Oil Painting Thinners and Mediums

Don't get confused when it comes to oil painting thinners and mediums. There are a lot of options out there, but once you know exactly what these do, you'll feel confident stocking up for your studio on your next visit to the art store.

Paint thinners like turpentine or mineral spirits or terpenoids are to oil what water is to acrylic, and I recommend you get the least chemical-fume smelling, aka odorless, one for your own health and safety.

Mediums help oil paints retain varying degrees of elasticity as well as effect dry time, but they all operate in much the same way.

Check out my Complete Guide to Oil Painting here. (More videos coming soon so make sure to save it!)

10.18.2020

Interview with Obsidian Odyssey Tutorials

Swipe to read this fabulous interview I just gave to my sister artist Dané. It’s not very long, but I think the questions she asked were excellent and thought-provoking, and should be very helpful to newer artists.

Hope you enjoy getting more of a peek into my creative process!

And if you usually like learning from me and my YouTube channel, definitely head over to her page @obsidian.odyssey_tutorials because although Dané is new-ish to making tutorials, her info is solid and even I’m learning things from her beautiful videos!

And keep your eyes peeled over here too because we’ve got yet another collaboration in the works… I can’t wait to share it with you guys!

10.13.2020

How to Blend Oil Paint Smoothly

Blending oil paints smoothly is actually quite simple and can be accomplished in a variety of ways depending on the feel you're going for throughout different ares of your painting. You don't need any specially-bought brushes to achieve these effects, and they're so easy you can implement them and improve your own works today!

Check out my Complete Guide to Oil Painting here (More videos coming soon so make sure to save it!)

FREE Skillshare workshop coming Nov 2020! https://www.skillshare.com/user/caleighbirdart

10.11.2020

Teaching Workshops in China + India!

As you’ve probably noticed lately I’ve begun producing more in-depth workshops both here and on Skillshare that expand on the knowledge I teach on YouTube. They are a lot of work, but worth it in the end, since quality digital courses can be sold for years to come.

Well the exciting thing is, not only is my specific audience paying attention to my workshops, but I have also been tapped by two different international online teaching platforms to offer my workshops across the globe!

Wow! What an honor!

This first online classroom website is called No Schools Life and it’s basically the equivalent to Skillshare, but for a Chinese audience. I upload my workshops to their platform, they translate them into Chinese, and then we split the sales - easy peasy!

Check out your Birdie’s ‘About Me’ info in Chinese!

There’s another one based in India that tapped me too! This platform is a mobile app named Graphy where all the classes are taught in a vertical orientation for learning on the go.

It’s definitely been a little extra work having to reformat or shoot specifically for the vertical screen, but it’s an ever expanding audience that I’m so excited to be in front of.

You can find Graphy in the App store and check it out. It’s actually a really new platform, but it’s under the parent company of India’s biggest online learning platform so they already have a massive audience to market to.

Here’s a few random shots. It’s great idea for a way to learn though as it’s specifically meant to be viewed on a smartphone, with the idea that any idle moments during the day can be maximized by learning. A view I can definitely get behind!

10.8.2020

Creating a Professional Artist Portfolio

Welcome to Ask an Artist 5! We are going to get into how to make a portfolio for your art that is professional and thorough and will open doors for you when opportunity arises.

Creating a college application portfolio is very different than creating a fine art portfolio, so the first thing we will talk about is how they compare. Then we'll get into why you should be doing artwork in a series, and ultimately what the five components of a great art portfolio are.

Feel free to pop me a question here or in the YouTube comments to be discussed in an upcoming ‘Ask an Artist.’ You can also see some previous episodes featuring other figure drawings and questions here.

If you'd like to snag some of these amazing super smooth pastel pencils, the first two are the ones I'm using in the video and the other two are some of my favorite colors. Any purchases through my special links helps to support my channel so thank you!

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

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

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

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

How I create my figure drawings (and this one too)

How to Photograph Artwork

How to Photograph Artwork Without a Glare

How to Write an Artist Statement

How to Write an Artist CV

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

10.4.2020

Oil Painting Basic Color Palette

In keeping with sharing all my beginner oil painting technique and advice, today we'll dive deep into a great oil painting basic color palette. Along with the confusion of using mediums and paint thinners (video coming soon!), one of the most disconcerting things about oil painting is the sheer monetary investment in paints, brushes, and materials.

The good news is that you can start off with just 5 different oil paints to really hit the ground running by mixing a plethora of colors with a minimal oil painting palette. So before you wind up at the art store again wondering which paints to buy, let me break down the essential beginner artist oil paint colors.

Here are all the paints I recommend, and if you get anything through my special links it helps to support this channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

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

Cadmium Yellow: https://bit.ly/30e3iWh

Alizarin Crimson: https://bit.ly/2S9HO8t

Ultramarine Blue: https://bit.ly/308ydmU

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

(Optional)

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

And find out all about the best brushes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOsnLq6dAXo

9.27.2020

Hey, How Ya Doing??

Today starts 8 days of polls + questions all designed to learn about YOU!

I’m psyched to find out more about what my lovely audience likes artistically and otherwise so I can be more attuned to creating content that really resonates.

So pop over to my Instagram Stories today + everyday thru next Thursday to drop in your two cents!

@caleighbirdart

9.23.2020

Parrot Skull Oil Painting + Update Vlog

Have you ever seen a parrot skull? I honestly hadn't til I found this royalty free image to paint from - it's so wild right??

Today I wanted to give you a few studio updates while I share the painting of this bird skull in oil. Namely, that I’m going to be running polls and questions in my Instagram Stories and on my YouTube community tab in order to get you know YOU, my lovely audience, better so that I can make the kind of artwork and videos that you love to see!

It will be 8 days of ‘Hi, How ya doin??’ starting Wednesday September 23 so don’t miss it!

If you'd like to know more details about how I paint bones, check out this recent human skull painting workshop on my website or Skillshare, or catch the 3D process here on YouTube.

How to Paint a Skull in Oil:

https://skl.sh/2YECFZJ

https://gumroad.com/l/how-to-paint-a-skull-with-oil-paint

3D Skull Trio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLf_l1zV3E4

9.20.2020

New Animal Skull Art

Wow, my last skulls did so well, not only with tons of lovely folks commenting on my Instagram and Facebook, but by all three finding new homes super quick! I'm so humbled and excited that you all love them so much because I am having so much fun getting even weirder with some animal skulls now!!

This first one is a parrot; isn’t he wild! He’s got quite the attitude, amiright?!? And I really did not alter his brow in any way, he’s just got that natural glare - he almost looks like a mascot, ha!

THis next one is a large feline found all over North America, and it actually goes by many names such as cougar or mountain lions, but my favorite is puma. How majestic right? Although I would not want to run into those teeth at a campground!

I’m actually saving the best for last (this is a trio too!) but I’m not going to tell you til it’s finished. I’ll give one hint: it has horns, but each one is different. Hmmmmmm…??

10.21.2020

My Muse with Her Work

One of my best muses ever has recently become one of my biggest collectors as well. Seana just sent me this photo posing with the first painting I created of here and it’s just so serene and sublime I had to share with you too. Oh, to have one’s work so endlessly appreciated is one of the best feelings ever:):)

9.17.2020