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 Artist’s Soul
The Battle for the Artist's Soul This Fran Lebowitz quote seems quite offensive today, where art has been so thoroughly democratized. I don’t subscribe to this perspective, of course. But there is a grain of truth in it. I would only add, for those interested in the...
The Angel Oak
The Process of Painting the Angel Oak This is my largest work on stretched linen canvas. The painting is 5' x 7.' Yes, that's right, I said FIVE feet! It was commissioned by our neighbor/friends Amy and Justin Couch, who needed a large piece as a focal point with...
Shall We Overcome?
Replacing Hate with Love People upset by the removal of Confederate or racist statues like John C. Calhoun think of it as an effort to alter history. As an artist, I take very seriously the removal of artwork which might be aesthetically beautiful, or be a familiar...
Portrait of Bill Brusilow
Portraits don't always have to take themselves too seriously Everyone knows I love portraiture, that I love to study the human form and look deeply into my subjects. The process is compelling and there is no end to the what there is to learn about the subject. I have...
Life in the Corona
Corona, noun. A part of the body resembling or likened to a crown. I've railed about white privilege in the past but now the issue may actually be resonating among those of us who have been enjoying it the most. I’m well aware of the bias of mine and my fellow whites....
Who’s Looting Who?
The murder of George Floyd has revealed a breach in our "Social Contract." What is happening right now has been happening every day for more than 350 years. We just keep turning a blind eye. When are we going to wake up to the real looting going on? Massive bailouts...
Portraits Are Our Personal Legacy
POETraits Every now and then, I have the privilege to hear from the subjects of portraits I did as many as forty years ago, when I first started doing commission portraits. Here is a current photo of Dianna and Kara, whose portrait I did about 35 years ago. I was/am...
Goddess of the Universe
We are all one with the cosmic dust of the multiverse I love it when a client/friend asks me to go outside the box and use my creativity. Who said a portrait has to be all about how we normally look? Sometimes I fancy myself to be soaring among the stars. Maija had an...
Shortages
We’ve all been experiencing a run on toilet paper and hand sanitizer. But you may not be aware of the extreme shortages in portraits and fine art that are gripping the nation. People are falling over themselves to get the proper fix of meaning and inspiration, a...
The Next “New Normal”
What if the world stopped turning? What if everything just stopped? We're now as close as we'll ever get to an answer to that question. We are experiencing a grand pause. A huge reset button has been pushed. Even our enslavement is on pause. For a brief moment in...
Making Music
My Sonic Journey I am now recording original music and making it available for soundtracks, films and other uses, with permission. ⇒ Listen to more of mine and Danny 's music ⇐ This particular track features my clarinet playing. At one time, many moons ago, I was...
Freedom and Quarantining
Get into freedom We talk a lot about freedom in this country. We think of freedom in terms of getting away from something that binds us. But freedom isn’t getting out of something, like prison or “work.” We often confuse escape with freedom. Real Freedom gets us into...
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Remembering Manny Krammer. He was a loving mentor, an unequivocal supporter of my early career as an artist. He got me teaching and exhibiting in his little gallery in Rochester. He was one of the first messengers of love and positivity in my life, a gentle force of will, reminding me and everyone he touched that we are not alone in this work. Gone but not forgotten. ... See MoreSee Less
Great study by a great portraitist  ... 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.Again, portraiture in all its forms, is legacy, it is history, it belongs to everyone. ... 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.... See MoreSee Less
Shoulda asked me. I guarantee a perfect likeness. 😆 ... See MoreSee Less
Anne Boleyn painting is ‘actually a different royal’, claims historian
www.the-independent.com
Off with her head? Painting in National Portrait Gallery’s collection may have been important political tool to shore-up Elizabeth I’s hold on power