

Here's a small taste. I'm calling my new line of art "Simple Art for the Complex Geek." How very uppity of me to say "line of art", but I really couldn't think of a better way to put it. After all it is nearly midnight and I only slept 5 hours last night.


And with that, I leave you with " So long and thanks for all the fish"    ~Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

YouTube in Review - Bowling, Cereal, and a Shelf

It has been a rough couple of weeks in this twin's world. Various life events and one very sick kitty have prevented me from writing for awhile, but I’ve got enough time to pop in and do a quick YouTube in Review. Hopefully I will have a new painting update for next Saturday as I have been painting quite a bit lately.

Anyhow, to the reviews!

#1 – Nerdist All Star Bowling

Nerdist founder Chris Hardwick gets to be a jerk in an adorable way by inviting nerdy celebs bowling. Team Nerdist challenges a variety of different teams (Like Team Geek and Sundry, Team Mythbusters, and the cast of Mad Men just to name a few) in a competition to raise money for charity. If the opposing team beats team Nerdist, their charity gets $2000. But wait a sec… didn't you say Chris Hardwick was a jerk? Ya, little do these nerdy celebrities know, but Hardwick is the son of a national bowling champion. That is correct: Hardwick invites people to compete against him in a sport he excels at on a professional level…for charity.  Thankfully the rest of the revolving team Nerdist tends to suck hardcore at the game, so quite a few teams end up beating Hardwick. Come to watch celebrities fail at something, stay for the witty banter and nerdy trash talking. 8/10 pins.

#2 –  Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Here is where to go when you want some stupid humor with a side of geekiness. Watching SMBC somehow makes me simultaneously feel better about myself and lose faith in most of humanity. They cover every topic imaginable: from God handing out male vs. female parts and George Lucas ruining our childhoods, to boy wonder Robin giving a press conference and defending his sexuality. Really, you can find a sketch for anyone.  There’s hundreds to wade through, so I recommend you start watching! 7.5/10 golden stars for hilarity, but more than a few awkward moments and some forced self reevaluation.

#3 – SHELF LIFE the Series 

I just discovered this channel starring married voice actors Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal after watching the latest Table Top episode in which they play Castle Panic with Wil Wheaton. This dynamic duo has created a web series about four action figures stuck on the shelf of an annoying little boy. Profanity laced and terribly funny, it lets the viewer reminisce about their childhood toys as Hero Man, Hero Lass, Bug Boy and Samurai Snake snicker and bitch about life from action figures' point of view. I’ve only just started watching, but thus far 9/10 plastic figurines. 

Thanks for reading! Like I said, hopefully some fun new art projects will be ready to post next weekend!

-Samantha

Movie Review: The Avengers!

 Joss Whedon has been an inspiring writer for decades and yet it wasn’t until a week ago that he came into the public lexicon. Being children of the 90’s, we grew up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and have been fans ever since. I’ve read a lot of glowing reviews about the Avengers, but one thing continues to bother me: just because the general populace has remained largely oblivious to the multitude of great projects produced by Whedon does not mean the Avengers is him finally “making it”. He may now have the biggest blockbuster of all time, but it’s been a long time coming! Now that team Whedon has a few million new members, how about some homework to catch up on some past work? I recommend Buffy, Dollhouse, Firefly and Serenity, and Doctor Horrible’s Sing Along Blog as “infection vectors” to the Whedonverse. Give them some of the love they deserve and you will not be disappointed!

Rant Conclusion: Whedon didn’t just finally get it right, people just finally started paying attention!

Okay, back to the review part of this review! Avengers, right.

America loves superheroes… especially flawed superheroes. Here we have a group of them so fantastically flawed and dysfunctional that they tumble in and out of hilarious internal conflict. How could these scrappy ruffians get their shit together long enough to save the world?! Oh ya, through genius, cunning, strength, and skill… and maybe some witty dialog and the loss of a loved one.

Can I just say that I have always wanted to know what would happen if Thor and Iron Man went mano a mano? I pretty sure I was vibrating in my seat with the occasional “EEEEE” of excitement as that scene in the woods unfolded, a behavior my husband was less than thrilled about in a crowded theater….

And then I laughed so hard I cried when the Hulk did that thing to Loki… you know what I’m talking about. Oh geez. Also, I was expecting Black Widow to be largely ignored because, let's face it, she’s competing for face time with Stark, the Captain, and a freakin’ demi-god. But not only did Scar-Jo (ugh, I hate that I just used that abbreviation but I’m too lazy to google how to spell her last name…) hold her own with the boys, she actually manages to be pretty funny when, let’s call it “guiding”, that flying bad guy via knives to the back. The film was surprisingly balanced and almost completely without that ADHD feel that so many other movies tend to get when having so many lead characters.

Great writing, great humor, great timing (HULK). Overall, I’d give it a 9.89/10 nerdyfangirl points!

And ya, we went out for Shawarma after. If just adds to the experience.

Here’s my attempt to copy my sister at this Haiku stuff:

Avenging evil,

Silly Loki Smashed By Hulk

Save the World. Shawarma. 

Hopefully I'll have one of my DIY projects compiled by some time this week! 

-Samantha-