Amazing Muse Connection + Doting Mama Appreciation

Wow! I cannot believe how lucky I am to be featured by two such amazing women this past week! Being shared as an artist is the most wonderful and helpful action that folks can take - and I especially love it when we as women can get together to create great art and build each other up too!

Farina, my last Bohemian Goddess, was such a pleasure to paint. Not only is she naturally gorgeous, I really loved painting the interesting shadows on her face and the lush green crown. If you've been seeing my newer paintings then you know this painting was a bit of a springboard for my recent works. 

As I mention on the 'Farina' painting page on my website (here),  she runs a really popular YouTube vlog and she has humbled me so much by including my artwork on a recent video! Wow!! I'm blown away! You can see her excitement while opening up her package of prints and a calendar - squee!! Thank you Farina for sharing my art with so many people! Check out that video here (Skip to minute 22:30 to jump right to the unboxing!):

And as if Farina's excitement wasn't enough... 

I also got to work with an especially sweet and thoughtful mom blogger who wrote a truly tender blog post about the pencil portrait I recently drew of her and her adorable son, Asher. How cute are the two of them together?!? Two peas in a pod for sure! :) 

Krista Happ of 'Happy As We Know It' is such an uplifting and gentle mama. Her posts are filled with love and light, and she writes very meaningfully about motherhood and finding one's place in the world. I am so honored to have my portrait be a part of Krista's tenderly written blog post last week. Thank you Krista for including me in such a wonderful message of love!! Read her post here:

'Because Love is Everyday'

(PS. Snag your own custom pencil portrait here!)

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originally published February 4, 2018

'Lil Man Portrait Drawing Demo

Just a short 'n simple timelapse demo drawing of this adorable little boy I created for a client out of pencil and conte. Enjoy! 

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originally published January 31, 2018

Travel :: Swimming with Manatees + Tiffany Glass Collection in Central Florida

Hey-o! So I will be the first to admit that I can be soooo bad when it comes to posting 'on time.' I swear, if I post vacation pics within a month of returning home from said trip I'll think I'm doing great! Ha! 

Well suffice to say here at the end of the month, I had a really great time in mid-January visiting my mama (and stepdad) in Lake Placid, Florida and then touristing around Winter Park, Inverness, and Crystal River on a little excursion for just the two of us. Partially due to the fact that I am an only child, my mom and I are the best travel buddies and we're always looking for something new and different to do.

Maxfield Parrish

Art Nouveau-inspired early electric lamp

We decided to road trip around central to west coast Florida, during which we stayed in two cute B 'n B's and ate all kinds of yummy vegan and veggie meals at various restaurants. Mom and I filled our days visiting a few art collections, as well as taking a boat tour of Winter Park and a 22 mile bike trip on a greenway through Inverness, and (my favorite!) kayaking to swim with the wintering manatees in Crystal River. Such a full few days!!

The Tiffany Glass Collection:

So down in Crystal River a magical thing happens every year - the manatees congregate by the hundreds next to the warm springs during the colder winter months. Mom and I rented a double kayak, wetsuit, snorkel etc at a spot right by the springs and got to paddle out to the sanctuary. Mama didn’t get in but I swam around with the friendly guys for about 45 mins and it was so incredible!!

Just two peas in a pod... :)

As you can see in the pic there are restricted areas so any manatees that are sleeping or don’t want to interact won’t be bothered, but when we arrived there was another tour boat with snorkelers and that guide was familiar with the specific manatees so when a super friendly young one approached me he told me the manatee was craving a belly scratch! I started scratching his back a lil and sure enough he turned and gave me his belly!! He felt like what I imagine an elephant would feel like:):)

Of course I was so excited when I got home I decided to paint a little manatee in gouache to hang in my studio (above).

Enjoy 45 seconds of underwater manatee excitement! All I had to film with was one of those waterproof iPhone bag thingies so don't expect Spielberg, though I did get a few nice shots showing how docile and calm they are (and you might even catch a floating dreadlock too ;) ).

