Nerds Republic

Redoing your kitchen is a scary thought for many. Even if it’s a small project, it always seems like the budget grows and grows until you wonder why you ever opted for that new light fixture over the stovetop. It was supposed to be just $25 — how’d it become $250!

This couple knew their space needed a serious upgrade but didn’t want to break the bank by hiring someone to do it. Instead, they took the project on themselves, but when you see the results you won’t believe how inexpensive it was…or how professional it looks!

Here’s what they were working with — definitely needs a new look.

First, they removed all the doors.

After cleaning them and lightly sanding them, they were ready!

Two coats of dark stain made them look brand-new.

They got to work on the cabinets…

And after a few layers of stain, things were looking better.

Everything went back on and they added a top coat for an extra-dark hue.

Next step? The backsplash.

These peel-and-stick tiles were affordable and look great.

When all was said and done, they splurged a little on a new refrigerator and table and chairs.

(source Reddit)

This just goes to show that a fresh coat of paint — or in this case, stain — can work wonders on making a space look completely fresh.

Art is often thought about from the perspective of the viewer. It makes sense, because viewership is the practice of many, and creation is the practice of relatively few. But let’s take a step back and consider the fact that creative work lives a long, unseen life before it ends up in front of us. In many ways, what goes into the creation of a piece is far more profound than anything we could possibly take away from it.

Artist Stephanie Calvert is more than a little bit familiar with that experience. Her latest series, which is an ongoing endeavor called the Shame to Pride Project, has evolved into something that is both restorative and revelatory.

Calvert’s mission started after an unexpected and painful homecoming.

Growing up in an abandoned schoolhouse in rural Colorado proved to be an isolating experience for the artist. “I lived there for six years without plumbing, central heat, or full electricity. Disconnected from the community, my mother’s hoarding took over a lot of the space. It was a strange and challenging place to grow up.”

Once her parents left the space, it was abandoned once again. Calvert only returned when tragedy struck.

Her mother sustained brain injuries in a horrible bike accident, so the artist began spending more time in her hometown to lend a helping hand. Shame to Pride was born when she stepped back in time to the schoolhouse that held so many convoluted memories.

Because the old schoolhouse sat exactly as they’d left it so many years ago, the fruits of her mother’s hoarding remained. Instead of discarding it in shame, Calvert vowed to repurpose it all into a testament to family and the nature of memory.

“I used the experience of transforming physical materials as a way to transform my relationship to my story,” she writes. The more time she spent surrounded by her family history, the more comfortable she became with the idea of embracing her past with honesty.

“Revisiting my past,” she continues, “brought a lot up to the surface for me, and in sharing things about my mom’s accident, I started sharing more about my past as well.”

What started as an introspective project soon became something of an outreach mission.

“At first, I started Shame to Pride very much for my own mental and emotional wellbeing,” she writes. “When I started sharing my art with friends, I started to see the potential for connection to others through this work.”

According to the artist, “Through sharing with others and having them bear witness to our stories, we start to heal and accept ourselves just as we are, no matter where we come from.”

The effect that Shame to Pride has had on Calvert is nothing short of transformative.

“Once I started looking at things creatively,” she writes, “I was able to see the value not just in these physical things, but in my past, my family, and my experiences. It’s not what happens to us that defines us. It’s how we respond to it, and the intentions we have in moving forward.”

She now wants to invite others to share in this experience in a way that helps them confront their own pasts and begin the healing process.

She’s even started an Indiegogo campaign so that she can raise enough money to bring this project to New York and extend the reach of her process far beyond the borders of her hometown.

In her words, “I have gained so much freedom from how I used to think and feel. I feel so much lighter. I see how special and beautiful my upbringing was, and how it helped shape me into the creative and unique person I am today. I feel gratitude where I used to feel shame.”

(via Indiegogo)

And now we return to the viewer’s experience. What Calvert wants us to take away from the Shame to Pride Project is simple: “I want people to take away the importance of sharing — especially when it comes to the things we feel shame, guilt, and sadness over.”

If you want to lend Stephanie Calvert a helping hand, be sure to check out her Indiegogo page. For more of her incredible work, pay a visit to her website.

