Making Art with Snow!

February 21, 2021 in Art Vlog, Studio, Artist Diary

Brrr! What a cold week! Didn't it seem like I was just in my sports bra and shorts on top of a tropical mountain on O'ahu and suddenly I'm here freezing my feathers off in Nashville, Tennessee?!

Yikes! What happened?!

Luckily I'm in a safe spot, just stocked up on groceries, and my awesome new artsy job cancels when it's this icy on the road so I've had the luxury or being able to do some healthy baking, snuggle up, and have my own little mini snow excursions around the nature areas of my new apartment complex. I even figured out the perfect spot to do some indoor plein air landscape painting with gouache right out my window so I wouldn't freeze my fingers off trying to set up to paint outside. Yay!

I hope you enjoy this vlog as much as I enjoyed making it for you! Here's a playlist of some other art + adventure vlogs from my travels.

Shoutout to Study Girl at Chilled Cow for the best snowy day streaming music.

Please stay safe, stay inside, and drive slow! Here are a few links you may find helpful should something go wrong:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/how-to-survive-a-power-outage-in-winter/432226 https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/15/us/power-outage-winter-storm-how-to-trnd/index.html

And a place to donate to those in Texas who have lost power: https://breadoflifeinc.org/

2.21.2021

Clown Portrait Commission

May 28, 2020 in Art Vlog, Oil Paintings

Whelp, I’ve thought long and hard, and I think I’ve decided to give it all up for clown portraiture…

I just dropped off my latest commission yesterday and what an exciting spot it was indeed! My mom’s neighbor tapped me to repaint the badly damaged doorway portrait of Toby the Clown, who is the namesake of a local clown museum and school. It was my first time in the building and wow, I can honestly say I have never been in the midst of so much clown art in my life!

Although this is definitely one of my sillier commissions, I’m actually very honored to be asked to repaint this portrait because although Toby has passed away, he is beloved by many folks, including lots of other local clowns, and the folks who’ve seen the painting already say his warm and friendly personality really shines through, which means a lot to a portrait artist who has never met her subject in person.

They were super sweet and gave me a special surfing clown figurine since they knew I’m still fresh from the island life - so adorable. I was actually nicely surprised with the quality of some of the paintings. Check out the two portraits on the left in this pic, they were done by Red Skelton!

Below you can see the damage done to the original painting by the outdoor elements. I repainted it in oil, which will hold well but the gals down at the clown museum understand the face will probably need to be repainted every 3-5 years no matter what.

It’s definitely not what I’m used to, but I’ll take a great learning experience any time! I can officially add ‘Clown Portraiture’ into my repertoire now - ha!

Literally a few thousand figurines in the collection! Not exactly where I’d want to sleep at night, but totally awesome nonetheless!

5.28.2020

5 Things NOT to Say to Artists

March 13, 2020 in Art Vlog, Artist Diary, YouTube Videos

…And how to make sure you’re not saying them!!

Hi-ya folks I sure did have fun making today’s vid for you! It’s a lil silly, but I’m sure my artist pals know exactly what I’m talking about and have gotten most if not all of these sayings tossed their way.

Feel free to share this vid in a sweetly passive, yet hopeful, step towards politely telling your friends and fam the 411 on how their "artist advice" can sometimes come off...

But if you’re the one who has accidentally made an art comment faux pas in the past… fear not! We artists are not here to hold grudges, we are here to learn and grow together! So we all good folks, and forever onward you’ll know just how to communicate your appreciation of our works all the more sensitively

Has anyone else ever said anything that seemed complimentary but kind of was not about your art? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

3.13.2020

Salvador Dali Museum Tour

January 24, 2019 in Art Vlog, Artist Diary, Adventure, YouTube Videos, Inspiration, Museums + Galleries

I just got back from the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL and the collection is as mind-blowing as one could wish! As the world's preeminent surrealist painter it's a real treat to study Dali's works in person. I spent over 4 hours melting into his paintings while learning a lot about his life and the reoccurring symbols in his artwork which I'm so happy to share with you today.

I highly recommend you put this museum on your bucket list and in the mean time you can see and read about the whole collection here.

One of the most important things we can do as artists is to experience other artwork in person and since we can’t all be everywhere at once I’ll be creating more art tour videos to share with you in the future. Enjoy!

And here are the works I feature in the video for you to get a closer look. Click thumbnails to enlarge!

And the photos of Dali and his wife/muse Gala:

originally published January 24, 2019

Art Vlog :: New Ventures + Being Grateful on the Kamanaiki Ridge Hike

November 23, 2018 in Adventure, Aloha, Art Vlog, Artist Diary, YouTube Videos

Join me on the amazing Kamanaiki Ridge overlooking Kalihi Valley, HI while I talk a little about my ongoing projects and what I'm most thankful for (spoiler alerts :: a big one is you guys!!).