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originally published January 28, 2018

'Morning Dew' Figure Painting Demo - Timelapse + Technique

Aloha from the sunniest studio around! I have been having so much fun playing with light and shadows for this next series of oil paintings - this reference image even came from the early morning sunlight beaming through my outdoor bathroom.

Hence the warm shadows and cool highlights in this piece - a wild reversal!

Today's video features a timelapse of the painting process of 'Morning Dew' along with a voiceover by yours truly where I discuss various techniques I use and some color mixing tips. Hopefully you find it helpful as well as enjoyable to watch. Pop me a comment and tell me whatcha think - more like this? How about real time vids with technique discussion? 

But this painting is not over yet, friend! I am going to be bringing a bit of flora and a dash of magic to this piece..... just you wait ;) 

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originally published January 24, 2018

Artist Diary :: Cheers to New Beginnings

Hi friends! As you know I have been working so hard over this last year and a half on my beloved Bohemian Goddesses collection which has afforded me so many opportunities to connect not only with my muses from all over the world, but also viewers of my work as well. I have been so thrilled and honored to have numerous folks tell me that they have felt inspired and represented by my culturally rich group of creative and strong female subjects and I look forward to continuing to create more works that really speak to the soul.

This has been my most meaningful body of work yet, but alas, all good things must come to an end.....

So have a little listen and reflection on why I have decided to conclude this powerful series and what it has meant to my development as an artist, plus get a little teaser on the new and exciting oil painting series I have in the works!

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originally published January 17, 2018

Portrait Successes - Hooray!

Oh my goddess you guys, I feel all sunshine n rainbows over how many holiday portrait commissions I got this year! I did just about twice what I did last year! That is so huge for such a small biz artist like me!! Can you tell I'm bursting?!?!?!!! 

I'm really pleased to be at the point where I get somewhat regular sales, with pretty busy holidays, but am nowhere near quitting my side hustle (yet!).

I know it's kind of weird for artists to talk openly about financials, but I always wonder how other creatives are doing. Like, for example, does the bottom line currently match the output on some of these prolific artists that seem to be everywhere at once? Right now, mine does not, but I'm okay with that because I'm consistently getting more and more eyes on my work all the time so it's worth it to keep working, producing and creating. Right now, my only goal is to show my pencil portraits (as well as my oil paintings) to as many people as possible, and to let the pieces fall where they may.

Quality and consistency are the keys to getting recognized as an artist so as long as I keep those things up to the best of my ability I am fully confident in a future as a career artist. I remind myself that patience is a virtue and just keep painting. Like my super inspirational, documentary film-making, popular ukulele band front man uncle said to me many years ago, "Well someone has to make it as an artist. Why not let that be you?"

Of course you can ask any artist and they will probably agree that self promotion can be the hardest thing to do, but it's the only way to 'make it.' Like I told a few classrooms of highschoolers when I went in to talk about being a professional artist, "If you don't get excited about your work, no one else will. Pump it up!" 

I guess my ultimate goal this year (aside from the worksheet I shared last week) will to be a continuation of that desire to just have as many people see my work, and hopefully decide to connect with me, as possible. And I'll be looking our for other artists to reach out and connect or collab with too! 

So cheers to a New Year with new connections and new eyes on my work! And cheers to you, dear reader, for joining me on the ride!

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originally published January 7, 2017

Mixing Caucasian Skin Tones in Oil

Hiya fellow artistas! Today's vid is kind of a double whammy because you get a sneak peek of my latest artistic venture as well as a very informative lesson (uh..... not to mention, BOOTY!). What can I say, I wanna start 2018 off with a bang:)

I go into detail on my palette and mixes and then do a little demo showing how even after I mix my skin tones I continue to accentuate certain areas of the figure with warm or cool tones as needed. Hope you learn a lil something! And if you do, a 'Subscribe' on my channel would be fantastic! 

Here's how I start my palette:

And here's a tiny sample of my reference photo (you'll just have to wait 'n see why I'm only sharing a tiny piece of it [squeeee!]:

Enjoy the show!!

