Giant Trolls Spotted at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens!

I thought my recent visit to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens was special enough with the spectacular orchid show going on currently, but little did I know there was an entire world of whimsy to behold outside!

Sculpture artist, Thomas Dambo is becoming world renowned for his cheerful and thought-provoking large scale trolls made out of recycled wood. You can even see all the places his huge trolls are ‘living’ throughout the world in a fun interactive map, aptly named the Troll Map.

Right now there is an instillation of six trolls sprinkled throughout the walking paths of the botanical gardens, and my partner Alan and I had a truly fantastic time enjoying one of the first days of spring and happening upon them during our stroll. This one even had his hand out ready to make friends!

“Trolls: Save the Humans blends art, nature and messages of sustainability in a unique outdoor art installation. ”

— Atl Botanical Gardens Website

Dambo’s message is ultimately that trolls live for thousands of years and can see that the way many humans live cannot be sustained by the natural world long-term, so they have appeared bringing gentle reminders to treat the natural world a little more kindly… certainly a message we can all get behind! Read more about how he’s doing that here.

I really don’t know anything about Dambo’s building process other then the recycled material aspect. I assume he’s got a team helping out, and you can tell the faces and hands in particular are tightly and skillfully designed with so much dimension and personality!

Like this not-so-little fellow was supposed to be building a little garden maze out of a bucket of found pebbles (which are like hundred pound rocks to us). This pic was taken from an elevated walkway, and I just really adore the relaxed pose and the way he’s looking up with that casual smile as if we did just happen upon a sentient being doing an activity he loves. The attention to detail is really remarkable!

Now this next one hangin bird houses is not my photo. The light was hitting him in such a way that I couldn’t get a good one, but I wanted to share him anyway because I just LOVE the idea of them reaching up high to make sure the birds have a happy safe lil nest!

He was actually more in the trees than that pic shows and there were little bird houses hanging in a bunch of them surrounding him.

The last one may have been my favorite just because it plays with the Human Scale of Art that I teach my kiddos so well. The introduction of the Smart Car really just ties it into our ‘real’ world so nicely, and will never let me look at those cars the same way again!

I mean just look at how those bodies are crafted. The way the leg bends over and the positioning of the supportive arm - the proportions really check out!

Alan and I were actually lucky enough to make the acquaintence of another Dambo Troll at a super fun music fest, Hulaween 2022 (notice the costumes!), that we were even allowed to climb all over!

Hulaween is such a unique event full of dozens of interactive large scale sculptures, projections, sand castles, and lazer light shows - truly living art!

Ha! And last but not least.. I had almost forgotten about this adorable scene I fortunately captured at just the right moment.

3.26.2023

Orchid Show at the Atlanta Botanical Garden

Wowowowowow is all I have to say about this living exhibit! So many unexpected colors and textures represented in this world-class collection at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

There is a truly impressive permanent orchid house at the gardens, and my partner Alan and I were also lucky enough to make it down there for the annual full bloom and extended exhibit.

I didn’t even bother to record the names of all the different varieties, I was just too entranced soaking them all in.

I dubbed this kind the Ramen Noodle orchids, can you see why??

This kind may have been my favorite of them all (although it is hard to choose just one favie!). I just can’t get over that color combo.. I may have to attempt painting it!

And how big are they!? Seriously have never seen so many huge and healthy orchids in my life!

I was so enchanted by the ones with the extra long tendrils especially! Plants are basically aliens!

Oh my gosh! Don’t even get me started on all the pitcher plants!! Squeeee!!

The botanical garden also had lovely walking trails (which had a super special whimsical outdoor sculpture exhibit that I’ll share here soon - stay tuned!) and three different greenhouses; one featuring dense jungle plants…

one featuring high elevation tropical plants…

and one featuring an arid climate full of cacti. So epic!

And as a special treat to you, me fellow artists..

If you would like to use any of these images in your art go right ahead! Please tag me on Insta @caleighbirdart so I can see what your making (and share with my audience too!).

And one more thing… I want to give a lil shoutout to Alan for taking some of these great pics! I’m always so grateful for my perfect adventure buddy. Thanks for treating me to a lovely day of brunch and the gardens, Alan!

3.9.2023

Chattanooga Hike Trip

Ooohwheeee it felt good to get out and hit the trails again! I hadn’t been able to get out on any kind of elevation since leaving Hawai’i in December and I was missing it in a big way!

There’s a couple, Kristen and Kyle, that I’ve known for over 15 years now and they just moved to Chattanooga last year who I’ve been dying to visit! Now that the weather is finally a bit more bearable for a tropical bird such as myself, I was super psyched to make my way over there and spend a few days exploring that cute town and the local hikes on Signal Mountain.

