'Hand Workshop' Progress

I’m excited to share a little progress on probably the most detailed workshop I’ve created to date! This is an super thorough examinations of how the hand is structured, how tendons affect movement, how to draw details like wrinkles and fingernails, and then finally how to shade and render it.

I’ll have around a dozen step-by-step drawing examples of the entire process as well as lots of copyright free photographs that anyone can use for any project.

So make sure you stick around and stay tuned because I’m not sure when exactly this will be published, but I’m hoping in three weeks or less! I’ll have the first part on my YouTube channel and the rest will be available for download on my website or to experience on Skillshare.

Can’t wait to drop some real knowledge on you!

7.9.2020

Copying vs. Stealing vs. Being Inspired

Are you familiar with the difference between copying vs stealing vs being inspired? The lines can get a little blurry sometimes, especially when needing to use reference photographs that you may not be able to create yourself. While it's fine to copy (with credit given) while we're just practicing, when it comes time to make real work that represents us as individual artists, it's absolutely essential that we do not take nor take credit for other people's work.

Hopefully this video will answer all your questions about how to get inspiration from artists we admire, without stealing their ideas. Make sure you tune in next week too because I'll be bringing you 5 different ways to find copyright free images for you to use in your art that don't cost a thing!

Both the master copies above are mine from years past. The first one is by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec called “Corner of Moulin de la Galette’, which I painted in 2015 after visiting his works at the National Museum in Washington DC. The second one I painted in Florence, Italy at my first atelier program back in 2010 after ‘The Annunciation’ by Antonello da Messina.

7.5.2020

Skull Trio Progress Shots

You may have seen the live skull painting demo I did on YouTube a few weeks ago (if not it’s now listed as a ‘Real Time Skull Painting Demo’ in two parts), but that lively lil guy is actually just the first of three skulls I’m painting and will eventually layer with resin and some creepy crawlers or other found objects.

One of my favorite things about this process has been exploring all of the different earth toned hues that can actually be found in bones… far more than the basic grayscale one usually associates with bones. I’ve delighted in using a lot of sap green and a light pink-ish mauve color that has really brought these three skulls to life (ha! see what I did there??).

Enjoy these work-in-progress shots today and if you like checking out my painting process regularly, make sure to find me on Instagram where I’m constantly sharing paintings and drawings as they are created.

7.1.2020

Brand New Channel Intro

Just uploaded a brand new intro for my YouTube channel! I hope it gives a really full view at the value of my channel, please have a lil looksy and tell me what you think:)

The Spiel:

Are you an artist or creative with goals of perfecting your craft while furthering your artistic career? Do you enjoy being inspired by the amazing natural world around us?

Well then welcome to the Nest, you're gonna fit right in!

I am extremely passionate about helping fellow artists and since I've been practicing and teaching fine art skills for a number of years all while steadily growing my own art biz, I've got loads of helpful tips and advice for anyone ready to become a fully actualized professional artist.

Thanks for checking out my channel! I hope you learn a whole lot!

6.26.2020

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

Real Time Skull Painting Demo

Enjoy this real time painting demo of a skull today. I am using oil paints on a homemade linen-faced painting block. It's great practice to draw and paint the human skull because it helps break down the structure and components of a face for portrait drawing that you normally wouldn't see.

Here's Part 2 of the live painting Skull demo: [It’s also a great place to jump right in just before I do major work on the facial structure]

Materials:

Any supplies purchased through my special links help to support this channel. Thank you!!

Oil Paints:

Titanium White: https://bit.ly/2Uqiugo

Naples Yellow: https://bit.ly/2UKShbB

King’s Blue Light: https://bit.ly/3denDhW

Napthol Red: https://bit.ly/2WO7DP7

Raw Umber: https://bit.ly/2xrsAF5

Payne's Grey: https://bit.ly/3arumV1

Odorless Mineral Spirits: https://bit.ly/2vhDrA1 \

Brushes:

Da Vinci Trio Brushes (size 1 round, 4 bright, 4 filbert): https://bit.ly/312TCiO

Da Vinci Size 2 Round Brush: https://bit.ly/3diLEEK

Da Vinci Size 2 Filbert Brush: https://bit.ly/2NdkwMv

Da Vinci Size 0/2 Round Brush: https://bit.ly/2CqUxiK

If you’re curious how I made this linen painting panel, check out this older vid that details my process.

