The next 50 years
November 13, 2009
I am so excited about art that's in my head... its almost time to let it out. I have no idea why I feel I have to wait but my heart tells me it’s not time yet. These pieces will be collage with drawing and painting incorporated with text from books, church bulletins and junk mail. This might all get started tomorrow, maybe it'll begin tonight just not this moment. I've been cutting out text that might eventually mean something to me and some that means more to me right now than my own name.
Life is changing moment by moment. It’s become a beautiful storm, wind, rain, lightning and the heavy pressure that brings on a good sleep. In one week I'll start the second 50 years of my life. This has me so excited I can’t imagine what's coming over the horizon. Just the idea that I think I'm going to be 100 is exciting enough. I think I'm going to travel the world; I think I'm going to be a wonderful grandmother; I'm going to dance on a beautiful green hilltop in Ireland; One day I'll have a house with an empty room with a hard floor,...
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Stormy weather
November 13, 2009
I drove to the beach Monday morning when I heard that hurricane Ida was coming to visit. The rush of the wind was amazing, the waves rolling and crashing as they met the shore were beautiful. I sat on the end of a boardwalk and felt happy and fulfilled as a warmth spread over me and filled every pore. I was in the right place and I was taking it all in with every breath and every image that passed. The sand had been swept into a beautiful pattern sprinkled with bits of shell and bottle caps. Everything that was there was there for a reason and that includes me. On my way home I stopped by Burris Farm Market and had a blackberry cobbler. It was a delicious end to a delicious day
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To trust or not to trust, that is the question
November 12, 2009
Its time to move forward on big stuff. I totally trust myself . The time is now and the time is right for all kinds of stuff. I need to get out of Baldwin county. This is not the right place for my heart or me. Art has suffered, souls have suffered. I find reasons everyday why I am here. This is a magnificent part of the world, the small town I live in is a treat, my church is a family I could NEVER have had the imagination to wish for, I have beautiful, caring friends but they also know its time for me to go.
My children have grown up here but feel Jefferson county is home. Its time to go home for all of us.
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Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...
September 29, 2009
Life is forever changing. At some point you have to stop being an observer and start working on making it what you need it to become. I am frozen right now. For too long I have waited for someone else to make decisions for me. I have hoped someone else would do what I felt was the right choice for me. I am almost 50 years old; I wonder when I thought I would be old enough to make these decisions on my own? I have laid blame on others and sited their controlling nature as to why I had to suffer through their decisions for my life. About 2 years ago I made a big leap forward in plans for my future only to have it thwarted by another person's idea about what I needed to do. Insecurity and guilt have been my rulers and I am attempting to push past them to give that job to God. I figure if God can make the universe he can certainly help me take back my life from people's ideas about what is best for me. So here I go. We shall see how this works out for me and those...
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Summer Time and the livin ain't easy
July 17, 2009
I wonder how hot it is on the equator. If is is even marginally hotter there than here I feel bad for the people living there. I am feeling bad for the people living and visiting here in South Alabama.
This summer has witnessed me making good and bad decisions. Even some of the good decisions were not all that great. I think I shall blame it on the heat. I have friends I love dearly and hope my actions are not making them question my sincere affection for them. It is hot outside and I can't seem to get off my rear end or out of my house to spend any time with them. If someone would welcome me into their home at 5:30 a.m. we might have a bit more face to face time. Text messaging, while convenient, lacks the smile or inflection of a friends voice. I cannot decipher the non-reply from a text sent as anything besides someone not being interested in me or communicating with me. I know there have been times I was busy, or not near my phone and I did not reply... It was probably taken as a slight from the messenger....
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Tags:
communication, friendship, summer heat
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Where am I?
March 31, 2009
On Friday night, March 20th, I slept in a box at Oak Hollow Farm with Christ Presbyterian Church's Youth group. At 5:30 in the morning I woke up to a perfect crescent moon suspended in black velvet and surrounded by more stars than I have witnessed since my childhood. It honestly looked as if someone had spilled a container of glitter across the sky. My thoughts of weeping were quashed by the realization that I would break the moment that was a gift to me. I lay under the dark early morning sky and wanted more out of my life. I have appreciation, love, friendship, what else could I want? I always wanted to travel, thought I would wait until I got older and sent my children on about their lives. Then I got sick and went broke. I took it as a sign that staying put was what was required of me. Now I am having trouble accepting that that is my life. I am on a quest, I am trying to find the person I left behind, not that long ago.
Posted at: 07:56 PM | 2 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Birthdays
January 19, 2009
I woke up this morning unaware that it was my first daughter's twenty-fourth birthday. She died when she was ten days old, I was twenty-five. There have been many years that I wanted to lay down and wail all day.
It has gotten easier through the years. In the first several years after she died I made every attempt to not let her go. I needed to keep her front and center or else I thought I wasn't being a good mother to her. Today is a good day. I forgot several times the significance of this day in my personal history. That was good. As the day continued on and my sweet family was spending some time with me I realized everything happens for some wonderful reasons. Sometimes it takes time. Sometimes 24 years is a long time but I am learning that it is barely a drop in the bucket of the world's time.
The ripples of the years passing since the initial pebble hitting the water are becoming part of that beautiful rhythm in the dance of my life. I would not be the person I am now without her life being part of my life. I...
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January, February, June or July (?)
January 13, 2009
When and where to show again? Anybody out there have any suggestions? I am working on some small pieces with mixed mediums. I am considering some or all of these in each piece, acrylic, watercolor, pen and ink, and collage of papers from books. Working in a library gives me access to a lot of books. In the middle school books fall apart pretty often and throwing them away seems like such a great loss so ... into the art they go.
Currently I have 9 pieces finished that are pen and ink with colored pencil. They are framed with dark brown, pressed metal frames. I like them. The ones I am starting on now are a few heads with numbers that I like overlapping them. Once they are finished they will be paint, paper, pen and ink. I am thinking about tearing the book of Numbers out of the Old Testament and using it on the appropriately numbered painting. I guess they should be titled "A Gift From God" or maybe, "Ancient Rules I Tore Up."
Tags:
art shows, books, collage, numbers
Posted at: 08:39 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Getting things in order
December 27, 2008
This is a rare day in the life of Robin Richards. I am getting all kinds of things in order. Maybe once all of this is done I will be able to concentrate on being a painter. We shall see.
Life is crazy until you stop and pay attention. It really is the same as always. The difference is how we react to the ebb and flow of the day's energy. Too many times I try to control it; that never works. To see everything as a dance and each opportunity to make a choice to stay in rhythm makes everything so much easier and enjoyable for the participants and the audience.
Posted at: 10:40 AM | 4 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Frequently Asked Questions
November 10, 2008
This is a list of frequently asked questions. I shall attempt to answer them here.
1. What inspires me? Life. I guess that's the most concise answer I can give.
2. Where do I get my ideas? Quite often I wonder that myself. To say that art is divinely inspired sounds a bit lofty BUT I cannot figure out where some of these ideas start. Who am I to say that they are all of my own creation? That, to me, sounds a bit arrogant. I shall have to bow out of this argument and attempt to give credit where credit is due. It is not of my own brilliance that this art comes to fruition.
3. Are these some sort of a strange flashback? If flashback is referring to past hallucinogenic drug use then the answer is "no". Maybe there are observations that have gone unrealized until pencil and paper met or a loaded paintbrush danced across a canvas. If that is a flashback, then, yes.
4. Do you really see colors this way? No. But I am not sure that I am seeing the same color that you are seeing when we refer to a color's name. Is...
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Tags:
frequently asked questions
Posted at: 04:21 PM | 1 Comment | Add Comment | Permalink
