New Drawings - Something a Little Different..

I recently found myself in a hotel room on an icy afternoon with unexpected ample amount of time and extremely limited art supplies (only a pencil and eraser) and no laptop to amuse myself with. Yikes for anyone but a creative, right?!

Luckily there happened to be a thrift store right around the corner and a Hobby Lobby right next door to that. Since I have all the art supplies and sketchbooks I want/need at home, I didn’t want to go buy a bunch of (potential) crapola at a big box store just for one day’s amusement so I decided to challenge myself with finding some kind of toned paper at the thrift store and only purchasing a white chalk pencil for the highlights at Hobby Lobby.

I wound up discovering this fantastic package of long, vibrant red envelopes and walked over to snag the chalk. All the art supplies I could need for hours of amusement for less than $8- score!

Once I was all cozy in my room with a cool seltzer and my modest art supplies by my side, I decided to dig through the ‘Inspo’ folder in my iPhone and see what I could come up with to sketch. Since I was using a graphite pencil instead of a chalk pastel pencil I was able to choose some references that included more precise details, like lace and other fabric details.

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This figure has such a presence and strength…. Even though I found the pic in an ad I couldn’t resist drawing her.

And this is Nadia, an ‘Instagram friend’ who has actually been featured in my artwork previously. I just love her naturally delicate features so much!

Watch me draw her ultra delicate hands:

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Do you love these natural figures contrasting on red as much as I do? I just listed them in my shop if so!

2.11.2023

How to Support Your Favorite Artists (Besides Buying Art!)

Aloha artists and art lovers! If you are like me you love the feeling of supporting your fave artists and small creators, but sometimes we are on a tight budget (or let’s face, could never begin to afford allll the art that tickles our fancy!) and need to find other productive ways to show them we care!

Well luckily for all of us there are actually a number of ways you can show your support that cost absolutely nothing, or at least nothing more than you would have spent anyway on things you need.

7 Ways to Support Artists (other than buying art!)

1. Bring friends to our openings and exhibitions (even if it’s a small one!) to introduce then to out art in a meaningful way.

2. Talk us up if you hear of any artistic opportunities or gigs, or if you hear a friend or family member is looking for original or custom artwork.

3. Forward us artistic opportunities you happen upon or that come across your radar, even if there’s no firsthand connection.

4. Sign up for our newsletters and be active on our social media posts. The more meaningful the comments, the better :)

5. Share our work (with credit) on your socials occasionally.

6. Suggest our art, prints, or merch as gifts in conversation with others just like you would suggest a retail store if you hear someone saying they are looking for “the perfect item.”

7. Purchase products from companies that sponsor us through ads or product placement as it really helps show that we are great creators to work with who have audiences that buy.

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And if you'd like to support this small artist, here are some links to do so: Thank you so much for being so generous with your time!🎨💖

Need new art supplies? Any purchase through my Blick link helps a lot!

Find me on Instagram

Sign up for my newsletter

Here's my Skillshare link that includes a free month trial

Prints and original art is available in my Shop

👉And just sharing my YouTube vids with someone you think would like them is a ginormous help! Thank you!!

12.4.2022

[blank canvas image credit: Angela Roma from Pexels]

New 'Siren of the Palms' Stickers!!

Oooh la la these stickers are supa sweet! One of my most favorite and beloved paintings, ‘Siren of the Palms’ found a new home earlier this year, which of course thrills me to no end! But I do miss seeing her around the Nest for sure.

Now though I happily get to see her everyday :)

These vinyl stickers are super thick and waterproof and they seriously POP! Like they are so vivid and high res they literally look like teeny tiny prints!

I just listed them in my shop for only $3 each so grab one or three and feel that warm tropical sun any place you stick ‘em!

'Siren of the Palms' Sticker

$4.00

Quantity:

Add to cart

8.11.2022

Gold Leafing Art Prints

Me oh my these art prints took some time! “They” weren’t kidding when they said to expect delays over the holidays - yikes!

