How to Paint a Hummingbird in 12 steps

I love painting on platters. They allow me to create detailed paintings on something that can be used for everyday celebrations. When painting on canvases, I like big landscapes with lots of texture and color and thick layers of paint. But then when painting on ceramics, often less is more. A simple flower or a delicate bird is a beautiful statement against the white of a plate or platter.

A few weeks ago I wrote about teaching a class in Haiti. I have received word that their work is selling well! This of course makes me feel wonderful, and as promised I'm now going to share an easy step-by-step photo tutorial of how you can make your own hummingbird platter at home. And if you don't like how yours turns out (although I'm sure it's lovely, you're just a tough critic on yourself) you can always reserve one of mine here: Hummingbird Platter.

You don't have to paint on ceramics. You can paint this pretty bird on water color paper, on a canvas, glass, wood, cloth, whatever you fancy. This is simply to demonstrate how easy layering colors and texture can be and when you do it step by step, even if you aren't an experienced painter, you can create a beautiful work of art, in just 12 easy steps.

The only thing that you need to make sure you use is paint that is not too opaque. You will need to layer your colors over one another so stick to paints that are thin and have a translucent quality to them. Water colors would work very well. If you are attempting this on ceramics, then I recommend purchasing ceramic paints from your local craft store.

Okay, enough talk. Let's paint!

Step 1: Outline your bird with a bright green. You can cut out a paper outline of a bird you like the shape of and simply trace it onto your surface with a tiny paint-brush. 

Step 2: Fill in the lower part of the bird with a medium to dark blue

Step 3: Add in the branch with a medium brown. You can create as many branches as you'd like.

Step 4: Paint over the entire green and blue parts with a thin layer of translucent bright yellow. It's hard to tell that I did anything in the photo, but this step helps to create depth and a sort of "glowing" effect so the feathers of the bird look like they are reflecting sunlight.

Step 5: Fill in the tail with a garnet red or warm purple. Start defining some of the tail feathers that overlap the green and blue. 

Step 6: Out line the branch with a very dark brown and create irregular lines to mimic bark. Also use the same dark blue as before and create tiny half-moons or little smiles all over the green and blue. This is where you start defining the little tiny feathers that cover the hummingbird. Also with the blue, fill in the beak of the bird as well as outline the eye. You create the eye by painting a circle within on oval.  (Yes, I'm cheating here and it's technically more than one step) 

Step 7: Use a black to create line lines that define the tail feathers. Also, with the black fill in the circle of the eye (not the oval, leave some green visible). Also fill in the beak. Make sure the end of the beak stays thin and long. We don't want any chubby beaks. 

Step 8: Just like the smiles you did in blue before, repeat them in white, all over. The tinier the better. You can also more clearly define the overlapping green feathers over the red tail feathers. Also use the white to accent the eye and beak.

Step 9: Fill in the red tail feathers completely with a thin layer of darker purple or red. We want the color to be rich and full so you can't see any brushstrokes. Don't be afraid to paint directly over the black lines.

Step 10: Remember all those tiny white "smiles" you painted in step 8?  Cover them up with a translucent bright green. That's right, just paint over all the white. What this does is creates subtle layering and contrast. 

Step 11: Repeat with the same white "smiles" again over the green and blue. This may seem redundant, but it's these extra tiny steps of detail that make the difference between a simple hummingbird, and a stunning hummingbird with lots of details and visual texture. 

 Step 12: Just like before, paint over all the tiny white smiles. This time use the bright yellow. Now you have tiny feathers in shades of blue, green and yellow that create that stunning iridescent glow of the hummingbird. And you're done! 

Travels in Haiti

Haiti is a hard place. I've done a fair bit of international traveling and still experienced quite a bit of culture shock when I first arrived. From the moment you arrive at the airport you're bombarded with requests to carrying your luggage. Whether you like it or not, you're followed by a couple of red-shirted men grabbing your luggage away from you hoping for a tip. Even if you tip one person, there are 2 or 3 more behind him demanding the same tip for simply being there, even going so far as preventing you from closing the car door until you tip them. Not exactly the warmest welcome, but this isn't a country for tourists looking to vacation. This is a country in a lot of need, and in need of love. The town the airport is in doesn't exactly have roads. It's more like areas of exposed cracked earth where cars speed past people, stray dogs, big and numerous piles of rubble left over from the earthquake, burning trash, mopeds with way too many people on them and pigs grazing through the trash. Or as my friend Elizabeth, who grew up in Haiti calls them "free range". There are no traffic signs, or even clear paths that define a road. My hands were sweaty from grabbing onto my seat as we nearly drove over people carrying large baskets of fruit on their heads. I was the only one who seemed alarmed by all this chaos, so obviously my travel savvy self has become a little green in my thirties. It was heartbreaking to see people living in essentially rubble.

