Drawing Hands in Anatomy Class

This semester at Nossi my dreams have come true and I’m actually teaching anatomy and figure drawing! To college level students!! I feel so accomplished :)

…not to even mention that because our class is so small, I actually have time to draw from the life model as well!! Score!

As we started out the semester we discussed proportions of the face, body, and (my all-time fave) the hand. Last week I had my students practice drawing hands from images as well as their own from life, and they did such a phenomenal job I can’t help but share a few of the best.

These ones are examples of master copies from their homework practice from the traditional Bargue Drawing Course, which has been used for anatomy practice since the late 19th century.

By the end of the semester they will have done about a quarter of the book, which is such a great way to start mentally working out shapes and shadows on 3D forms. And so beautiful to boot!

How are you at drawing hands?

Maybe could use a little more instruction..?

Don’t forget I released this extensive ‘How to Draw Hands’ workshop which you can attend on Skillshare or download from my website to learn all the skills I’ve been sharing with my class. It’s perfect for beginner to intermediate artists who really want to tackle and succeed in rendering the most difficult subject out there - hands - which will make everything else you ever try to draw less daunting in comparison (I promise!). You even have the option of getting personal feedback from me along the way.

Here are a few of the hand drawings we recreate together during the workshop, from simple cylinder shapes all the way to fully fleshed out renderings.

Now it’s your turn!

2.9.2022

What to Name Your Art Business?

Hey there chickadee, what do you call your small art biz? Do you just use your real name? Or maybe an alias? Do you have it registered legally? Or have you even thought that far ahead yet?

While coming up with a good ‘art name’ may not be on your radar, it’s definitely something to think about before you go and get too famous because whatever people get to know you as first, usually sticks. You want to make sure that you are becoming known by a name you can grow with and live with for the rest of your life (and beyond!).

On today’s Ask an Artist I’ve got five tips to help you land on an individualistic artistic moniker that will help you establish and brand yourself as the independent artist you already are:)

Five Tips for Choosing a Great Art Business Name

1. First off, have you thought about whether you would like to use your real name or an alias? There are benefits to both, your name will never get ‘old’ but using an alias is a little more private and can be easier to remember. Occasionally artists even include a descriptive word (see tip 4)

2. If your going to use anything other than just your legal name in the business name, make sure not to choose anything too narrow that may pigeonhole you down the road. Like beware or using something related to fanart or a certain subject matter as you may want to grow beyond that later on.

3. Try to be thoughtful of difficulties your audience may have with spelling or remembering your biz name.

4. Using the words ‘art’ or ‘painting’ or ‘printmaking’ or ‘tattoo’ within your moniker can help you not only get found on search engines, but can also help to be a mini-marketing opportunity when others see your name in comments or communities.

5. Once you think you’ve come up with a great moniker/biz name, the last step is just to check it online and on the platforms you plan on showing your art on to make sure it’s not a name that is taken (at least not by anyone super big!). If it is… unfortunately you may have to go back to step one.

2.6.2022

How Do Artists File Taxes?

Aloha artist... are you all pumped up to start your taxes yet this year? Or still a little early to be stressing it?

Well I agree!

Which is why I am getting a nice head start for those of you running a small art biz this year by creating a video full of tips and advice to make filing your taxes as a small art biz owner that much easier this year. Because simpler taxes is always great news!

Disclaimer: I am not a Certified Personal Accountant nor trained in any other way to do taxes professionally nor to give specific tax advice. These are just tips that I have personally implemented or have researched for this video from 3rd party websites as well as irs.gov, but they are not meant to act as a specific guide for you since each person/business/state/situation is different. Use these suggestions as a jumping off point for your own research:)

How to file taxes as an artist

1. Don’t lie! It may be very tempting to fudge some numbers or not report all your sales so your taxes are a little lower this year, but the IRS is not messing around and they can come collect back taxes for up to 10 years - with the addition of all kinds of penalties and interest (and maybe even a taw lawyer for yourself too!). So do your peace of mind a favor and go ahead and report every sale and don’t take false deductions.

2. Have a business bank account and business credit card to help keep your biz finances separate and organized from your personal finances. This way you can look at all your expenses as purchases on your credit card and all your income as deposits in your bank account. Ideally, you will put all of your business expenses on one credit card which you pay off in full at the end of every month. Even if in the beginning your expenses are higher than your income and you have to use money from your personal bank account to pay off your business credit card on time (to avoid accruing interest), that’s ok. It’s totally normal. Still doing it this way will be better in the short and long term for keeping things organized and being able to see exactly what kind of money your small biz is brining in.