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originally published January 2, 2018

Jump Start Those 2018 Goals!

Aloha, my ambitious and hard-working compatriots! I'm sure you are as ready to get a jump on 2018 as I am! I was actually just working on a random project in my studio while brainstorming how to prepare myself for the coming annum, and, although I'm not usually one for new year's resolutions in the traditional sense, I do like to at least attempt to put forth a plan of intention for my art career. As I was trying to sort out what things I need to focus on in 2018, I remembered this handy dandy lil worksheet I put together last year. 

I figured it would be a great tradition to start filling it out every year and sharing it. Here's last year's goals of mine. I was able to keep most of them, but one or two I've fallen a bit short (guilty as charged - I'm still pretty lazy and uninterested when it comes to my bookkeeping!). 

I feel like constant self-improvement is key to living a thriving life. I know I'm happiest when I spot an area in my life that needs a bit of TLC so I slowly chip away at the issue one baby step at a time and then before too long - viola! One more component of life is optimal and bringing happiness instead of grief.  I have a bit more about my reflections on self-improvement here. 

So get inspired!! Decide who/where you want to be in one year from now!! Download this worksheet and use it for your own 2018 grand ambitions :)

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Here are my resolutions:

1. Self-promotion is what I need to work on that I can be really bad about. I spend so much time in my studio creating artwork, and I should be spending almost an equal time promoting what I'm creating as well. I'm pretty regular posting on my basic social media, but there is so much more I know I should be doing to get my art out there. My 2018 goal is to promote my artwork in two different ways every day.  

2. There is a big art opening party on the first Friday of every month and I have been meaning to go at least 5-6 times this past year and something has always come up. However this year I will go at least 2-3 times for sure! I just need to update my Honolulu Museum of Art membership and I'm totally there! It should be a great way to meet other local creatives which is also a goal of mine.

The Honolulu Biennial was the most memorable art event I attended in 2017. Check out some very thought-provoking pieces from the show on my blog here. 

3. I would love to figure out a way to donate my time drawing portraits for a worthy cause somehow..... I really need to get the gears churning to make something like that work out. 

4. I need to be better about following my lists more closely. I've always been one to make 'To Do' lists on an almost daily basis, and I'm pretty good about following them but sometimes I get off on a tangent and wind up tweaking or redoing something that is less important than what is actually planned for me to do that day. It always seems so important at the time, but often I wind up fooling myself - ha! 

5.  At this point having just moved into my new studio my entire life is finding better ways to organize so this is one thing I can wholeheartedly check off the list!

6. I've honestly wanted to get back into doing more creative modeling for artistic photographers, or perhaps even other types of artists too. A few years ago I kept being invited in front of the camera by various talented folks and I really grew to love being a muse in someone else's vision. I've worked with four photogs since being out in Hawai'i but I think I'm ready to put myself out there and work with more on a regular basis.   

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What kinds of improvements will you be working towards this year? Let me know in the comments!

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originally published: December 30, 2017

Happy Holidaaaze from Your Favorite Goober!

I just wanted to take a moment and say that I am so thankful to have friends, family, and supporters who fill me with inspiration and determination every day of the year. The words of encouragement and positive reception to my works mean just as much as every commission or sale, and I want to tell you how grateful I am for each and every one of you. 

So eat, drink, and be merry and I'll see ya in 2018!! Woo Hoo!

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originally published December 25, 2017

Portrait Drawing Timelapse :: Sunshine

Aloha friends! Today I am bringing you my very first video from inside my new art studio - woo hoo! My little bungalow has such lovely natural lighting and I'm looking forward to so many more videos to come... Yay!

I am drawing 'Sunshine' timelapse-style for you, plus I got some really cool French-inspired music for this vid too. You can see Sunshine in real life through her IG @sunshine_iino and make sure you visit mine @caleighbirdart while you're there too :)

PS If you're about to go on freak-out mode looking for the perfect last minute gift I have Gift Gertificates for my custom pencil portraits here 

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originally published December 19, 2017