One thing that’s really nice about Tennessee is that spring comes on in a big way around here. The winter does make things quite grey, but that only makes the greens growing in even brighter and more delightful to behold. Now I really can’t wait for the cherry blossom trees in April!

Signal Mountain is covered in trails and in three hours we didn’t even do half of them. Just another excuse to come back to Chattanooga! I think I’m going to look into campout spots too because it’s getting to be perfect Vaughn the Adventure Van weather for sure!

I’ll always have a piece of my heart on Pele’s ridge’s on O’ahu, but I am extremely grateful to be living in an area where I can finally begin to realize my dream career as a full time artist that is also flush with outdoor adventure areas.

As pretty as it is out here, you better watch out…there’s all kinda weirdos creeping around these trails!

3.25.2021

Quick Visit to St. Pete

Oh my gosh I had to run an errand in St. Pete yesterday which afforded me about two hours exploring outside of the house and it was GLORIOUS!! Plus this is such an adorable and artsy city anyway, it’s right up my alley.. not to big, not too crowded, but still a bustling art scene (during normal times).

My first stop was the Leslie Curren Gallery which has a great variety of traditional work, but also lots of textured abstracts and small sculptures. I’ve always loved art exhibits, but now that I haven’t seen one since March I enjoyed experiencing these works twice as much!

Copper Tritschellers

Steven Kenny

Afterwards I strolled down to the Morean Arts Center and was really blown away by this fabric artist who puts so much detail and layers into each piece. Simply remarkable!

Krystle Lemonias

I also loved these alleyway paintings! They really feel so familiar, like you’ve viewed this space before out of the corner of your eye but you just can’t place it…. I should have taken a better reference photo so you could see the size because this piece is about 8 feet tall and is a wonderfully full of detail.

Nicolas Kalemba

And what’s not to love about some sumptuous flowing oozing colors that look almost like alien ice cream?!

Chelsea Rowe

All in all a pretty super duper way to spend the day!

6.25.2020

Visit to Circle B Bar Nature Preserve, FL

When I read ‘lots of wildlife' in the reviews, I honestly did not think much of it… but WOW was I wrong! I got so much closer to huge dinosaurs in the form of herons, cranes, and gators than I could have ever imagined!!

What an awesome up-close animal crossing experience! These cranes were not concerned about our presence at all!

Do you see that camo gator hiding out in plain sight in the pic above? We also got to see a heron tousling with his “sushi” dinner before getting spooked by a really big alligator splash just behind him.

And how about this Florescent Swamp Chicken (possibly not the scientific name) pecking here and there?! I wish the brightness of her face would have come through the photo more - it was like traffic cone orange!

There were literally huge wetland birds in every direction, mostly oblivious to our passing by. Circle B Bar is over 1,200 acres of nature preserve with about 10 miles of trails throughout with both hikers and families enjoying all this pristine coastline, so the animals at this point feel very safe and carry on their normal activities as if we weren’t even there. So fascinating!

I was literally speechless with just how many HUUGE gators there were just a foot or so below the grassy pathway. We even saw and heard them leaping out of the water at prey, sometimes within fifteen feet of us! Yikes!!

All in all, a fabulous day with my adventure buddy Baila!

Oh, and in case you’re wondering… I do believe I’ve made a personal breakthrough and will be carrying a parasol with me from now on on flatland hikes because this Bird is officially over getting sunburned, ya dig??? ;)

6.17.2020

My Artist Residency During the Coronavirus

What a time to be alive right?!

I've recently returned from a five week artist residency on a small farm in rural Tennessee, and while I had a wonderful time with the miniature donkeys and generous chickens, it was a very strange feeling knowing that the Coronavirus was just beginning its unprecedented infiltration of the entire world.

Camp Wonder Wander, hosted by artist and entrepreneur Val Sloan, provides a quiet and beautiful space for artists, writers, and musicians to come and focus on their craft in a an environment not bogged down with the complications and distractions of normal everyday life.

As part of the artist residency, we help out with the animals and find ways to add to the enchanted experience of the next residents by leaving a piece of ourselves here in the form of whatever art we choose. I decided to entirely repaint the shared bathroom with a potted plant mural. (See the full mural vid here. )

Even through the current state of affairs I had a really wonderful stay and was able to explore many different art forms in a short amount of time. It was also really delightful to watch spring come in everywhere throughout the rolling hills of Tennessee.

4.19.2020

Why I'm Leaving Hawai'i...

