The Instagram is amazing. The opportunity to uncover new people and their artistry is infinite. But you already know that. However, in case you didn’t here are one of the many reasons why it’s better used for networking and discovering talented artists rather than searching for big bootie babes.

Upon my daily ritual ‘stalks’ I instagrammed upon a lovely young artist from LA. A genuine lady who truly is in it for the love and passion and not for notoriety. So much so, that finding an online presence for her is virtually impossible.

Down to earth, charmingly funny and a talent unprecedented, makes her one of my heroes. Her darling good looks combined with her love for Sir Charlie Chaplin, and not to mention her choice of sassy eye wear, make her my ‘girl crush’ of the year…

Inspired by memories from her childhood, Rootbeer and dreams, Birdy dishes out her secrets from her effective ‘how-to-keep-a-pencil-sharp-without-sharpening’ techniques to how she dodged the thug life during high school.

“Stay Sharp” – Acrylic

“I wanted to create, even if that meant being a struggling artist…”

B: I can recall drawing during my elementary school days, as early as kinder. I was always drawing on stuff, things like my folder, creating characters or drawing out my favorite bands logos. I began to take art seriously after high school. To be honest I was a big stoner after high school, and smoking opened up the gates to my deep subconscious imagination. Marijuana made me see life in whole different way. But I won’t get into all that because I could be here all night talking about life.

RR: Do you still smoke weed?

B: No I don’t smoke anymore. I was continuously stoned everyday for a couple of years. I think I actually smoked myself to the highest point a stoner can reach and it scared the shit out of me. After that smoke session, I haven’t been right since. Haha… I think what happened was I realized I wasn’t pursuing what I wanted to. I was studying psychology at the time and got into a good university but that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to create, even if that meant being a struggling artist. My mom was disappointed with me at first because I think she saw it as me giving up. But I wasn’t, I think had I continued my education in psychology I would have given up, but on my dreams. I want to be at a place in my life where I know I’m satisfied with what I’ve accomplished  and when that happens … I’ll be the first to say, ‘Hey where the weed at?!’ Haha…

RR: How does your mom and/or dad feel about your artwork?

B: My Mom is proud that I’m an artist. She’s very supportive in what I do. As for my Dad, he passed away when I was 10, but I have memories of him teaching me how to draw Snow White and other characters like Bugs Bunny and stuff. I know if he were alive today he would be proud of how far I’ve come as an artist.

RR: What are your favorite mediums to use?

B: I enjoy cheap lead pencils, graphite, and acrylic paint.

RR: How long does it take you to complete a piece?

B: It depends. I tend to juggle a few pieces at a time and so I go back and forth between pieces. I estimate about a weeks worth of time clumped together for the bigger canvases. I work a lot faster with graphite, and those pieces are usually a days worth of time clumped together.

RR: How often are you buying new pencils?

B: I don’t usually buy pencils too often. The trick to making a pencil last is to not sharpen them and try to use the tip of the pencil in a way that sharpens it as you put the pencil to the paper. Hopefully I explained that clearly.

RR: How do you feel living & growing up in LA has inspired/shaped your artistic perspective?

B: Growing up around free spirited people allowed me to have any type of artistic perspective I wanted. LA gives people artistic freedom and different kinds of artistic perspectives can be seen through fashion, street art and galleries.

RR: Wanna name drop?

B: All I’ll say is I work on Melrose. I don’t want to give the store name. I love my co-workers, they make work fun.

RR: How does it add or take away from the stuff you create?

B: Because there is so much downtime I draw all day and in between [get to] meet/help some really cool people/customers. Sometimes the customers are curious to know what I’m working on. The cool thing about that is I get a strangers reaction to the art. The take away is I have to get ready, go to work and sit in traffic when I really want to stay in, have a huge cup of coffee, and just create all day long, no breaks. That’s usually what my days off are like. I hate sleeping because I want to stay up and create but the sleep is necessary because then I’d be a zombie at work and probably be a shitty manager.

RR: Tell me more about the ‘Vinyl-mation’ work you have done.

B: I bought one blank and painted it. Then I almost became addicted to BLIND BOX vinyl toys! But I’ve always been a very cautious consumer so I stopped that shit real quick after getting 3 dupes from the vinyl-mation villain series. I spray painted over all 3 and recreated what I wanted.

RR: EXPLAIN DUPES

B: The first blank was just for fun.

RR: Do you have kids? Married, single, it’s complicated?

B: I don’t have children. It’s complicated …

RR: Do you think being a female affects how you are viewed by other artists? Why or why not?

B: No, because art is either received well or overlooked. I don’t think my sex has anything to do with it.

RR: Did you vote?

B: I’m a bad American, no I didn’t. I worked that day and it’s a long story. BUT, had I voted I would have voted for Obama, I voted for him the first time around.

RR: If someone were to fall in a passionate and obsessive love with your work, where can they purchase it? 

B: They would have to contact me via email. I’m not bullshitting when I say I’m not trying to make money off my personal works of art. It’s always been a struggle for me when people want to purchase a piece because I have to put a price on it.

RR: What do you do with your pieces then?

B: I occasionally sell pieces, or give [them] to friends who let me know they want it. (I don’t like to just give my work away without knowing for sure the person wants it because I don’t want them to feel obligated to hang my work in their home or office. I think of Joey from Friends giving Chandler that ugly gold bracelet and I tell myself never do that to people, it’s been done to me and it makes people feel like a shitty person for not loving the gift. If you never seen that episode disregard that last reference to Friends.) I’d like to give my work to people who are going to keep it safe and really enjoy it. I’m always open to people wanting to purchase work. I’m also open to bartering.

