Robyn Hill Hendrix

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My Unspoken (til now) Rules of Painting & Creativity

October 26, 2013 By Administrator

Filtration 2, Watercolor on Paper, 2013. 8" x 10"

Filtration 2, Watercolor on Paper, 2013. 8″ x 10″

Always surprise yourself. Never do exactly what you are expecting yourself to do.

Make things go funky and weird, but go slowly enough that you know when to stop. (When you’ve reached the right amount of funk.)

Turn “mistakes” into another unexpected quirky thingamabob.

Talk to the funky, quirky things when necessary.

Watch the work unfold with eyes and heart wide open, kind of like watching a sunset.

Don’t cry too much while painting or it’ll start to smudge. Unless you want to fill the teardrops landing there with pigment…not really sure what the salt content will do to the surface but it could be a fun experiment.

The moment when you start to get bored of something is probably the point when you need to elaborate on it twice over rather than completely abandoning it.

Ask yourself if you can make some of the blobbies just a little bit bigger. Or just a little bit smaller.

Follow the rule of gravity. Or don’t.

Once in a while, do the thing that you think (or feel) is going to turn out really ugly. You’ll either get it out of your system, or discover something incredible.

Don’t finish a painting until you’ve already started another one. (Always have something in progress.)

Don’t drink the paint water by accident, and don’t dip your brush in your tea.

*Scientists, mathematicians, statisticians etc probably wouldn’t consider all of these to fall under the definition and functionality of a “rule”. Whatever.

I’m sure some of these could apply to other artistic disciplines. And non artistic disciplines, for that matter. Which one speaks to you? Do you have any weird, unspoken limitations you put on yourself as you write, dance, plan, organize, sculpt, sketch, brainstorm, or whatever it is you do?

 

Filed Under: art Tagged With: creativity, drawing, painting

Placemaking Block Party Details

July 7, 2011 By Administrator

The first block party for the Central Corridor Friendly Streets Initiative is tomorrow!  I made a little logo for my group’s project:

Nine other artists and I were selected to work with Jun-Li Wang from Springboard for the Arts to develop creative placemaking activities at summer block parties in the Hamline Midway and Frogtown neighborhoods of St. Paul, MN.  The events are designed as a way for residents in the Central Corridor to come together and collectively address some of the issues & concerns surrounding light rail construction and the overall changes in the neighborhood.

The website with all the details: http://hamlinemidway.org/friendly-streets

You don’t specifically have to live right near the block to come to the block party; the goal is to bring in people from throughout the community.  There will be free food and art activities at each event.  My team’s project is called the pLaYMaGinAtiON sPaCE and combines a visual art component with theater/drama/role play games.  We are presenting it on three dates: July 8th, July 29th and August 19th.  Other team’s projects include building ring toss benches, making paper mache bowls using recycled materials, bike tune-ups with bike flag stencils, a “vacant hearts” activity that addresses the many foreclosed homes in the area, and a “what I wish/what I will” photography project.  All the artists involved are phenomenal people to work with and I am so excited to see all of these activities brought to fruition in the next few weeks.  Two or three projects are scheduled for each block party.

Here’s a full list of the dates:

Block Party 1:

  • Friday July 8 from 3:30-7:30pm
  • On Charles Avenue between Syndicate and Griggs
  • Hosted by Erin at 1126 Charles

Block Party 2:

  • Friday July 22 from 3:30-7:30pm
  • On Charles Avenue between Pascal and Albert
  • Hosted by Kimberly at 1414 Charles

Block Party 3:

  • Friday July 29 from 3:30-7:30pm
  • On Charles Avenue between Milton and Victoria
  • Hosted by Cossandra at 891 Charles and Emily at 825 Charles

Block Party 4:

  • Friday August 5 from 3:30-7:30pm
  • On Charles Avenue somewhere between Western and Rice
  • Exact location and host TBD

Block Party 5:

  • Friday August 12 from 3:30-7:30pm
  • On Charles Avenue somewhere between Kent and Mackubin
  • hosted by Jeff at 529 Mackubin

Block Party 6:

  • Friday August 19 from 3:30-7:30pm
  • At 533 N Dale Street
  • hosted by Greater Frogtown Community Development Corporation

Filed Under: art Tagged With: artists, central corridor, creativity, friendly streets, frogtown, hamline midway, neighborhood development, placemaking, springboard for the arts

Flowers are Red

June 11, 2011 By Administrator

I’m having a lot of walk-down-memory-lane moments lately.  I decided to listen to a really old mix cd that I have in my car, that’s loosely based on a mixtape my 8th grade english and civics teacher made for my class (the cassette eventually broke, and I was devastated, and tried to recreate it).  The cd is just labeled “The Really Really Awesome CD” and the last few songs skip a bit since I made it about 9 years ago.  It has this song by Harry Chapin on it, along with Buffalo Springfield, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, and Pearl Jam to name a few.  How excited was I to discover this lovely “animation video” made with the Paint program on Youtube?  Oh, very excited.  However, if you have never heard the song before I encourage you to listen to it once first without watching the animation.  Kinda like, read the book before you watch the movie, not after, ok?

I probably have at least one more childhood nostalgia blog post up my sleeve, so…get used to it.

Filed Under: art Tagged With: children, creativity, education, flowers, harry chapin, nostalgia, painting, teachers

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