Haiti is also a beautiful place. The people, the tropical weather, the mountainous landscape and turquoise waters, and the mystery. A very large portion of the people practice voodoo, and they take it very seriously. The food is fresh and sold in ample amounts alongside every street. And when I say fresh, I mean you buy your chicken flapping about and then kill it when it's ready for the pot. The hardest thing to see were kids and frightfully thin women carrying empty water jugs up steep mountains. You can't drink the water so fresh, clean water really is liquid gold. I was told lots of the locals just drink rain water. And here I am snuffing my nose at Durham's city water. My host and beautiful hostess, Frantz and Gisela are amazing people with maybe the best veranda I've every seen. Orchids and gardenias, massive antler ferns and stunning views of the mountains. Hot running water, delicious food and even wireless internet. I landed in a very lucky spot. After asking my hostest, I was shocked to learn that the middle-upper/upper class people of Haiti consist of about 3-5% of the population. The other 95-97% are very poor. These were hard numbers to hear and I am gathering that a lot of it comes down to a severe lack of education. Haiti is a tropical place, but many of the mountains are now barren, almost dessert like due to people cutting trees down to make charcoal. Gas is very expensive so they sell the charcoal for fuel. Even within protected forests people have chipped away the tree bark to burn so eventually these protected trees will die as well. It's hard to be upset with these people for destroying the natural landscape, when you know they are just trying to feed their families. There are numerous organizations trying to re-forest, but as we know this take time, and lots of it. Meanwhile people are hungry.

I was asked to come to Haiti to teach a class in painting on Ceramics, Metals and Glass. Haitians are extremely talented people. Their ability to copy and mimic things is incredible. You will see an original painting for sale on a street corner, and then on the next you'll see the exact same painting, but they are both originals by different artists. And that, while amazing is also a problem. Haitians as talented as they are, for some reason lack creativity. It is as if they are afraid to reach inside themselves and create something new and instead focus on copying what has already proven to be a good piece of art. The result is street after street, market after market, of paintings that look like they were all done by the same person. There is not much variety in any of the work, at least not that I saw.

I came to Haiti to not only teach the techiques of how to use specific types of different paints, but to teach my students how to think creatively on their own. I did this by first introducing them to new paints and a new surface. My students were all painters, and are skilled in acrylics on stone, wood and canvases. Well, one guy who worked in the bakery next to my classroom had never painted in his life, but I enjoyed showing him some basics. And I know he enjoyed the change from slicing deli meats and rolling dough.

I taught them these basics by having them copy some step-by-step photo tutorials of some designs I created based on Haitian botanicals and wildlife. (I will share a few of these in a following post for you to try at home if you wish.) Then as the week progressed and they began to understand how the new paints reacted with the surfaces I encouraged them to think more creatively for themselves. They wanted to copy my lines and colors exactly. But I asked them to change their colors and create similar, but different pieces from each other. By the end of the week they were so happy with their work. They were creating new designs all on their own, and they were beautiful. We worked from around 9-4 everyday. And after class they they would catch a ride in the back of the pick-up truck down the mountain. I held my breath each time watching them in the rear-view mirror bouncing up and down on the edge of the truck. I would think to myself, "In America, this would be so illegal".

The room I taught it was just off the bakery where all day about 5 women make cookies, breads and other yummies. They were so curious about what we were working on. I wish I could have taught them all. These women were very helpful and washed and dried all the pieces we painted, as well as gave me cookies hot out of the oven. The language barrier kept our communication to pleasantries, which is a shame. God has blessed me with many talents, but languages is the least of them. Well, maybe math is the least, and languages is a close second.

My hope is that my students will take the paints and new knowledge they posses and start to think more independently and creatively. Not to focus on copying what is all around them, but to create new pieces in a style never before seen in Haiti. And I hope they are able to sell these new creations for a living. These are talented artists, and they deserve to make a living with their hard work.

The week was not an easy one for me. It was hard to sleep at night, as you may notice from the giant dark bags under my eyes in the video posted. Every night there were loud dog fights, every morning roosters crowing, and always cows or goats moaning. Security is tight and the house I stayed in had so many bells and whistles with every open door and window, that and I'm a spoiled rotten princess with my down comforter, pillow top mattress, down pillows, snuggly kitties and a wonderful husband who caters to my every need. I'm looking forward to being home, drinking my purified water and having a nice big glass of wine. And I'm also looking forward to seeing what these men do with their talents and new knowledge.

I took this quick video the day of my last class in Haiti. The guys are super shy, but you can see them at work. It's too bad I didn't get images of their fish creations because they are the best and my favorite. You'll just have to come to Haiti yourself and have a peek at their work. It will be for sale at the Mountain Maid gift shop, part of the Baptist Haiti Mission located in Fermathe, Haiti.

