April Is Poetry Month

A little late, but better to mention than let it go unsaid. I know I'm busy when I don't have time to wollow in the pages of poetry.

'Same Story, Different Ending'  Mixed media on wood                 ©robinrkent

So many of my favorites are better than any painting - descriptions present a better picture than I ever could. What a gift to have such a mastery of words. What a choice of colors.
Like a favorite painting, they bring a validating connection to the reader: 'So, others have seen/felt that, too.' Like having a lingering hug from a favorite person, albeit one that's been gone for years.

Coffee Mug As Artist Tool

One necessary tool when painting or creating assemblages is my Montreal coffee mug. I have other mugs, but this one is my favorite.

Favorite scenic painting spot?

Although Montreal is just a magical train ride away, (aren't they all?), I haven't been back since childhood. So I pour my first cup of espresso, grab my bags and board the mysterious 'Montrealer' for a joy ride. I travel to unseen places - with great scenic vistas - while I paint. 'Express' time travel is a wonderful thing. Bet we hold the same boarding pass whatever grounds we choose.

How Do They Do That?

One of my favorite musicians was Ali Farka Toure. His music, Mali music, sounds so sweet.

I remember asking my cousin, a jazz guitarist, how can it be so easy to recognize certain musicians when all play the same instruments, with the same strings, using the same notes? Even the same songs? How do they add their voice into a neutral setting to sound so recognizable?

'Outbuildings of Lightning Rod Farm' ©robin r kent

I have heard artist friends refer to certain colors as 'Robin colors.' I'm not sure about that, but I do know when a color fits my painting while another does not. (You could x-ray the layers of rejected colors under my work as proof.)

It occurred to me that artists, like musicians, can do the same thing: make art using their own 'voice'. Maybe that's what all artists try for most: to add their own personality to their own song; to be heard.

Nobody Here But Us Chickens

The start (with color changes to come)

©robinrkent

Painting chickens as sidewalk art for 'What's Hatching in Brandon'. Such is the assignment for Brandon Artists Guild's www.brandonartistsguild.org summer project. Our Guild has created various summer-long themes for over 10 years now. Always fun to tackle a new subject for the curbside viewing public.
Large attention-getting pieces will be seen in front of shops starting from Memorial Day to Columbus Day weekend, and we'll strut our stuff in the July 4th parade. (pictures to follow?)
And I'm not alone in making these oversized (4'x5') interactive plaques. I think there will be 10 or so done for placement around town - the most ever yet.

Add your face here!   ©robinrkent

I'm not very good at planning ahead of time, but I tried to document the process as I went along.

Here are some snaps I took as I tried to create can-can dancing french hens on ply with housepaint. (Tentatively to be placed in front of the Gourmet Provence shop. cafeprovencevt.com/)

The black hole in the center chicken will be cut out for any dancer/chicken wannabees to add their face to the art. What a photo op!

Finale!   OOOO la la!    ©robinrkent

Papers Everywhere

'The Happy Couple'
Acrylic on wood wall assemblage

©robinrkent

I constantly am organizing, filing or recycling paper. In many forms-magazines, junk mail, notes. I look at the shredder and think what a great artistic tool. Maybe when things slow down and I stop decluttering the house. 
Does paper reproduce overnight while I sleep?  

photos from the barn attic

I am not a collector. I could live spare and sparse. Not so with Jim. And I do appreciate his ‘eye’. Ephemera is near and dear to his heart. Love the old photos he found upstairs in the barn. Wonder who they were? They, like good art, beckon, giving off an energy of their own. Wonder if they ever thought in their wildest dreams they might be the subjects for original art? 

Crazy Robins

'Crazy robin' photoshop doodle

©robin r kent

Turning the corner from winter to spring: the ground smells sweet, the sun's angle is friendlier, and flocks of birds are returning. We have come full circle. Tomorrow (St. Patty's Day) is my one year anniversary for this blog. I'd do something special like change the format, but no time for that yet.
I drove through a flock of robins this past week and didn't know how we avoided each other. Maybe a professional courtesy since we share the same name. Some stay all winter. But all are hungry and feasting on the last of the existing berries. The berries froze and thawed and refroze through the winter so now they've fermented. And many robins, having one too many, are flying under the influence. Crazy robins.

Never Say Never

'When Pigs Fly' assemblage sculpture
acrylic on barnboard

©robin r kent

There I was. I caught myself watching the 'Happy Brush' public tv show. I realized what I was doing about 3 minutes into it.

And 3 minutes is a very long time.

Just goes to show what repels might seem interesting years later. Does age makes us more forgiving? And art, no matter what style, is a tie that binds?

I stayed with it through the color listings.
He also was working from black gesso to light, which many artists tend to do nowadays. I followed until he got to the point of using titanium white on his go-to 2 inch house brush adding highlights.

That was enough of that for me.