I'M HERE TO EMPOWER YOU!

I’m an artist . . . but that’s not saying much, because I believe, and it is something that I have devoted my time heavily to convey, that art expression is an inherent property of human nature. The media may vary, but not the innate disposition.

Those that know me have heard my “talent-as-myth” diatribe all too often, and if you end up tuning in to my posts, you will encounter it soon enough. It is my goal to change the notion, which a great number of people resign to, that one needs to have “talent” to pursue the art they feel or want and am doing this on a daily basis through my program in the G+ Mentorship Program for Photographers.

With that as preface, I will probably devote a portion of my posts to inspiring artists, but I also plan to impart other conceptions that I have about life in general, with the goal of elevating, encouraging, enlivening or energizing those who read them.

Let me begin with this:

I wish for you the ability to create for yourself all that your heart desires.

Start!


➡️ fill out this form, if you’re interested in the new home for “G+ Mentorship Program for Photographers”

➡️ fill out this form, if you’re interested in keeping in touch or getting mentored by Robin


You can begin by watching "The Myth of Talent" here:


"The Myth of Talent" by Robin Griggs Wood

Robin Griggs Wood •artist•(@robingriggswood)'s Instagram

.
.
.
.
.
.



RECENT POSTS

How to be the best artist.


How to be the best artist.


Ever since I can remember, I have always drawn, painted or otherwise tried to express my imagination through some form of aesthetic reality. Art has always been a part of me and always will be. It is not that art expression is something special in me, I feel that it is an intrinsic part of our humanity and that everyone has art in their nature. Wide expression takes training, but the capacity exists in everyone.

I am not a formally trained artist. When I was young and drawing, in the first attempts that we usually do -- copying the art of others or sketching the lines of photographs by eye -- I never received much in the way of feedback or support. I took that as tacit response that I was no good at it. My father “hrrumpfed” and went back to what he was doing. Art teachers in early school were overworked and passing time. I stopped focusing on that as a goal. To express the creative side of my self I went into the cosmetology business -- and got stuck there for years! In everything I did, I was always creating, however. I used to paint miniatures on clients fingernails; highly detailed works of their pets and many different things. I have painted something in most of the homes I lived in, and expressed my sensations of, and desire for color, light and form with craft and decoration. Through all of that I gained the sensibilities of art that I employ to this day. When cosmetology no longer answered my art expression needs, I decided to do murals. What the heck -- go from painting the tiniest miniatures to full scale wall murals ... why not?! I learned a lot about art while doing those murals. What constituted communication of a mood or expression, and what was merely craft. I have received my training through doing, and I hope to be training in and learning art for the rest of my life.

I do become driven when I am in the middle of a piece, but if I had to state what drives me or propels me, it would be that my most outstanding inspiration has been love. OK ... for the more pragmatic of my readers, let me qualify that as “affinity”. My creations of art, when they had any impact at all, have been borne on the back of the immense degree of affinity that I have had for the person or persons that I was creating it for. Painting for children's stories found me while I was doing murals in private homes, offered by two bright and intelligent authors that I adored.

Whether it was a mural in a child's room or creating the illustrations of a book, there was always someone that I was painting that for; someone whose delight I could imagine at the end of the work. Like making music, it has a degree less joy when there is no one singing along. You’ll know when you are creating your best artwork, because you will think less on the piece itself and more on the person or audience that will receive it in the end.


----
This is a painting I did for some friends who have a small school located north of Austin, in rural Texas. It is an expansive and welcoming place with a multitude of critters about and a focus on the joy and pleasure that learning can be.-----