First Solo Hike!! Jude-Nu'uanu Trail

Had an epic day yesterday, doing my very first solo hike here on island! It was a beautiful four hours through the woods going up the side of one of these old volcanic ridges to the very top with amazing views of the island.

Hiking out here can be pretty difficult and almost all hikes have at least some rock scrambling areas with wet rocks or mud or decaying trails or a host of other things that can make the trek a little precarious. So I felt very empowered doing all of those things on my very own yesterday for the first time.

 Was sweaty and a bit muddy and grinning from ear to ear by the end of the day:)

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originally posted: March 11, 2017

Great Big Huge News!!!

I am tremendously excited about this next venture in my artistic journey: Patreon!! 

Patreon provides a wonderful space for me to connect with my biggest supporters in a more personal way. It's a perfect way for me to give more of myself as an active and working artist to those who are most receptive and interested. Patreon is also a way for me to share art with and give back to those cheering me on.

Basically, Patreon give folks the opportunity for special access to their favorite artists and creators, and gives artists a way to say thank you over and over again for that invaluable support.

Ok.... have I piqued your interest enough? Go ahead and pop on over to my brand-spanking new Patreon page and see what all the fuss is about.

Click Here! 

www.patreon.com/caleighbird

Afterwards, hit the comment button and let me know what you think! Do you think my reward tiers sound exciting?

I'll also share more about my life as an artist and adventurer here in Hawai'i! 

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originally posted: March 7, 2017

Three Ways to Sharpen Pencils

Welcome to another Tutorial Tuesday! Today I am discussing three different ways to sharpen art pencils. These techniques will work for your graphite, charcoal, conte, watercolor and colored pencils. I find that I like to use different methods for various mediums, and I discuss what works well for me in the vid. 

Hope you learn a lil something... Are there any other good sharpening methods out there that fellow artists are using? Leave me a note in the comments! 

Today I am discussing three different ways to sharpen art pencils. These techniques will work for your graphite, charcoal, conte, watercolor and colored pencils. ((PS - My vids look best in HD!)) From my original blog post: https://www.caleighbirdart.com/artist-blog/ Do you enjoy my videos and want to see me create more?

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originally posted: March 31, 2017

Bohemian Goddesses Artist Statement

At last I feel satisfied and confident about the statement accompanying my current Bohemian Goddesses series - woo hoo!! I have been going back and forth on what and how much to share, and I decided to get pretty deeply personal. I felt that it was the only way to really show my audience how much this body of work means to me. 

It is of the utmost importance to me that my message of love and admiration accompanying this action to help change the modern art world for the better is heard loud and clear, while at the same time being a sensitive writer to sensitive matters.

After you've read through, I would greatly appreciate any feedback in the comments or you can contact me personally if you have any thoughts you would like to share with me. Artists are almost always a bit nervous of public reception when introducing new works, and this release is no exception, especially because of the message I am trying to spread. In this day and age of uncertain futures of civil liberties and common decency sitting in the crosshairs, I am hoping to be a small vessel of love and inclusion and admiration. Hopefully you, my loyal supporter, will feel positively about the work I am doing, but please know that I am grateful for a thoughtful critique no matter what the opinion. 

So without further ado..... 

"In my latest series, ‘Bohemian Goddesses’, I am exploring women whose beauty transcends the (crumbling) traditional American ideal standards of perfection. Namely, unique and exquisite women who are not primarily of Anglican descent. Women who may have been marginalized in the past, but today are finding their own powerful voices and loyal audiences and are helping to create a more balanced, in tune, and accepting future. 

Growing up and attending art school in the Southeastern US, all of my art professors, live models, and almost every artist we studied, were read more..... 

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originally posted: February 23, 2017

Just Catching Up

Hello loyal readers, I know my posts have been slightly sporadic lately but I have good excuses. I have been extremely busy writing a new artist statement for my current series (which I think is my most important collection yet), as well as getting my financial house in order (taxes, yay!), working on a new painting (and demo), and setting up a Patreon page (more on that soon to come!). 

Pluuuuuuus.... my wonderful boyfriend, Tim, and I just celebrated our three year anniversary with a little mini hike here on a ridge in our own Palolo Valley. There are so many ancient volcanic ridge hikes all over these islands and I really need to keep my New Year's resolution and hike more of them! 

Three blissful years:)

And to top it all off, I am FINALLY learning how to type properly instead of using my own little 'shorthand' keystrokes (don't even ask) so this has taken me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to type. 

But don't you worry, loyal supporter, I will have another great artist spotlight for this next Inspo Saturday coming up and am mustering the courage to create my first video diary about an issue that's very important to me. 

Have any suggestions on especially great ridge hikes here on O'ahu? Maybe in the intermediate category? (Folks out here are fearless and scramble around some seriously crazy rocks!) Let me know in the comments:)

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originally posted: February 10, 2017

Edmonia Lewis :: Artist Spotlight

As a way to encourage and continue adopting more cultural and racial inclusiveness into my life and into the lives of my dear loyal supporters, I am going to make a habit of featuring a diverse collection of historic and contemporary artists here on my Inspo Saturdays Artist Features. As I'm sure you can tell by my own recent artwork, I have been focusing on celebrating beautiful women of a variety of heritages through my Bohemian Goddess oil paintings and Fabulous Hair Series drawings, so appreciating artists from a variety of cultural backgrounds goes hand-in-hand with the goals of my work's impact.

