Robin’s Nest Art School

Summer Art Camps!
I am SO excited about the art camps I have lined up for kids this Summer! 😃
A wonderful line up of special themed classes at my private art school RobinsNestArtSchool.com

Fun and educational camps at The Ojai Recreation Department
OjaiRec.com

There is limited space so kids get the attention they deserve so these classes will fill up fast.
I can’t wait to share my joy and creativity with the kids this season.

Thank you all for your love and support.

❤️Robin

Ah the Holliday season is really triggering lots of big feels isn’t it?
I’m just going to start calling this “anti social media” from now on, if it’s not a term then I’ve just coined it.
I’m most interested in what we could be doing right these days. What can each of us be doing, in even small ways that actually creates positive change?
Maybe you’re just trying to survive right now, you’re doing the best you can, and all you could muster up today was just being kind in your interaction with the checker in Vons, who maybe was having a bad day and wasn’t so nice to you. What if that small act of kindness rather than the opposite meant that a horrific chain of events wasn’t triggered?
Maybe you’re in a position of power, and you have the opportunity to make great changes, woohoo, but most of us are more like the teeth on gears, or the hubs of wheels, does that make us like cogs? How many gears and wheels are there on the earth I wonder? Does this make you feel small and insignificant? Or do you intrinsically know, that you are unique and just as important as everyone else?
I’m so interested to hear how you might be making positive changes, or what ideas you have?
I spend most of my time encouraging people to make their own unique mark, but what is more important to me, is not how we are unique, but how are we more the same, and therefore connected.
Robinsnestartschool.com

Painting classes for adults at
Robinsnestartschool.com
Come paint with me, in a fun, safe, supportive space.
Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30
All supplies included!
Drop in for only $32
A session of 4 classes for a reduced $110

Sharing thoughts on creativity and inspiration.
Happy Halloween! There’s something exhilarating and special about this time of year.
I’m finding so much inspiration to fuel creativity in everything around me. Refilling your cup of inspiration is vital to not only your creativity but also your well being.
I love taking myself out on artists dates. I try to find new places to explore, record my findings, with a camera or sketchbook, etch the smells into my memory and bring them home to my studio.
Often we don’t have time to take a day trip to the mountains, so finding inspiration in the daily mundane has been a goal for me. Rekindling gratitude for things we take for granted, being mindful, aware and looking at ordinary things in a new way has brought me so much joy.
The way the light hits the tile floor in the afternoon, the sound the scrub Jay makes when he says hello, the smell of the freshly harvested rosemary, these little moments that make up our lives, let us notice them.
What ideas can you share for artists dates? What ordinary things do you find intriguing?

Art Classes for Children and Adults
My new session of classes begin tomorrow, and it’s not too late to sign up @ Robinsnestartschool.Com

I’m also teaching at the Ojai Recreation Department on Wednesdays.
3:30-4:30 ages 7-14
5:00-6:30 adults
I’m teaching there because they offer scholarships for kids.

New lessons all the time for continuing students.
A wide variety of mediums, techniques, and principals of art are covered in a safe, fun and inspiring environment.

People in touch with their creativity are happier, happy people make the world a better place.
You can also sponsor a child.
Thank you community for all the love and support ❤️

It’s the season!

I taught an art class at The Recreation Department today. The kids did SO great.
A couple of them were new, and expressed all kinds of fears and stress.

First of all, that is WONDERFUL! This means these kids have been having their feelings heard. They trusted a STRANGER with a mask on, with their fears.
Can we just take a moment, to acknowledge how important that is?

“I feel nervous.” “I’m not good at drawing.”
“I don’t like the way this is coming out.”
“I need help.” These we’re all things they said, in the first few minutes.

Luckily, I was able to convince these little kids, that it’s ok, for their art to not look perfect, and if you want a perfect image of an owl, you can just take a photo.
Today we were not photographers, we were painters. Painters make all kinds of mistakes, and no paintings are perfect. In fact, perfect is boring.

All great artists started out not liking their work. What we were searching for, was self expression, self exceptance, and kindness to our art.

The intended lesson, was on the value of color, meaning how light or dark it is, light source, and bold strokes, but what they all got, because a couple kids, were brave enough to share their fears, was much more valuable.

All the kids left happy, with their art, their efforts and themselves.
I left ecstatic, and like I was actually doing something that mattered. I was actually making a difference.

After the initial high, I felt tired, in a way that can’t really be explained. This happens to me, after every class, that challenges me, to really emotionally engage, and to a lesser degree, every big social engagement.

I’m a complete introvert COVID has taught me. I was a child, who didn’t share her fears with adults, because I didn’t feel safe.

So when the high dropped, and I wondered, what might have happened, had those kids had a different teacher today, who didn’t understand, what these kids needed, they might have demanded the kids “get it right,” and made the whole thing about the product, they could have really done some damage.

In thinking about this I became very worried, for all their creative journeys, and how they could so easily be squashed.

I’m sharing this, as a cautionary tale.
Most the adults who say, “I can’t draw or paint,” will tell you a story, about a day in class, where someone said something, that made their little creative hearts feel squashed.

While I’m sharing, let’s be honest. I’ve said things to my kids, I wish to god I could take back, and the only thing to do after that point, is recognize it, admit it to them, say you’re sorry, and vow to do better.

I’m no more perfect, than the messy painting I made today, and that’s ok.

We’re all stuck at home and looking for ideas to entertain our families, I’ve got one I think is pretty cool.

Why not go camping in your own back yard! You can make a fire, roast marshmallows, play the guitar, and tell stories.

The best part about this idea is what’s going to be happening in the sky. Tonight through April 3. Venus, the crescent moon and Pleides form a triangle in the west, visible after sunset.

As a mom who homeschooled, I say, throw that text book in a drawer and learn something they will actually remember tonight.

Yes your kids might think you are a huge dork, but they will love you for it.
Get out there and bond with them❤️

Hi friends,
I made this video for my students, to help them with inspiration, and a little dose of happiness.
I hope it puts a smile on your face, we all need it now.

If you want to help a YouTube channel with their video being suggested, it helps if you don’t leave YouTube, after watching it. The algorithms are designed to punish that channel, because they want to keep you watching.
You can help by starting a video of something you don’t want to support, or something that’s huge and getting millions of views, they won’t be affected.
It’s free and there are no ads 😃❤️

Finding Your Style and Gathering Inspiration Find your own creative voice, by gathering inspiration. Learn to record your inspirations in a sketchbook and art journal. ...

Here are some free beginners painting lessons, for those of you who are bored and stuck at home.
The lessons on my channel are for kids and adults.

If you’d like to help, apart from liking and subscribing, it helps my YouTube channel a lot, if you go to another Chanel and start playing it before you leave.
The algorithm punished the Chanel you stop watching on, so choose something you don’t support when leaving.

Share some other fun rainy ideas as well. We all need to be staying positive. Creativity is very helpful.

Acrylic Folk Art Bird Painting Supplies needed: Blickrylic acrylic paint, from Dickblick.com in Flourescent magenta, Primary yellow, Turquoise. Black acrylic paint, boar bristle paintbrush...