Plein Air Painting at Makapu'u Beach

Just had another luxurious day painting outside with another sister artist of mine, Jae. This time, however, we opted to go to the beach and paint in our bathing suits! So fun!

There was some light cloud cover which made the day just perfect and a few local kiddos wound up coming over to check out what we were creating. I’m pretty psyched too because this is the first plein air landscape painting of my own that I have actually liked - ha!

I know we artists can be hard on ourselves, but pretty much all my landscapes painted from life have been a disaster. Since I like to get so detailed with my oil paintings, I have a really hard time relaxing and generalizing enough to capture as much information as a landscape provides. You know that saying ‘you can’t see the forest for the trees’, well I feel like I can ONLY see the forest for the trees so every time I try to render a scape I get lost trying to represent every leaf and every branch.

Anyhoo, we all have to practice at anything before we have skills and plein air painting is no different :)

7.3.2019

How to Write an Artist's CV

Okee dokee folks, you know I like to do the difficult stuff together, so today let’s get professional by writing our CV’s. Yaay!

Have you ever heard of an Artist CV? CV stands for Curriculum Vitae, which is Latin for ‘life course’. A CV is basically a curated list of the artistic pursuits over one’s course of life. All artists need one as a way to succinctly list their accomplishments within the art world. Pretty much any gallery, grant, fellowship, or residency program is going to ask for a CV and, as a living document, it should be periodically updated with recent endeavors.

But trust me, even if you’re a newbie without a lot of ‘pro’ experience, it’s not hard to make yours look great!

Here’s the general order I recommend, but feel free to switch up a few sections to put the brightest stars on your resume front ‘n center. And leave off any sections that don’t apply, as well as any super duper old or mediocre pursuits.

And remember, the shorter CV’s get read more thoroughly than the longer ones. Short and sweet is the ticket here!

• Header: Name + Contact Info

• 1-2 Sentence Artist Statement (in 1st person)

• Education

• Awards

• Exhibitions (list as ‘Solo’, ‘Group’, or ‘Selected’ as needed)

• Collections

• Bibliography / Press

• Affiliations

• Related Professional Experience (can include short skills list)

Make sure your formatting is clear, consistent, and utilizes a basic font. As always, triple check spelling and grammar and if you have a friend or family member take a look it’s usually a good idea too.

And if you need a lil inspo on how to write a great short artist statement check out this vid + blog.

Would you like to see mine? This is the one I created for this video that is current at the time of this blog being written and will not be updated. Here is my ‘living document’ that I will update periodically, so it may be different than the video depending on when you are visiting this post.

And don’t forget, if you ever need professional eyes on any aspect of your art portfolio or small art biz I’m available via webcam for mentoring:)

6.28.2019

Plein Air Ridge Painting

I spent a marvelous day last week relaxing and painting on the gorgeous Aiea ridgeline here on O’ahu accompanied by one of my closest sister artists, Zee, who also created the beautiful bouquet tattoo on my leg and the Celtic knot on my finger. It was a truly special and rejuvenating day… one of my favorite things about Zee is that we create art whenever we are together:)

6.26.2019

How to Paint Sheer Fabric + Lace in Oil

Painting sheer fabric and lace in oil (or acrylic) takes a tender touch for sure, but with a little patience, love, and understanding of the fabric, getting a bright rendition should not be too difficult.

Here are the paints and brushes I use in the demo. Any purchases through my link helps to support this channel. Thank you!

Round Size 2

http://bit.ly/2VQj1Ga

Fine Liner

https://bit.ly/2vyJ9eh

Angled Chisel Blender

http://bit.ly/2WUEZx0

Titanium White

http://bit.ly/2HCSZCw

If you'd like to know how to paint gold jewelry that really shines check out this vid.

… As well as how to improve your drawings (for painting):

6.21.2019

Spoleto Fest in Charleston

Earlier this June I had the pleasure of attending the Spoleto performance arts and music festival in Charleston, SC. It’s a 17 day event that’s been happening annually for over 35 years which encompasses international and regional performers and musicians that are truly mind blowing. Some of the best creatives in the world come through to share their talent!

I got a few snippets of some of my fave performances as well as some vids of Charleston’s best galleries. Hope you enjoy joining me on my artsy adventures!

And if you’d like to see some fun photos of the trip pop over here.

6.15.2019

Visiting Charleston for Spoleto Vlog

Aloha folks! Or should I say 'Hey ya'll!' because I'm back for the International Spoleto Arts + Music Festival in my hometown of Charleston, SC this week and I'm visiting lots of local arts and incredible performances which I will share with you in more detail next week.

I do have some exciting news I'm sharing today though....

STICKERS ARE HERE!!

I've got 2 new and 2 classic high quality vinyl stickers of my paintings available on my website, as well as 2 buttons to pin on your fave jackets and bags! Grab 'em all here

6.7.2019

Visiting Charleston for Spoleto Fest

I’m having a blast in my good old hometown of Charleston, SC for Spoleto which is a long running international performance and musical arts festival that showcases some the most incredible talent the world has to offer. Lucky me - my mom and I love doing the events together and she insisted on flying me to town for our tradition of arts indulgences!

Here’s just a quick sneaky peek, next week I’ll have a fun lil travel vlog for my YouTube channel as well as more pics here on the blog. Go ahead and pop your email below to make sure you don’t miss a thing!

And can you believe the size of that flower in my friends’ garden?!?!

6.5.2019

Hand Making Sketchbooks

Handmaking your own sketchbooks is so satisfying! I like to be able to choose my favorite kind of art paper plus I find binding my books on the short side makes them so much easier to use in either portrait or landscape position.

Don't feel like you have to take a million notes while watching, because lucky for you I created a super duper detailed blog post about three years ago sharing each step right here:

Part 1: https://www.caleighbirdart.com/artist-blog/the-best-handmade-sketchbooks-part-one-repost

Part 2: https://www.caleighbirdart.com/artist-blog/the-best-handmade-sketchbooks-part-two

Also, if you would like more info on getting your own handmade-with-love toned (or white) paper sketchbook pop over here to be kept in the loop for my next sketchbook release: https://www.caleighbirdart.com/handmade-sketchbooks

5.31.2019

How to Paint Gold Jewelry That Really Shines

Painting gold jewelry in oil or acrylic can be quite challenging, but with the correct bold hues and the knowledge of how soft or sharp to make your marks you can really make the jewelry on your subject shine.

I am doing my demo with gold, but using a range of white to Payne's Grey will give you the same results for painting silver or platinum.

Here are the materials I used and if you purchase any through my special links it helps to support my channel - thank you!

Brushes:

Round Size 2/0

http://bit.ly/2EvDmKV

Round Size 0

http://bit.ly/2WnnmF4

Round Size 2

http://bit.ly/2VQj1Ga

Paints:

Titanium White

http://bit.ly/2HCSZCw

Naples Yellow

http://bit.ly/2VZF16m

Yellow Ochre

http://bit.ly/2M3OIfh

Cadmium Orange

http://bit.ly/2YN6PrG

Raw Umber

http://bit.ly/2WivsPi

5.24.2019

Oil Painting Demo :: Sweet Nectar

I've got a new 3D oil painting demo starring one enticing flower-laden breast and a couple of real bees ensconced in resin!

If you saw my 'How to Make Layered Resin Art' tutorial (right here) you may remember this piece from the demo on what NOT to do - ha! Well I have completely repainted and re-resined this piece successfully and am thrilled to share it with you today.

Hope you enjoy watching me make "Sweet Nectar' as much as I enjoyed creating it! I'm in love with the flower-shadow concept so don't be surprised when you see it again:)

5.17.2019