(When I took his picture, the guy in green said, "I knew I shouldn't have worn this shirt today.")

The BHM is an incredible ministry that has created schools, churches, hospitals and hundreds and hundreds of jobs for local Haitians. Pictured here is Grandma Turnbull. If the name sounds familiar, it's because her son Wally Turnbull married Nick and I. The Turnbull "Scottish clan" started this massive outreach project decades and decades ago and it's amazing to see what it has become today. Thank you for the opportunity to come to Haiti and teach. And thank you for your generations of hard, dedicated work. And thank you to Liquitex Artist Materials for donating a portion of the glass paints we used. They have been given to the Haitian artists and I expect beautiful creations to come. Thank you to the Angus Family for welcoming me into their beautiful home and exceptional hospitality, and thank you to my students, for trying something new even if it wasn't easy at first. The best things never are.

This song here is called Dekole: http://soundcloud.com/carelpedre/dekole-j-perry-feat-shabba

(just copy and paste into your browser and hit PLAY) It means "Take off" and it is very popular in Haiti right now. The country wants desperately to change, to "Take off" and do great things. Listen to it, dance it to, I certainly am.

Headed to Haiti

I'm writing from Miami, a stort stop on my way to Haiti. My luggage is full of Reese's, M&M's and individual mini packets of extra sharp cheddar cheese--because I can't live without an emergency stash of chocolate and cheese, 18 pounds of paint, a beautiful collection of paint brushes and enough clothes to last a little over a week. I'm on my way to Haiti to teach art. More specifically, to teach some of Haiti's artists the art of how to paint on glass, ceramics and metal. For about 3 years now I have been supporting myself through the sales of my artwork. It's been an amazing ride and now is my chance to help others do the same.

About 3 weeks ago I was unexpectedly asked if I would be willing to fly to Haiti on an all expenses paid trip to teach my trade to some of Haiti's best artists. Obviously there is only one response, an enthusiastic "When do I leave?!"

I don't have time to share too many details now, but wanted to post a little something before I arrived. The images you see are platters that I have been working on. They are just some of the designs that I have created based on Haitian wildlife and botanicals. I have created step-by-step photo tutorials that teach people exactly how to paint each of these designs. I will be making some of them public for you to try yourself at home.

During the next week I'll be posting images of my new Haitian artist friends and some of the work that we will be creating. These artists will then be able to continue making pieces themselves to sell to tourists and the wealthier Haitians. A big THANK YOU to Liquitex Artist Materials for donating a significant portion of the paints that I'm bringing to Haiti.

Much much more to come....

Nursery Mural

My brother and sister-in-law are having a baby girl! Julie is due in about a week and for her baby present I painted a mural in her adorable new nursery. She's from New Hampshire, so Birch trees are a little reminder of home and for those who are at all familiar with my work, trees are sort of my signature, so creating a friendly forest of Birch Trees was the theme we both readily agreed on.

The fabrics Julie picked out are covered in cute little yellow and pink birds so I emulated their design on the tree branches. The mural covers one full wall and then on the opposite wall are two additional trees with a "Daddy, Mommy and baby bird" I added a little heart "carved" into the tree where baby girl's intals and birth date will be added after she's born.

Working on the mural was a lot of fun. The canvas of a wall is so big, that you don't really have time to think every stroke through or it would never be completed, so you have to work fast and trust your instincts. This mural took me about 18-20 hours to complete. I used wall paint from Lowes that we matched to the fabric colors so everything tied together.

I hope baby girl loves the mural! I already love her and she's not even here yet.

Handmade Christmas Ornaments

I have a bunch of left over scrap silks and fabrics from my various craft projects and wanted to find something useful for them. So I made hand-made ornaments to gift this Christmas. This photo tutorial will show you how to make your own. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!



Pick out some fabrics that you have on hand. Anything from a pretty napkin, to an old soft shirt will work perfectly. I'm using some old silk scraps that I practiced marbling on last year.



Items you will need:
1. Fabric
2. Scissors
3. Pretty Ribbon
4. Needle and thread
5. Stuffing. I'm using fake snow, $4 a bag at Michaels craft store.
Pillow stuffing works great too. You could even use cotton balls if you had a lot on hand.



Fold your fabric so its ugly side out. And cut out two circles.



You should have two circles of fabric stacked ontop of each other with the pretty sides facing each other on the inside. Then using your needle and thread, stitch around the outside edges. If you have a sewing machine you could of course use it and work a lot faster. I'm a horrible seamstress. Truly I'm terrible. So if I can make these few simple stitches, I promised you can too. If you can thread a needle and tie knot you can make this work. And if you can't do those things, just find a friend who can.



