BARBARA ROBINSON - a soulful painter

Art has the power to make one see things in a new way.  It allows us to develop a love for places and people that we would otherwise not have noticed, or thought of as unsightly - a weathered barn. a burning forest or a doddering, wrinkled old woman.  It takes subjects considered mundane and transforms them by finding and pointing out their inherent beauty.  My figurative works are often inspired by faces that I’ve seen - they are not portraits.  I have an undeniable attraction to the emotional aspects of my subjects.  I see people as “Storm Clouds”, “Regrets”, “Troubled”.   I see forests as “Aloof”, “Whisper”, “Imagine”.

I photograph extensively for inspiration and reference, but I also rely on memory to shape my impressions. Each of the places in which I have lived or visited has irrevocably stamped and molded the realm of my experience.  I choose not to limit my subject matter or approach.  I use oils, acrylic, pen and ink and sometimes watercolor.  The formal elements of a painting - it’s lines, shapes, forms, space, texture and value and the paint itself give the paintings their greater meaning.  Images of sweeping plains, fields and farmlands, forests and sky evolve onto the surface of my canvas, often with many layers of paint that are created with a palette knife.

My aim is to create paths that beckon the viewer to venture “deeper into the woods.”