And make sure you’re subscribed to my channel because I have two other skull paintings coming out in timelapse video style!

6.20.2020

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

How to Get Over the Fear of Sharing Your Art

Are you afraid to show your art online? Facing and overcoming your fear of sharing art is important in order to grow as an artist and creator. Even though the risks of sharing art online (such as no likes/comments or someone stealing your idea), the benefits of sharing artwork online far outweigh them.

Everyone has to start somewhere, and no one is great off the bat, so take today's artist tips to help you break out of your shell and begin to share your gift with the world!

Resources:

How to Photograph Artwork Using Natural Light: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSQJWVlTDvg&t=2s

How I create my figure drawings: https://youtu.be/qUcnWwKL59g https://youtu.be/OlMi5izeBaM

Original drawings available in my Shop

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.

Croquis Cafe Figure Resources (18+): https://modelindexdatabase.smugmug.com/

My Drawing Supplies (any purchase helps to support my channel, thanks!)

Kneaded Eraser: https://bit.ly/2VC4qBB

Map Eraser: https://bit.ly/2wgzoop

Mono Zero Eraser: https://bit.ly/3885Fej

White Chalk Pencil: https://bit.ly/3d3COLh

Steel Grey Carbothello Pastel Pencil: https://bit.ly/2YIvbED

Deep Purple Carbothello Pastel Pencil: https://bit.ly/2XTkGPk

Raw Umber Carbothello Pastel Pencil: https://bit.ly/30zLfL8

6.12.2020

Sewing a Mega Monster

I recently got commissioned to make something I haven’t made in over five years, a big huge giant Mega Monster!! Hopefully you are familiar with the sock monsters I create sporadically, but you are probably unaware that during the time that I used to sell these on a regular basis at craft fairs in music festivals I was also making much larger versions out of fleece. I even had one that was bigger than this and also wearable, Rosco, who I toted around all the events with me. Let me tell you, dancing Rosco was a real crowd pleaser!

Normally I did not make them with straps on them because I had folks buying them for children sometimes, so I was tickled pink when I got an email out of the blue from a person who had purchased one of my Mega Monsters a few years ago and then told me that some thing about quarantine was making her so antsy for the days that she could go out again that she was craving a monster she could wear like a backpack whenever the world is ready for parties again. I was like ‘don’t worry honey, I have got you covered!’

I mean, can you even imagine bouncin’ round the dance floor, lights flashing, music blaring, your fave band killin it… and in front of you is a ginormous monster keeping the beat?!

So long story short, we picked out the fabric online together and I had it mailed to my house but I took me about a week to make the monster and now he has now been shipped up to New York. I haven’t seen any pictures yet from my client, but I’ll share them when I do.

Also, if you are interested in snagging one of my regular sock monsters just keep an eye on Instagram, in my Stories particularly, where I post new releases every few months.

6.10.2020

Using a Resin Mold for the First Time

My first time using a resin mold and I’m sharing the experience with you! Since I already had collected and pressed plenty of lovely ferns and leaves, I decided to mainly focus on casting the resin with dried plants, which is one of my favorite ways to accent my 3D layered resin paintings in general anyway. Using this resin mold for some of the extras was just a bonus in every way!

If I can ever find an excuse to collect and dry more ferns I am more than happy to do so!

I hope you enjoy learning about how to use a resin mold today, I was really delightfully surprised at just how easy and straightforward it turned out to be:)

Snag some original layered resin art from my Shop!

My fave resin brand: https://www.artresin.com

And the silicone mold I just found on EBay; there are about a thousand different brand-new molds all ready to ship from China on there if you look around.

How to Pour Layered Resin Art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxmP_I9gEvM&t=415s
5.29.2020