3. Make sure to keep all of your expenses and income organized not only into their own accounts, but into their own categories within your accounts. Income should be split into categories like, ‘Retail Sales, Wholesales, Services, Digital Products’, etc. according to what your art biz consists of. Your expenses should have categories like, ‘Internet, Computer Hardware, Mobile Phone, Shipping, Office Supplies, Art Supplies, Resale Merchandise’, etc. This way when the time comes, you will know exactly where your business had to spend money and exactly where that money came from. You know, stuff the government is really interested in knowing. **I really like the free accounting software Wave (not affiliated) because once I set it up, it automatically separates my various incomes and expenses for me. Once a month I just go through and check on things and make a few tweaks and I’m done with all my bookkeeping. Let me know if you’d like a video specifically on how I set up and organized my own art biz bookkeeping down in the comments below :)

4. Have your art business registered locally as its own entity to collect and pay state sales taxes throughout the year on all your art sales and services. I know, I know…. more taxes?! But yeah, you gotta do it. The good news is that by paying your sales taxes all year long a lot of your bookkeeping will be maintained making these end-of-year taxes soooo much easier! Plus, you have to be registered in order to take deductions (which you definitely want!!).

5. Once you’re paying federal income taxes at the end of the year, have your business registered as it’s own enterprise such as an LLC or Sole Proprietorship with its own business name. The difference between and LLC and a Sole Proprietor usually has to deal with the size of the small business and whether you have anyone working for or with you. You can watch the video for a more in-depth description of each (including pros and cons of declaring your business either one), but essentially, if you’re like me and a one-person enterprise, you’re most likely going to want to stick with a Sole Proprietorship.

6. You’ll probably need to fill Self Employment and 1040 forms including W-9s from any freelance or contracted work you’ve done, and W-2s for any regular employment you’ve had throughout the year. Just follow the directions on those or use an online tax service (which I strongly recommend and use myself!).

7. When it’s time to file, make sure to look for ALL the deductions!! Sit down for a minute and think about every little thing it takes for you to make sellable art, and then to market it, and then to actually sell it. From your art and shipping supplies to your website hosting to the cell phone you use to post on your art-related social medias to the milage you drive to show or deliver your art to the money you spend on editing/workshops/gear to improve your artmaking abilities… it’s all tax deductible because it helps your small business to function and to grow. This is where filing taxes - even as a super tiny newbie creator - makes it all worthwhile.

8. Yay! GREAT NEWS.. showing a profit every year while starting out is not a requirement for filing taxes! This is awesome news that means that you are allowed to show a net loss for five of your first seven years in business. Sounds almost unbelievable right?! That you could get all these deductibles for your biz having not made enough have to pay Uncle Sam anything yet!?! Dang! But it makes total sense. Most businesses, from the tiniest creative venture to the biggest venture capitalist-backed corporation, are understood to have large start up costs with small initial revenues associated with them as they are just starting out and getting their name in the market. It’s one of the things that make the US such an entrepreneur-friendly country, that the gov knows it takes time to make that first bit of money, and that you’ll get him once you’re good for it;)

9. Newbie Artists Beware: Don’t file art biz taxes and declare a bunch of deductions unless you are ACTUALLY selling art or art services. Because what can happen if you aren’t really selling and aren’t really trying to sell, is that the IRS can look at your sizable deductions and literal zero gross sales and decide your (potential) art biz is actually a ‘Hobby’ which means you can no longer write off any art related deductions. From what I understand, it can be really hard to shake that label from the IRS for years to come even once you are more legit and really do need to take deductions so don’t shoot your future self in the foot on that one!

Hopefully you found today’s blog + video super helpful! If so, make sure to subscribe to the weekly blog roundup so you never miss any good tips OR when I ask my audience for input or suggestions!

1.16.2022

Visiting the Chihuly Museum in Florida

During our fun road trip back up north from my parents’ house, Alan and I popped over to the Dale Chihuly Museum in St Pete and we were really pleased with the way the works were presented. I wouldn’t call it a massive collection at the Morean Arts Center by any means, but it’s a respectable one and the way they have each collection of pieces assembled in ways that visitors can experience them from up close and in many angles is truly delightful.

