Robert blogs on art, creativity, politics, CSA, religion and culture. Many overlap into multiple categories, like motivational or random favorites. Robert is a life-long artist, writer, musician & actor, a professional creative his entire adult life. Born in 1959 in Detroit, he has lived in New York, New Orleans and currently in Charleston. His commission portraits and fine art are part of over a thousand collections throughout North America. Read his bio.
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The Magic Easel
Hi Robert, I am an artist, Ron Gianola, from Detroit living in northern Michigan. I have a story you may find interesting. I was a student at Arts and Crafts, later CCS, for years. Automotive Industrial Design, Illustration, later Fine Arts. Around the mid 80’s I...
Right Twice a Day
A Broken Clock is Right Twice a Day People don’t like to be told what they “should” do. These days, people prefer to construct their own morality, particularly true when it comes to choosing whether or not to get the Covid19 vaccination. Many people simply do not...
Hitler and the Creative Spirit
How unfortunate that Hitler turned out to be a better dictator than he was a painter. I often wonder how much suffering the world would have been spared if only he had remained a painter instead of becoming the evil force he did become. Moral: Buy Art or the World...
Let’s Get this Party Started
Methinks those feigning surprise and outrage about the right resorting to violence this past January 6th must have been asleep the last 400 years. At the root of conservatism is racial violence. It’s as American as apple pie; it is our collective scourge for allowing...
Forward from The Power of Positive Painting
Forward from "The Power of Positive Painting" A lot has changed in the art world in the forty plus years since I embarked on my career. Academia is finally embracing contemporary realism – realism that has something important to say about our world. Meanwhile, popular...
Private Lessons Are the Way
Virtual or In-person Private Lessons Covid19 has everybody making adjustments. As an artist, I am going about my business very differently than usual. The Pandemic is an interrupter to the art business, in a lot of ways. Fortunately, as a visual artist, a lot of my...
Behr With Us
This Christmas was very special for a some wonderful Dog people, who received the surprise of a lifetime for Christmas.Behr was revealed to his "mommy" by her loving mother. Behr is twelve and loved by everyone who meets him. Austen and Ella, brother and sister, love...
Tears of Joy
This Christmas was very special for a some wonderful Dog people, who received the surprise of a lifetime for Christmas. Booker Leigh's portrait was revealed to his "mommy" by her loving Husband Josh. I was happy to receive the short clip, with her crying tears of joy,...
Form, Character and Likeness
Excerpt From "The Power of Positive Painting," the Upcoming Color Book, by Robert Maniscalco Shedding Light on Values In the beginning, there was light. Long before Thomas Kinkaid turned “painter of light” into a ridiculous slogan, the masters knew of its critical...
Portrait Demo Via Zoom
Zooming Right Along Last evening was a grand experiment. The Charleston Artist Guild presented a zoom portrait demo. It was an interesting experience for me. I have come to enjoy the interplay between the people, all gathered in a room together. I derive energy from...
Left Behind
What the American Dream Has Left Behind (a rant) Here's the VLOG version. Or you may read the BLOG version below. (edited for clarity) https://youtu.be/bS_7wHIdZyI What people would have us call the "extreme left" is really what many are now calling the extreme middle...
mARTtyrs
People are Starved for Meaning Like the Fishfly, which are born to be consumed by fish, artists are born to be consumed by humanity. I'm talking about being consumed as in nurturing the consumer. Artists provide meaning to actual people, not some idea of people out...
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The figures in "A Walk in the Park" are the inner cast you carry everywhere—the fool who leaps, the doubter who drags his feet, the dreamer who stares past the horizon, the judge with crossed arms, the child who still believes. They bicker, whisper, revolt and reconcile, but together they make the one you call “I.” We are all onstage at once, caught in the thin light between meaning and emptiness—a reminder that your chaos is not a flaw, but the chorus through which your true voice finally emerges. ... See MoreSee Less
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted."Identity and Self"
Opening Reception and Exhibition at
Park Circle Art Gallery
4820 Jenkins Ave.
North Charleston, SC 29405
The Exhibition runs through April 26
Gallery Hours: W-F 10:30-5:30, Sat 12-4
The collection will center on how identity interferes with our true self, our true freedom, which is a central value for an artist, as well as any self-actualized individual. For instance, when I draw my idea of a thing, rather than opening myself up to the full potential contained in the thing itself, I am limiting my creative potential.
So, who are we at our core, after we strip away the names we call ourselves, the parties with whom we affiliate, the causes for which we are fighting? After all, these are all inventions of the ego, which separate us from God and the infinite. Existence consists of light on form. Light is my medium as an artist. I am a painter of the self. I am looking always for something deeper than the surface representations in my subjects. It is the true self I am looking for when I paint, whether it is an orange, a sky or a judge. ... See MoreSee Less
“The Fantasy” oil on canvas 36" x 48", invites you into that lucid dream space where imagination feels more vivid than reality. In this oil painting, a solitary figure drifts through a dreamlike landscape of softened edges and impossible light. But the story is not fixed—you’re handed a doorway.
This piece lives in the uncertainty between escape and awakening. At first glance, it feels like a beautiful dream: rich color, fluid forms, and a sense of effortless drift. But stay with it, and you begin to notice the undercurrent—a quiet question about what we run toward, and what we’re trying to leave behind.
For the thoughtful collector, “The Fantasy” becomes a mirror for their own inner world. It speaks to anyone who has ever built a private refuge in their mind: the daydreamer, the creative, the survivor, the seeker who knows that fantasies can be both sanctuary and trap. The painting doesn’t judge that impulse; it honors it, and gently asks what new possibilities might emerge when we begin to bring those inner visions into the light of our real lives.
Hung in a living room, bedroom, or reading space, “The Fantasy” doesn’t just decorate a wall—it opens a conversation. With its layered symbolism and emotional depth, it’s the kind of work people return to, again and again, discovering new details and meanings as their own story evolves. ... See MoreSee Less
"Three Little Buds" is a framed #oilpainting looking for a new home. “Three Little Buds” captures a tender moment of becoming: three rosebuds held in that brief, luminous stage before they open. The dew on their petals hints at fresh beginnings and quiet resilience after the rain. This piece speaks to anyone who feels on the edge of a new chapter—honoring both the vulnerability and the promise of what is about to bloom.
“Three Little Buds" is about beginnings and the quiet power of what hasn’t fully unfolded yet. I painted them at that in-between moment—still closed, but clearly full of life and color, with the dew clinging to them after a fresh start.
For me, the three buds might suggest three children / three important relationships / three versions of ourselves at different times, held together in the same space of light and nurtured by potential energy. The droplets are a reminder that renewal often comes right after the storm; there’s a softness and resilience there.
It’s a painting for someone who connects with the idea of growth, protection, and the beauty of what’s just about to bloom or has bloomed in their own life. ... See MoreSee Less
Here's the entire portrait. I love judicial portraits. What do you think of this portrait? Know anyone who wants a portrait legacy created? A portrait is how people know us when we're gone. ... See MoreSee Less