2023

 This year I was married. Never in a million years did I think I would be married again especially at 61. It is wonderful and I highly recomend not giving up on a partnership after widowed or after a divorce and your heart broken in a million pieces. I lost David and Ezra 8 years ago and frankly have not really loved painting since unless I was sailing surrounded by blue waters, dolphins and it was wonderful. So here comes my last quarter and to new art.... promise to post more than every 3 years. 

2015= loss+grief+art+ healing

Clearing out the dust of this blog I'll just return to 2015. Beautiful year with spring break spent with Ezra housesitting for friends overlooking Hull Bay, St Thomas Virgin Islands. We island hopped, snorkeled, played and had nice long conversations. It was a gift and magical memory I cherish. Ezra was headed to college, taking coding classes , started working at the Rowing Center and all was smooth sailing. I was slowly preparing for my solo show at HPBG central in Austin. The end of March Ezra was killed 2 miles from home in a one car accident. Construction was everywhere for miles on Mopac......flashing lights etc. My world went dark and heart cold. I immediatly quit my job and cancelled my art show months away with no intention of painting for a very long time. Our family was lifted by hundreds of loving friends, neighbors and family including the kids friends and parents....the tribe we raised our kids with. Days in shock lead to weeks and 6 weeks later while on a family weekend with all of Davids family and close friends David lead a hike up Enchanted Rock and thru his favorite cave on the top. He had a massive heart attack. He later died at the hospital.  The life as I knew it and family I help create was gone . This is tragic to say the least and more pain than Mariel and I were equipped to recover from. The once noise filled house with teenagers in and out, activity, conversations and fun went silent. Painfully quiet. I was offered my show back and I accepted knowing that painting would be my salvation. For well meaning people that just "couldn't wait" to see what this nightmare inspired I'll gracefully share that tragedy for me did NOT inspire anything but pure survival any way that was going to be possible. Friends started sharing dreams of Ezra, lots of dreams actually and messages I needed to hear. From the dreams came images and one dream was Ezra riding "Chica" our 16 1/2 year old lab rescue that we put down days after Ezra's death. I knew they were together as they should be. I was lost, my dogs that slept with Ezra lost, his dad, his sister, his girlfriend all in shock...Davids family, friends, coworkers and it just went on and on. The painting filled my nights, my weekends and I am grateful for the ability to paint in the deepest darkest place I could go. The work was bright, happy and not much different from the art I had always painted. My show opening was packed with friends that had supported me and loved me giving me space and quiet I had asked for. It was their chance to love me and support me the best way they could. That night was magical, healing and I am grateful for the people in my life that have lifted our family up when their seemed no reason to get up. I am a lucky grateful woman, mother and art is healing me every day...

Lion King Comes to Austin

In October I had a fantastic reception to my show at Hyde Park Bar and Grill in Austin. I sold about 16 pieces during the show and I was more than honored. I had scaled down my shows from 2011 having 12 shows to 2 in 2012. It was all I could do to prepare over 45 pieces for Hyde Park for a one person exhibit ! Early December I hosted again the Annual Holiday Art Show and Gift Sale in my back yard patio. It is really a beautiful set up and about a dozen local artists that are simply amazing.  I felt I had won the jackpot entering into my new job and 2 successful art shows back to back. I was offered to submit a piece or more to display at the Bass Visual Arts Gallery during the musical Lion King ! WoW my all time favorite and soul smiling show of all times. I wanted my piece to be over the top fantastic. I dreamed my piece and move the characters around a bit before I went to the drawing board. My enormous frame I never felt I would fill was wrestled out of the rafters of my studio by pure brute determination. Animal by animal I created "Abundance" 39x29" on board in a hand painted frame.  The very delightful Emily invited me to also bring my 'Lucky Parrot" so one drizzly day I danced into Bass to deliver my inspirations. I really felt proud of this piece. At the same time I encourage talented Edie Kemp to create something of her own since her work is so African inspired and amazing. She created 2  tapestries about 6x3 feet of layers, beading and design that is masterfully mesmerizing. While I am sharing this piece I am dreaming up new pieces for September of this year....until then...enjoy.