These are massive works of blown glass that completely take over a room, both physically and conceptually. You literally cannot help but stare at a Chihuly when you are lucky enough to see one in the wild. It’s a rarity so the museum was a great opportunity.

I love that so much of Chihuly’s work is focused simply on the lines and organic shapes of the serendipitous forms. We learned that so much of the work coming out of his workshop is simply repeated happenstance until something comes out that moves him.

Even the work that is playful is not silly or unskilled. It’s more just filled with a little Burton-esque wonderment…

I would looooove to have a wall taken over with blown glass art! I mean just look at how the light and shadows from the pieces interact with the environment (ie the wall). Imagine if they were placed on a wall where the moving sunlight could change the composition throughout the day?! Magnificent!

Yay! Another amazing collection added to the list!

… definitely add it to yours if you make it down to St Pete as well!

PS We also went (back) to the Salvador Dali Museum. It was my third time but Alan’s first. I decided to just enjoy taking in the art rather than taking all the pics this time since I had been there before and even made a super swell blog post and YouTube video sharing my visit to the Dali museum. If you haven’t seen those, definitely check them out because I have a feeling with these two great places to visit (and plenty more in the area!) you’ll be looking into flights in no time (or pulling a Birdie and jumping in a van for a road trip!).

Here’s just a few faves, but classics like the Hallucinogenic Toreador and his melting time piece can be found here.

So fun!

1.13.2022

How Much Do You Love Doing Your Art Biz Taxes?

Oh boy oh boy, it’s that special time of year…. tax season! I know it’s still a bit early to deal with for a lot of us, but since I have been asked from time to time about how to handle income taxes when owning a small biz, I figured early is better for this particular topic. I want you to have all the good info to procrastinate on!

But before I can offer advice, I need to know just what you’re curious or confused about? Have you ever even claimed your small biz and filed sales and use taxes? Do you use accounting software to keep track of your income and expenses throughout the year? Do you make the most out of your deductibles?

These are just a few things to think about when filing taxes with the IRS, and they are important!

For the next 24 hours I’m featuring a series of questions on my Instagram Stories to find out just where you chickadees are regarding filing federal and state taxes for your small one person art biz, so pop over there to take the survey and get some of your questions answered in next week’s video.

FYI This video will not be a step-by-step tutorial on how to file your taxes since every person/state/business/situation is different (not to mention that I could probably get in some kind of legal trouble for doing so!), but it will be a series of tips and suggestions that will help you navigate the confusing world of declaring small biz income for Uncle Sam.

PS If you’re not on Instagram, feel free to respond to the above queries or drop a comment or question of your own regarding filing your small art biz taxes below. I’m excited to help you all realize that filing taxes is way less daunting than you may think, and is really beneficial to your biz in both the short and the long run.

After taking the survey, make sure to tune in next week for all the good tax advice this Bird can muster! We can do this!

1.9.2022

Gold Leafing Art Prints

Me oh my these art prints took some time! “They” weren’t kidding when they said to expect delays over the holidays - yikes!

Hopefully you saw my post on Instagram (or I emailed you) back on Dec 20th that the preorder prints finally arrived literally a few hours before I was leaving for my two week van life holiday travels, which of course gave me no time to unpack, gold leaf, repack, and ship all those prints.

So I apologize if you had to wait, the prints took over three times as long as usual to get to me.

However, I finally got everything gilded, signed, and shipped yesterday and today… yay! Check your email for tracking numbers and pretty please tag me on Instagram when they arrive! @caleighbirdart

1.5.2022

It's a Van Life Christmas!

I’ve been down van life traveling and visiting my folks down in Florida for almost two weeks and it feels so good to be back in the tropics again!!

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the absolute abundance of wildlife is blowing my mind all over again.

This is an extra special visit, not only for obvious holiday reasons, but it’s the first time bringing my sweetie Alan down to meet the family. Everyone got along so wonderfully and we had a blast road tripping back up north, camping for two nights in Withlacoochee State Park where we hiked and biked and then kayaked…

We had hoped to see some manatees but it had been too warm for them to come into the springs. I did get to swim with them a few years ago though! See the manatee art I made after that special experience here.

before spending New Year’s night at a Hipcamp with alpacas, chickens, sheep, goats, and ducks. So cool! There was a tiny lil wobbly alpaca baby that was just born a few hours before we arrived who still had his umbilical cord hanging, and I even got to cuddle the softest baby lamb.