So in that vein of inclusive positivity, today's post is actually about a woman I just learned about from a logo feature on Google and became instantly impressed with, Edmonia Lewis (1844-1907). Not only was she an incredibly talented classically trained marble sculptor, but she made a name for herself when women were largely ignored in the professional art world, and acceptance of women of color was virtually nonexistent in the Western art world. 

Edmonia was part Native American and part African American, so the deeply heartwrenching past of both of her heritage lines made tremendous impressions on her work as she matured. Growing up, Edmonia was actually known 'Wildfire' until she was twelve years old, living as an orphan in her late mother's Chippewa tribe. Although she had difficulty finding tutelage, Edmonia persevered in getting an education and eventually wound up in Boston in the workshop of a marble bust sculptor who had a number of Abolitionist patrons and decided to take her on as a student and help her sell her first few small pieces.  

Definitely check out [this] article for more very interesting detail of Edmonia's struggles and artistic heroism both in the US and in Europe. 

After studying in Boston, Edmonia traveled through Europe and settled in Rome where she could study the great Renaissance masters and have access to high quality marble. She worked incredibly hard to excel at her craft and create a name for herself, and because of that, Edmonia was recognized with high esteem during much of her life. Now her works reside in some of the best art collections in the world, such as the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

I absolutely love hearing stories about other creatives, especially women, who find ways to make a living and gain respect by following their passion, creating from the heart, and always working "harder than the next guy!" Those are the winning features I see time and again in success stories like Edmonia's, who I will certainly be emulating in my own practice!

Sources:

http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=2914

https://www.pinterest.com/albehenderson/edmonia-lewis-biography/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonia_Lewis

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Are there any artists that you are inspired by whose rise to fame was particularly harrowing or oppressive? Please share them with me in the comments, I love learning about determined creators!

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originally posted: February 4, 2017

Painting an Olive Skin Tone (with Freckles!)

The name says it all! I've been working really hard on not only painting this (of course!) but also filming and editing. Whew! These things always take about four times as long as you think. I bought new lighting, a tiny mic, and more memory sticks for my camera in order to step my demo/ tutorial game up, so I hope you enjoy! 

Here's what's on my palette:

• Brilliant Pink
• Permanent Alizarin Crimson
• Violet Colbalt
• King's Blue
• Chromium Oxide Green
• Prussian Blue
• Sap Green (not pictured)

• Payne's Grey
• Raw Umber
• Burnt Sienna
• Yellow Ochre
• Titanium White
• Lemon yellow
• Cadmium Orange

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< These are my mixed skin tones using mostly the bordering colors you see here (white, ochre, cad orange, brilliant pink, as well as a little chromium oxide green and sap green to help balance out the warmth). The lighter shades have more white and lemon yellow and the tiniest hint of king's blue. The darker shades have a little raw umber, cad orange, and violet mixed in. 

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For great instruction on how and how much oil paint to mix, check out my Guide to Mixing Skin Tones for detailed advice:) [here]

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A few process stills taken from the vid:

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Step-by-step process

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Finished freckles

This is a combination real-time and speed demo showing my contemporary realism style of painting portraits. (There's also a short vlog about creating content as a professional artist tucked in there too!)

As always feedback and questions are welcome! Hope you learned something! Have any thoughts on my little vlog in the middle there? Thanks for watching :)

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originally posted: January 25, 2017

Hawai'ian Surfboard Art :: Update

Last week for my birthday I was surprised with a gift of three of the mini surfboards with my featured designs from my first art licensing deal! So remarkable to see my artwork in this new format! 

They are actually made by hand, if you can believe it (they're so smooth!). The process entails shaping the boards by hand, then printing my images on rice paper and affixing it to the boards while dipping them in a fiberglass type sealant. Last, but not least, a small sculpted fin is attached with adhesive and viola! The most realistic miniboard you could imagine! 

Hope there are more opportunities like this in the future! Have you ever had a chance to design something that would be  licensed and reproduced? Let me know in the comments:)

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originally posted: January 21, 2017

My 33rd Birthday!!

Hooray! It's my time of year again - New year, new age, new goals, new me! 

I've been asked before what I think about aging or what age I wish I could be, and I always answer that I am happy being the age that I am currently because every year gets better and better. I strongly feel that as long as one is continually growing and advancing and learning, then there is always something to look forward to and therefore aging is a blessing rather than a curse. 

I am in the prime health of my life, am in the happiest relationship ever, and am moving forward by leaps and bounds in my artistic career (not to mention currently living in paradise!), and I know the best is still yet to come. Living a personally successful life takes a lot of time and thankless energy, and the returns are slow moving in the beginning, but I have found that having an inherently positive attitude is my greatest ally, which has brought me as far as I have come already, and I know will continue to see me though in the future. 

I always try to remember that each day is a brand new day with a brand new set of decisions as to how I want to lead my life....

So bring it on, 33. I am READY! 

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originally posted: January 10, 2017