Hopefully you saw my post on Instagram (or I emailed you) back on Dec 20th that the preorder prints finally arrived literally a few hours before I was leaving for my two week van life holiday travels, which of course gave me no time to unpack, gold leaf, repack, and ship all those prints.

So I apologize if you had to wait, the prints took over three times as long as usual to get to me.

However, I finally got everything gilded, signed, and shipped yesterday and today… yay! Check your email for tracking numbers and pretty please tag me on Instagram when they arrive! @caleighbirdart

1.5.2022

Birdie's 2021 Holiday Update

Woo hoo time for your yearly dose of fresh Caleigh Bird Art!!

This year I have decided not to do calendars for a few reasons, but I am doing a super duper fantastic print pre-sale instead! Each giclee print is a gallery quality 290 gsm with hand applied gold leaf, making each print a one of a kind.

This will be the last time in 2021 to snag a print, and for some of these paintings it may be the only time to get a copy for yourself! Pop over to my shop and grab one for you and one for a gift :)

Every print will be hand embellished with gold leafing making each one an original work of art, and will arrive in time for gifting if you’re being so kind as to give artwork to those that you love.

I only release pre-sale print opportunities a few times a year so this will be it for 2021! Don’t miss out!

11.19.2021

The Return of the Framed Fern Friends

From collecting, pressing, and drying ferns to use them in my 3D paintings, to getting them tattooed on my body (I’m up to five now!), to ensconcing them in mini resin pieces, you could say my fern obsession is pretty intense.

I actually created a few pressed framed fern compositions before leaving Hawai’i and again with my dear sweet mama for Mother’s Day last year. Since they have been such a big hit as gifts, I figured I’d make a few available for a fun music festival I’m attending as a vendor this weekend!

A number of years ago, my friend Stella and I would often buddy up when vending at local art fairs or even travel out of state together for multi-day music festivals. It was definitely a super fun lifestyle I decided to give up when I went to grad school and then moved to Hawai’i, however it was something I always hoped I could get back into lightly here and there. Luckily enough for me, Stella wound up having an extra pass for a festie she’s working this weekend in LaFayette, GA and invited me to come along!

Even luckier for me, she invited me to bring a little art along to place in the booth so I figured I’d pull out my fab fern stash, grab a few nice frames from the thrift store, and whip up a few Pressed Fern Compositions!

These are a mix of ferns found in Hawai’i, Florida, and Tennessee. I love that you can really find ferns in almost every climate, and that even though many look similar, there are literally thousands of varieties worldwide.

Wanna know what makes a fern a fern? It’s not actually the shape we all associate with it, which is what I thought for years. It just means that the seeds are located on the underside of the leaves, rather than it producing flowers. That’s it. So many different shaped leaves could all actually be ferns. Neato, huh?!?

So wish my ferns and I luck! This will be the first time I’m bringing this type of creation out into the public world, I hope people like them! The great news is that no matter what happens sales-wise, three days of outdoor music is gonna be exactly what this no-longer-quarantined Bird needs!

5.26.2021

30 Day Drawing Challenge

So this month I decided to do my first ever 30 Day art challenge for the month of April just to torture myself - ha!

No but seriously, I’ve never tried to do Inktober or any other challenge concerning making art every single day for a month, and I probably haven’t had such consistency since I was in grad school. My motive for pushing myself in this way is to help get myself back in the groove of figure drawing. Since covid has shut down so many open studio figure drawing sessions I haven’t had the opportunity to draw from life in over a year and I’m missing it terribly! I can feel myself getting rusty so I want to get back on the saddle and slip back into my comfort zone.

After only two days of posting I had someone ask if these sketches would be for sale so I decided to figure out some sort of fun/creative way to price them, rather than having one fixed rate price or having to come up with different prices every day even though they may be on the same size paper, but take drastically different times, so what I came up with was this….