Waking up the next day I joyfully experienced my first time in an outdoor shower with an alpaca view! What a way to welcome 2022!

I just got back home and I’m super psyched to start working on my art biz to catch up on a few things that have fallen by the wayside during this last crazy busy semester. I’m teaching two less classes this semester so I’ll be able to get back on my ‘A’ game art-making wise.

So cheers to you and all the best wishes for this next year coming up! I’ve got soooo much planned for you here and on my YouTube channel - yay!

1.4.2022

Happy Merry Xmas + New Years!

I’m down in Florida with the family and smiling big big every minute! I hope you are too!

Here’s a few pics from the Nossi School of Art admin and staff holiday party… what can I say, I love my coworkers!

Check out those Amazon Gift Cards our team won at trivia! We killed it!

Have the happiest merriest Christmas and a splendoriffic New Year! See ya in 2022!!

Feeling well at home at home again in the sunny land of citrus!

Cruisin on my stepdad’s boat with Alan

12.25.2022

A Super Special Holiday Commission

I know other peoples’ family portraits aren’t always the most exciting artwork to look at, which is part of the reason why I don’t share all of my commissions publicly, but this is one I’m especially proud of. Not only because of the meaningful concept, but because of the rough references I had to pull magic out of.

I was asked by my client to combine this photo of her grandma in an old photograph…

with this much more recent photo of her father, which was facing the wrong direction and with different lighting….yikes!

I really had to do my very best to blow up the image and pull out as many details as possible. Like these lovely blue eyes I didn’t even realize she had!

Here’s a little side-by-side comparison to see what I was able to get out of these images. I have turned down super out of focus image references in the past, simply explaining that I can only use what’s there so if the ‘info’ is not in the photo, then the painting surely won’t be able to make it up accurately.

I’m glad I didn’t have to turn down this one though, since my clients grandma is deceased and that’s the only photo she was able to get of her. Luckily the dad’s pic was much clearer and I was able to flip it and rework the shadows just a bit to match the grandmother’s light source.

And I even made a lil video of the process:

Well I will say it was definitely a challenge, but you know I kinda like those, so all was great in the end.

And most important of all my client loved it, she even told me it brought her own mama to tears. That definitely makes it all worth it:)

If you’re interested in a custom oil painting or pencil drawing of your family, feel free to drop me a message at caleigh@caleighbirdart.com

12.22.2021

Hand Painted Holiday Postcard Gifts

Happy Holiday 2021! Woo hoo, another year under the belt:)

I recently impulse-bought a pack of blank watercolor paper postcards and got so inspired to gift a few simple nature originals to my family in Canada, who is so far away and I miss so much!

They turned out to be a really great way to spend not too much time obsessing over a ‘perfect’ painting, and rather just a delightful way to get creative by gathering some nature inspo to share with some of the folks I love the most.

I bought this pack at my local art store, but certainly you could just make your own postcards out of any watercolor paper that is thick enough to withstand the mail (or by putting them in an envelope like me to protect them instead!). Just make sure to keep the postcard to regulatory size, which is around 4x6 inches if you plan on using a postcard stamp or 5x7 inches if you don’t mind using a forever stamp. And of course make sure to print the address on the right side of the back with your special message on the left, just like any postcard you would buy from a gift shop.

Here are all the materials I use in the video. Any purchases through my special links help to support this channel at no cost to you, so thanks!

Titanium White: https://bit.ly/344AceH

Azo Yellow: https://bit.ly/3ApQTPe

Gamborge Yellow: https://bit.ly/39husjc

Napthol Red: https://bit.ly/311Z0lP

Cerulean Blue: https://bit.ly/2PXJtNx

Permanent Green Light: https://bit.ly/2XG47ZR

Payne’s Grey: https://bit.ly/3g59q8t

Princeton Size 1 Round Brush: https://bit.ly/3gFb7cT

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

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

And I don't have the link for the exact brand of postcards I found at my local art store, but these are both close:

Watercolor Postcards (rounded corner): https://bit.ly/32l3PcM

Mixed Media Postcards (square corner): https://bit.ly/3snRG1Q

12.22.2021