I losely stitched around the outer edges, about half an inch from the edge. Go all the way around the circle, leaving just an inch un-stitched. You need this little opening because you'll need to reach in and pull the pretty side out, and then complete the circle of stitches and tie your ending knot so the thread doesn't come out.



You can see in the photo above, I've left just a little space so I can turn the piece inside out.



Then finished off your stitches.



Next it's time to use the stuffing/filler. Simply place some stuffing in the middle of your circle, pick the ugliest side because it's the outer layer of fabric that will be most visible on your ornament.


Then gather up the corners, sort of like you're making a won-ton.
Yummmy, fried won-tons...



Securely grab the tops. You can wiggle your finger down into the stuffing to make sure it's nice and secure in the bottom and none of the stuffing is sticking out of the top. Then using a piece of ribbon, tie it nice and tight into a small little knot so it doesn't fall apart. Sorry I don't have a photo of this, but I needed both hands to tie the knot around the top.

Next it's time to make the loop of ribbon allowing your ornament to hang from the tree.



For the loop of ribbon, simply cut a string, as long or as short as you'd like. Make sure it's long enough to comfortably hang from a tree branch.Then stitch the ends together. It doesn't need to be perfect, you could even hot-glue or duck-tape it if you prefer.



And then it's time for the most difficult part--stitching the ribbon loop to the inside, top part of the ornaments so it hangs straight. I say this is the most difficult because it's easy to prick yourself with the needle. I certainly stuck myself a few times. I'm sure there is a better way to do this, but this was a fast project and I wasn't worried about making it perfect. Just make sure you attached the loop securely so it won't rip out.



And you're done! You can add some extra pretties such as this metallic gold ribbon for some extra sparkle. I just tied the gold ribbon around the neck of the ornament.



I'll brief re-explain it again with this second ornament to make sure you've got the steps down.



Step 1: cut out two matching circles of fabric.
They don't have to be perfect circles. Mine certainly weren't.



Step 2: stitch your two circles together, ugly side out. Leave an inch open so you can pull it right-side out with the pretty fabric on the outside.



Step 3: After pulling the pretty side of the fabric out through the open hole, finish off the stitches and tie a secure knot in the thread.



See above how non-perfect my circle is? It really doesn't matter.
You just want to have smooth, rounder edges vs sharp, jagged or square edges.

Step 4: Place the stuffing in the middle of the circle.
Don't forget to pick the ugliest side as the outer piece will be the most visible.



Step 5: Gather up the edges and tie the neck off with a tight knot of ribbon. Again, you can wiggle your finger down to push the stuffing to the bottom of the ornament so it doesn't stick out above the knot you'll tie around the neck.



You can see in the image above the tight little knot I made with white ribbon around the neck of the ornament.



Step 6: Create a loop of ribbon to hang your ornaments by. Use whatever method works best for you. Stitch, glue or duck-tape. Then affix the loop to the top part of the ornament.



Step 7: If you want, add some extra decorative ribbon that festively hangs down for a little extra holiday bling. And your done! Handmade ornaments ready for your tree or to give away as special gifts. Happy Holidays!

Hot Toddies and Bonfires

Fall is my absolute favorite season. This past weekend I feel like I got to take full advantage of the glories autumn has to offer. I spent a cool, sunny afternoon helping to collect firewood with my hubby. Then we had a massive bonfire. Grilled out, watch the embers and sipped on adult hot cocoa. The next morning Nick kept the fire going and we had coffee by the warm embers. It was like camping out but with the luxury of a hot shower and a down comforter. Later that day some friends came over and I painted this quick study of our backyard in oils. It's always fun to paint outdoors--it's a good excuse to really make a mess. By the end of the afternoon I was covered in greasy paints. This painting is more of a study than a finished piece. But sometimes all you want to do is get your hands a little dirty with some creativity in nature.

The evening turned in a beautiful night. Clear skies, lots of stars and another massive bonfire. We lit about 50-70 candles of all shapes and sizes and placed them everywhere so we could see to cook up a feast. It was so beautiful, surrounded by so many candles in the dark, I wish I had taken a picture. My friends are quite the chefs and when Scott and Nick get together the food is an event. They cooked shrimp, delicate thin steaks, chicken and delicious pan fried Pad Thai noodle cakes in cast iron skillets and make-shift grates over the logs and flames. We had sweet potatoes wrapped in foil cooking in the embers. And of course, more yummy adult hot cocoa. The hot toddies were delicious so I'm sharing the ingredients for you to try one yourself.

Per mug:
-A shot of Meyers rum (any dark rum will do)
-A shot of Baileys
-half a packet of hot cocoa mix
(or the whole packet if you like it really sweet)
-fill with hot water and stir

And I added a Hersey's chocolate kiss in the bottom of of each mug just for a little extra love.