For this month only, I am putting each figure drawing up for sale according to how long it’s taken me to create. $1 = 1 minute. I will probably wind up doing at least a few 20 to 40 minute figure drawings as well so anything that takes me less than 45 minutes, i.e. priced at $45, will add $6 for shipping; otherwise US shipping is included in the price.

I do not create prints of my figure drawings so when you purchase one you really do own the only copy.

I actually announced the challenge via a YouTube video two weeks ago where I did a real time live figure drawing demo, but it got taken down I think because my reference photo was visible. I thought it was PG-13 enough to show on YT but I guess I was wrong. Luckily I didn’t get a strike or anything, so I just decided to redo the video using a super safe reference photo as well as pre-recording it for conciseness. That comes out this Sunday if you’d like to see my actual pace at drawing figures.

Anyhoo, I would love for you to follow along on this challenge (and help me stay motivated to keep going!) over on my Instagram @caleighbirdart. I’m about halfway done so things are looking promising!

And on two of the days I counted painting Vedina’s body (I already had the portrait part done) in this tiny figure. Vedina is an awesome singer and performer I met through Instagram and we’re doing this collab art piece; she supplied the exclusive reference photo and I’m doing the painting. I’m still going to put in layers of her hair and gold leaf in her jewelry and a surprise staff with a lot of meaning behind it, and of course plenty of resined plants. I’m psyched!

4.15.2021

2021 Art Calendars are Here!

…and they turned out beautifully!! I couldn’t be happier with the quality and vibrancy!

I decided to do another art wall calendar for the upcoming year since my 2018 calendar was such a big hit, and I have now accrued enough 3-D oil and resin paintings to create a new one!

I only printed a limited edition of 50 calendars and each one is signed and numbered in gold leaf pen. The last time I created calendars they went way faster than expected so if you like them don’t miss out!

Here’s the initial mockup - just ignore the red dotted lines.

The Details:

This calendar features 14 of my 3D oil paintings and is a nice large spiral bound size of 8.5 x 11 inches folded and will hang on the wall at 17 x 11 inches.

🌒🌕🌘 And guess what?!!
My calendar features all the full moon, solstice, equinox, and eclipse happenings of 2021 so you can be sure to be aligned with all the upcoming year’s shifting cosmic energy.

Plus, at the end of the year, you will have an entire set of mini prints to frame and hang on your wall forever!

BONUS :: Each calendar comes with your choice of waterproof vinyl sticker featuring a piece of my artwork.

Getchu one!

$24 includes US shipping // $30 for international orders

12.9.2020

How to Set Up an Art Studio at Home+.

Now this is probably no surprise, but most artists choose to set up their art studio at home since it is the most convenient and cost effective. But sometimes setting up an art studio in a small space can be tricky so today we are going to go over the essential studio needs for an oil painter, as well as how your easel should be set up not only for maximum artistic potential, but to be healthy for your back and shoulders.

References:

Mediums + Thinners

Simple 5 Color Artist Palette

Best Oil Painting Brushes

Setting Up an Ergonomic Art Studio

Complete Guide to Oil Painting

If you need to add anything to your own studio, please consider going through my special affiliate link for art supplies: https://bit.ly/36vvPr8

Any purchases through my special Dick Blick art supplies link helps to support this channel at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

11.15.2020

New Wearable Resin Creations!

When I was recently doing the resin layers on my skull trio I also tried something else new for the first time,... using my leftovers to create resin pendants with my favorite ferns, seashells, and even a lizard, along with beautiful sparkly gold leaf!!

Pop up to my shop to snag one before they’re all gone. I’ve already had a few find their new homes and I’m only making a couple of these on the occasion when I’m already doing resin pours for my paintings so each one will be very unique and rare.

And how great are these seashells in there too?! I just found so many of them on the Gulf Coast recently and I’m so thrilled to find ways to wear them!

9.2.2020