Artists are amazing for a number of reasons. For one, they can use basic materials to create extraordinary pieces. They’re also incredible because their work doesn’t just change their lives — it changes those of everyone who comes into contact with it. Creators just approach life differently. That’s why it’s so interesting to see how artistry weaves its way into their everyday lives.

One artist by the name of Sath, for example, used his work to ask a very, very important question.

Before starting this project, Sath had to find the perfect canvas. After he found one to his liking, he got to work on creating a colorful mural.

In fact, this unique artist is known for bringing his expansive knowledge of painting and design to unlikely surfaces.

But this undertaking was unlike anything he’d ever done before.

That’s because his audience for this work was not a group of passersby. It was meant for only one person — and that person was very special.

Sath had been wanting to propose to his girlfriend for a while, and because they were separated for professional reasons, he had plenty of time to come up with the perfect plan.

But he didn’t choose to propose through a painting to stroke his own ego. The truth is actually much simpler. “I communicate better through my paintings than through my words,” he writes, “and this special occasion wasn’t an exception.”

He chose to title the piece Anillave in reference to the Spanish words for ring (anillo) and key (llave).

Here is the final product. When they were finally reunited, Sath blindfolded his girlfriend, led her to the mural, and let the painting speak for itself. Fortunately for this talented guy, she said yes!

(via Bored Panda)

Art doesn’t exist in a vacuum for those who create it. Instead, it permeates everything they do. While that’s pretty amazing in and of itself, it’s even more incredible when that infusion of creativity leaves a lasting impact on the artist’s life. When it comes to Sath and his special lady, something tells me that their marriage will be as stunning and vibrant as the mural that changed their lives forever.

There’s no doubt that autumn foliage is beautiful, since it sets the landscape ablaze in orange and red. But after the leaves fall and become crunchy and brown, it’s easy to forget about them. That, however, is not the case for Polish painter Joanna Wirazka, who turns to something other than traditional paper to create her artwork during the fall — something that’s free and abundant.

Wirazka paints on fallen leaves, turning them into tiny landscapes by using acrylic paints. The leaves are naturally very fragile, which makes the level of detail that she achieves all the more impressive.

A photo posted by Joanna Wirażka (@awirazka16) on Sep 12, 2015 at 4:55am PDT

A photo posted by Joanna Wirażka (@awirazka16) on Aug 7, 2015 at 5:26am PDT

A photo posted by Joanna Wirażka (@awirazka16) on Jul 30, 2015 at 5:41am PDT

A photo posted by Joanna Wirażka (@awirazka16) on Jul 1, 2015 at 5:49am PDT

Painting on leaves isn’t easy. Wirazka must contend with the small size, uneven texture, and brittleness of them — but she pulls it off beautifully. From nature and space scenes, to cityscapes and famous landmarks, her leaves become tiny windows into the world.

On average, a leaf painting takes Wirazka about three hours to complete.

A photo posted by Joanna Wirażka (@awirazka16) on Jul 27, 2015 at 2:32pm PDT

A photo posted by Joanna Wirażka (@awirazka16) on Jan 24, 2015 at 3:11pm PST

A photo posted by Joanna Wirażka (@awirazka16) on Feb 2, 2015 at 2:06pm PST

A photo posted by Joanna Wirażka (@awirazka16) on Feb 11, 2015 at 4:01pm PST

(via Lost At E Minor)

You can see more of Wirazka’s seasonal art, as well as her more traditional pieces, on Instagram. She also has some words of wisdom for all of us: “Art makes the world better and more beautiful. Try to find real art everywhere and let it inspire you.”

Email the ViralNova team!

We’ve all been there. You’re shopping for some new paint for your living room, and you’re bombarded with hundreds of paint samples that come complete with confusing names. “Sweet whispers”? “Jazzberry”? “Springtime laughter”? None of those are colors! Can’t there just be a number system or something?

All of that is a bit easier when it comes to the paints that artists use, but even those names can be a bit hard to understand sometimes. What’s even harder to figure out is how these bizarrely named paints will react to each other if you mix them. That’s why Japanese design studio Imai Moteki developed a system called Nameless Paints, which identifies colors by how they’re made.