RR: Your characters are very playful and well constructed and makes me want to hug the shit out of them – is there a method to your madness?

B: I tend to dream up sneaky scenarios, or I take memories from my childhood. It’s easy for me to incorporate what I love into my paintings. I love Rootbeer, it’s a terrible addiction, and so I use things like that about me or what fascinates me.

RR: What is your ‘ethnic’ background?  [I am guessing Latina because I read you like to listen to oldies & you're from LA - hope that doesn't offend]

B: Hahaha not at all , and yes I am a Latina. I come from a Mexican background.

RR: Being from LA, you ever feel pressure to participate in gangster-like activities?

B: It’s funny you ask that because yes I did feel pressure. I was actually jumped into a wannabe gang in middle school. It was a gang me and my friends made up nothing serious. I laugh about that ’til this day. In high school I was around gangsters, I even dated some, but I smartened up and went down a different path from all of that.

RR: Did you go to school for your craft?

B: I have taken a drawing class to gain more knowledge of art. I’m currently enrolled in an illustration class. I love learning and I don’t limit the things I learn about, I’m open to anything.

RR: Ever put your art on walls… with a spray can… at night?

B: Another funny fact from when I was young is that during high school, I met this chick who loved to draw like me and my friend. So we started this little art crew. One afternoon, in broad day light,  we were on a mission to tag some shit up and we see this wall in an alley. I grab the spray can from my bag, and I have never used a can in my life prior to this moment. The can was so fucken big for my hand, I couldn’t properly squeeze down on the tip to get it to spray. As I’m struggling with the can, this old man peaks his head over the wall in the alley and yells at us “What the hell are you doing, get the fuck out of here!” So.. no not really. I’ll leave that stuff to the professionals.

RR: Name one woman that inspires you most?

B: Fafi, her characters are so freaken cute, sexy, and bubbly. I love the expressive lines she uses throughout her work. Her choice of coloring is so right now [and] everything she does is inspirational.

RR: What’s your favorite movie?

B: Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. Every person in this world should see it, at the very least watch and listen to the speech he gives at the end of the movie. I love Chaplin. he had the best outlook on life. I have this character who wears a bowler hat, he is a skull but that hat was inspired by Chaplin. [Did you know someone dug up his grave and held his body for ransom? Nuts.]

RR: In your interview with Leveledmag -you picked Drake over Common – please elaborate.

B: Both rappers are talented at what they do. Personally Drakes music always hooks me, sometimes a good hook is all you need and BAM! it’s a hit. Common is a musician that you need to spend more time with, you have to have patience to listen to. On a rare occasion I will look up the lyrics and try to decipher what he is saying.

RR: It’s Friday night, the weather is nice, and you just got paid – what’s on your agenda for the evening?

B: I would be at the movies. I love the cinema, comedies are my favorite. If there was more time in a day, I would be pursuing a career in comedy.

RR: Where did the name Birdy come from?

B: I wish I had some cool story behind it, but I don’t. A friend started calling me that and I really don’t know why. Maybe I should ask.

RR:How many brothers & sisters you have? They say artistry is genetic – are they artists too?

B: I have a younger brother and an older sister. My sister is [artistic], if she would have honed her craft, she would be awesome right now but she didn’t keep up with it. I remember she did this portrait of River Phoenix when we were younger, she was a teenager at the time. It was a good representation of him.

RR: What are some things that distract you from doing what you are suppose to be doing?

B: My day job, and TV. I love TV and I know it’s a terrible device because I can be glued to it for hours.

RR: Favorite trash TV show?

B: Ugh, I hate to say it but Keeping up with the Kardashians.

RR: Ever see them around?

B: I have never seen the Kardashians around. I work near their DASH store on Melrose but never see them. My friends have claimed to have seen them around.

RR: A song you like that people might be surprised to learn & why?

B: Keith Urban’s I Wanna Kiss A Girl… surprising because my peers don’t listen to him, they listen pop, rock, or hip hop. I’m all over place when it comes to music, I love it all.

RR: What’s next for Ms. Birdy and how can people keep up with it?

B: I’m back in school after 7 years of being away from college. I’m striving towards a career in stop motion animation or cartoons. For the time being my Instagram is my only public outlet for my work so if people want to check me out that would be the only place they can view it.

RR: One thing you would have the world know about you or anything else… (it can be anything at all… anything.)

B: I love Lucky Charms cereal. I once devoured a whole box in one day, no joke.

RR: Did you have the munchies?

B: Yes when I devoured the box of Lucky Charms, I had a bad case of the munchies… and the movie Kill Bill on repeat.

RR: Shout outs?

B: My two nephews Jesse and Brandon, two of my favorite people on earth and thanks to Refuse Routine for taking interest in my artwork.

More of Birdy’s work can be found on Instagram @BIRDY_B_. If you are interested in purchasing some of her pieces you are free to email her at hausofbirdy@gmail.com.

And please don’t email her if your intention is try and make her fall in love with you and all of your awesomeness. Chances are, you are awesome! But if that’s what you’re typically up to, then the only person that probably thinks you’re awesome is your mom.

RootBeer Johnny