I've got some incredible views to share with you, and I've even added in a little bonus photo shoot I had with Jan Galvan not too long ago at the end.

Let me know what you think, should I share more of my artsy photo shoots at the ends of vlogs?

Watch my Happy Hawai''i cards come to life in this 1 min quickie:

https://youtu.be/bbKcHIMFi8o

And snag a set of cards here at the discounted pre-sale rate (with free US shipping!):

https://www.caleighbirdart.com/happy-hawaii-greeting-cards/

originally published November 22, 2018

My New YouTube Channel Intro!

July 19, 2018 in Art Vlog, YouTube Videos, Studio

Welcome to my artsy channel! I'm sure most of my readers here have seen my YouTube vids, but have you clicked through to my entire channel yet?

Well today I'm super psyched because I've been wanting to make an intro vid for a while now but wasn't quite sure how exactly to put into words what I wish to do for my audience, but I think I've finally figured out how to express the unique voice I hope to add to your art-learning journey!

I certainly don't have everything figured out, and I'm definitely still learning just as much as I am teaching, but I have been serious about making realistic art for about 20 now (yes, for real.... I started advanced classes at age 11!) and have run two small creative businesses so I've gathered a bit of knowledge over the years which I am more than thrilled to share with other like-minded artsy folks.

So let's live life artfully together!

So while you're over there, pretty please give my channel a boost by hitting that 'Subscribe' button, and stay tuned because we've got a whole artsy world out there to experience! Yay!

Do You Love Snail Mail?

July 04, 2018 in Art Vlog

Because I sure do!!

I love everything about Snail Mail, from the postcards or paper chosen to the words thought out enough to permanently inscribe to the tiny 'artpiece' postage stamp. In this fast-paced world of instant communication it's so nice to hold a thoughtful paper item in one's hand from time to time. Plus it's nice when at least one piece of mail in the box isn't a bill or credit card offer!

Today I am doing a lil unboxing of my new business cards featuring one of my newest paintings (the previous ones lasted me since grad school in 2015!) as well as a few postcards. It's a pretty short video but the exciting part is you can find out all about the Notes from the Nest snail mail group of art lovers I recently started....

To join in on my Notes from the Nest pop over to this page:
https://www.caleighbirdart.com/snail-mail
**Currently I am doing this for fun and for free. If lots of folks wind up joining I may have to ask for help with postage in the future, but my early signer-uppers will be taken care of ;) **

originally published July 4, 2018

Tiny House + Outdoor Bathroom Bungalow Tour

June 01, 2018 in Aloha, Artist Diary, Studio, YouTube Videos

Welcome to my tiny house bungalow life! Last week I showed you all the details of my artmaking space + art collection, and this week I'm taking you all on tour of the rest of my tiny house life (including my incredibly beautiful and relaxing outdoor bathroom!) here in gorgeous, sunny Kaimuki, Hawaii.

I feel so fortunate and proud to have this incredible space to create and thrive and now that I finally have things arranged just right I am thrilled to invite you in today:)

If you missed the first part, check it out here

Plus I have a quick 2 minute overview tour here

Check out these incredible shots from an amazing photographer and new friend Amanda, Bee Leigh Imagery, that just visited my bungalow about two weeks ago. Stay tuned for more shots from that glowing morning on my blog next week!

originally published May 30, 2018

Huge Success at My Solo Art Show!!

March 05, 2018 in Artist Diary, Acquire Art, Oil Paintings, My Art Shows, Museums + Galleries

HOOORAYYYY!!! I can't believe how many people showed up on opening night!! I had a lot of familiar faces as well as so many new eyes on my work so it was perfect!!

I'm sure you noticed my promised vid did not come out on this past Wednesday and I'm so sorry... who would have thought that framing 12 works while filming and editing the process in the same week as repainting the gallery wall (yep, I did that too :D ), hanging work, creating signage, shopping for and preparing loads of snacks and arranging a musician, while I worked my barista and surfboard painting jobs of course, might have been a bit of an overloaded schedule?

Gosh, when I write it all out I can't believe last week even happened! Ha!

So check out these fun shots from the show and I promise I'll have my 'How to Frame Paintings on a Budget' vid out for your enjoyment this Wednesday. Mahalo and big love to everyone who made it out!!

originally published March 3, 2018

New Prints Unboxing.... Oops!

February 14, 2018 in Acquire Art, Art Vlog, Oil Paintings, YouTube Videos

Oh boy, oh boy!! There's very little I love more than receiving bright shiny new prints in the mail!! Well... my prints actually come on watercolor rag paper, so their more of a matte, but you get the idea:)

I always like to do a color test for my prints before offering them for sale, and it's definitely a relief when they come out well the first, or even second, time. It can get pricey having to tweak over and over again!

I did have a lil 'print unboxing malfunction' but it's nothing that wasn't totally this goober's fault and I was able to remedy it soon enough. Enjoy!