These paint tubes are marked with the primary colors used to make them. This takes all of those annoying names out of the equation. Can you figure out what color each tube holds?

It also makes people more aware of how to mix their own colors by using a few primaries. In pigments (inks and paints), the primary colors are magenta, yellow, and cyan.

Aside from the three primaries, black, and white, the kit comes with a variety of hues, which are all combinations of the main five.

Without labels, the paints rely on color to communicate, meaning anyone, no matter what language they speak, can use and understand the paints.

Here’s the whole kit. See how many colors you can figure out!

The creators behind Nameless Paint, Yusuke Imai and Ayami Moteki, believe that labeling colors with distinct names can be confusing for children, which can discourage them from experimenting with paint.

“By not assigning names to the colors, we want to expand the definition of what a color can be, and the various shades they can create by mixing them,” explains Imai.

Here are some of the paints. It’s a pretty great selection, and it’s also an educational one!

(via BoredPanda, My Modern Met)

The Nameless Paint kit is available for purchase on Kokuyo, and it’s perfect for beginners of all ages. The kit of 10 paints sells for about $15.

Canvas has been used in painting and art-making for years. Typically, artists paint onto it, and the canvas usually just serves as the backdrop. But this creative duo has found a new way to use canvas where it becomes the art itself — and it’s pretty amazing.

The artist team refers to themselves as Stallman. Steven Stum and Jason Hallman, partners in both life and artwork, create the swirling, abstract pieces you see here. They use canvas and paint…but not at all in a way you’d expect.

Stallman takes strips of painted canvas and balances it on its edge, creating looping, swirling scrollwork that becomes an abstract image.

By using different colors, the canvas surfaces can reflect off one another, creating a shimmering effect that changes depending on the angle it’s viewed.

The duo works together on each piece, melding their individual creativities into single images.

“Each length of painted canvas is bonded to itself and to the background creating a rigid structure within the frame,” the pair explains.

Each piece is created using considerable care and patience, with careful attention paid to the flow of the canvas and the gradient of the colors.

“The hue of the painted canvas reflects on the background creating a spectrum of color. By using reflecting light, pigment, and structure, they can multiply the hues and tones within each sculpture.”

And the results are stunning:

These pieces are part of a growing collection called Canvas on Edge, and Hallman and Stum take their inspiration from the world around them…

…from organic forms to oceanscapes. Their artwork falls somewhere between painting and sculpture.

When creating their work, Hallman and Stum consider themselves to be two halves of the same brain, working together and pooling their individual abilities to make something that showcases the best of both of them.

“Our union of dynamic minds dissolves the boundaries of what is possible turning the ordinary into extraordinary,” they explain.

(via Colossal)

The pair doesn’t show any signs of slowing their creative output, and we’re glad about that. You can see much more of Stallman’s work, including other styles that merge painting and sculpture, on their website, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Looking at artist Karen Libecap‘s paintings and sketches, it’s easy to see her talent. Her pieces are rendered realistically, and they showcase plenty of complex detail, vibrant color, and three-dimensional depth. They’d be impressive on their own, but when you know what’s really going on, they take on a whole new dimension — literally.

This night sky isn’t as vast as you might think.

These drawings are tiny!

Each of these little sketches is no bigger than a quarter, but even with their small size, not a single detail is sacrificed.

Libecap draws inspiration from just about everywhere, and her subjects include animals, plants, and pop culture references. She even takes on landscape scenes. They’re all shrunken down to their tiniest form and rendered using impossibly sharp pencils, fine pens, and tiny paint brushes.

But the most important tool in all of this is an extremely steady hand.

When using paints, Libecap uses her fingernails as palettes.

Talk about easy cleanup!

No matter what she’s painting, Libecap approaches her subjects with mathematical precision.

She makes it her mission to capture every highlight and shadow.

She also stays consistent with sizing.

All of these paintings are 1.25 square inches or smaller.

(via My Modern Met)

You can see more of Libecap’s work on her website, as well as on Facebook and Instagram. Prints are also for sale on Etsy, so check those out, too. She even creates larger works, which feature her signature realism.