Oh my yessss, folks, believe it or not my time on this fabulous lil island has come to an end. But it’s not a reason to be sad at all! Far from it! There are many more exciting adventures on the horizon - Yay:):):)

If you’d like to read a bit about my thought process while coming to this decision, as well as my next adventure plans, check out my latest Birds of a Feather newsletter here where I dive in a lil deeper on my prospects as an artist here vs the mainland. And if you generally like to be in the know about big news coming from the Nest weeks before my YouTube or Insta fam make sure you subscribe to my newsletter here where you’ll also get a more personal peek at this working artist’s life in ways I don’t necessarily share publicly…

If you didn’t see my recent vid all about my life on O’ahu these past four years check it out here.

It has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one and after every mind-expanding, worldly, beautiful, or transcendent experience I remind myself not to be sad that it’s over, but to be happy it happened.

I love you, folks! And I can’t wait to take you on so many more adventures with me!!

10.18.2019

Camping on Top of a Mountain!

23 intense hours on a ridge including one wild whipping windy wet night on the edge of an insane precipice of the Ko’olau mountains!

On my most extreme adventure to date with my twinsie Emsy we decided to hike the Mau’umae ridge to the Ko’olau summit, camp for the night, then turn right and hike the hairpin mother mountain to the next ridge offshoot, Wiliwilinui, which we had staged a car at the end of.

Trails as narrow as your foot!

We made it about halfway through our journey and had to turn back at the Lanipo peak because the trail ceased to exist. We tried busting through the vegetation for a few minutes to see if we could pick back up on the ridge on the other side, but considering that’s how hikers disappear we decided to play it safe and go back the way we came. Good thing that only added two hours to our plan that day, for a total of just under 9 hours hiking in two days.

We started our journey on Wednesday with the warm afternoon sun hiking up into the white-out clouds, then as evening approached and got chillier we reached the summit where the wind is always stronger. We were able to get the tent set up and change into warm clothes before snuggling in while feeling our tent get whipped around like there was a full grown man jostling it from the outside.

We didn’t want to carry too much weight in our packs so we opted for multiple clothing layers rather than blankets or sleeping bags. Unfortunately the tarp under our tent didn’t quite keep the rain from seeping in the bottom so about mid-way through the night we both found ourselves with chilly wet pants. We half-slept til morning with the rain luckily abating and the sun welcoming us with a view looking down upon practically the entire island.

After a light breakfast we set off to climb the Ko’olau range, which has been a personal goal of mine, and let me tell you that is one skinny ridge line! Whew! The trail is mostly directly on the tippy top of the ridge with plenty of it being less that 1 foot wide. There are lots of bushes of ferns surrounding the trail which give you a sense of security, however the rooting can be deceitful. Certain areas can look like a good place for your foot but can really be disguising a hole that could send you straight down the side of the mountain under the shrubs should you place your weight in the wrong position. Needless to say this Birdie had no problem utilizing her 3 points of contact continuously. As we made our way back to the car on Thursday the sun was really blazing by noon and those last two hours sent us shimmying to get back into the shade.

All in all the journey was muddy and brutal and super intense in all of the most wonderful ways and I am so grateful to have shared this experience with my adventure sister Emsy ...because who doesn’t love to torture themselves with a good challenge, right?!

10.16.2019

A Visit to Lyon Arboretum

Wow friends, even after almost four years on O’ahu I can still ge my mind totally blown by the flora out here. I spent a glorious morning strolling though the Lyon Arboretum with my sister artist Zee photographing and marveling at all the absolutely otherworldly flowers.

It was like every time we turned the corner ‘round another bush we would stop dead in our tracks and gasp!

The arboretum is a cool spot that is run by the University of Hawai’i so it is very well cared for and features flowers and plants from all over the world with little plaques describing their names and origins. It’s a truly wonderful place that the school chooses to share with the public.

I mean, have you ever seen a black flower?!

Do yourself a favor and check out the rest of these mind-bending plants, and if you ever get out to O’ahu plan an afternoon at the Lyon Arboretum in Manoa Valley. This is the fourth time I’ve been and no matter what time of year you will see things you will not see anywhere else.

8.15.2019

Solo Hike on Kapalama Ridge

I enjoyed a super epic 7.5 mile solo ridge hike for the first time in a hot minute. It was beyond exhausting and quite muddy, and conquering three false peaks before hitting the cloudy apex definitely brought the tiniest bit of frustration… but pushing yourself uphill in both the sun and the rain through sheer will and determination, simply for the glory of the challenge, is very nourishing to the soul and psyche. I’m grateful for every day I get to spend in this beautiful environment

8.7.2019