Annual Holiday Art & Gift Sale

Saturday Dec. 1st 9-5pm

 backyard patio

(Weather permitting)

(Rain out make-up date Dec. 2nd 9-5pm)

Robbin Polter- Folk art, art prints, painted bowls & ornaments

Michelle Carlson-Jammers & lounge pants

Edie Kemp- hand-guided embroidery on multilayered cottons

Ginny Burnett- Knitted unique wearables

Kathy & Emma Genet -Holiday cards & Christmas earrings

Melanie Johnson-unique handcrafted jewelry using semi-precious stones

Chuck & Sarah St Laurent - Lavender warmers, eye pillows & encaustic paintings

Lillian and Georgia Sease- Paper mache creations

Melissa Tothero -Sun silk scarves, Hand dyed with UV protection

2 Chicks with Wicks – Home Fragrances, candles, tarts & linen spritzers

Amigos Club Austin High School - Free Trade Coffee

www.robbinrobertsonstudios.com

Creating Websites

I manage a few websites. For years they were built for me by my husband, friends and web masters. I tried to design them they way I thought they should be built and then would mail photos, mail CD's of photos, word documents and hours of discussions of options and changes I wanted. Well over the years I had lists of domain names, passwords, hosting accounts, credit card charges and expired credit cards, lost websites etc. It was my pain in my ...... Well I decided I wanted to build my own sites my way in my time and make a mess and myself only to blame if they were dreadful ! With the help of webmaster Ziya Neema (artist extroinenair ) and mac iweb expert she helped me create my first few sites. Don't get me wrong it took hours of learning, mistakes, lost files and uploading to the universe and black hole before I felt confident. I love building sites now and my last one was : www.rebelcharter.comwww.rebelcharter.com . My own personal sites I have built are :
www.uniqueurn.comwww.uniqueurn.com and www.austinartcoop.com www.austinartcoop.com. Please check them out when you have time !

My Year in Hiatus

EVE

This is my year in change. I turned 50 in December and while too tired to celebrate appropriately I made some important decisions regarding 2012. I decided to strategically decide on shows and opportunities offered and so far it has been a carefully thought out space in time. I left Lightcrafters after 8 years. I learned so much and it was a difficult decision to depart working with great friends on cool projects however I really wanted to return to mental health. The universe answered and I am now a case manager with Caritas of Austin. With that said I had so much to learn so my art shows would be carefully chosen and limited with working full time. I am currently in a group show themed "Art in Music" displaying in the spirit of SXSW in town. This painting is " Playing by Ear" inspired by by self taught artist/musician great uncle Van.  Unfortunately i did not have the mojo this year to jump into the first WEST Austin Studio tour but hope to join in next year and show off my home studio. My next showing will be in October at Hyde Park Bar and Grill (Central) so I am painting on the weekends and having a great time painting small intimate pieces in my small indoor studio space. 

Playing By Ear

Art Shows of 2011

Three Art Exhibits wrapped up 2011 including Lightcrafters participation in the Armadillo Bazaar. Donna, Ziya and I participated in the EAST show at Connie Green's Beer Garden located behind Joe's Place at MLK and Chicon. It was a beautiful show over 2 Saturdays. Ziya and I then exhibited at the Hyde Park Bar and Grill (Westgate) during December-the show was beautiful and well displayed. I wrapped up the holidays exhausted with my Annual Holiday Art Show and Gift Sale for 2 days only with over 15 artists  on my backyard patio. It was a great run and promised myself never to schedule that kind of work during the holidays again ! 

I also turned 50 this December and made a 360 degree change to return to Mental Health and left my 8 years of Lightcrafters in Austin to work for Caritas of Austin. This was a big change and a perfect match for my interest in mental health. I will participate in only 2 shows this year including my own show in Oct 2012 at Hyde Park Bar and Grill Central. This is a nice goal 10 months out to paint around 30 pieces. Gonna be a great year !