We recently connected with BRENDA ROBINSON and have shared our conversation below.

Hi BRENDA, thanks for joining us today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

WELL, THE FOLLOWING “KIND DEED” STANDS OUT IN MY MIND BECAUSE IT HAPPENED RECENTLY. I WAS INTERVIEWED ON A PODCAST CALLED: *THE PASSIONATE PAINTER, WITH CAROLINA ITALIA IT WAS BROADCAST ON JULY 17, 2022, WHEREVER YOU GET YOUR PODCAST. SHE ASKED ME A SIMILAR QUESTION. I TALKED ABOUT THE FACT THAT WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN THE SOUTH, THERE NO DOLLS WHO LOOKED LIKE ME AND THE PEOPLE THAT I KNEW AROUND ME, BEING A GRITS, GIRL RAISED IN THE SOUTH. THE NORM WAS WHITE DOLLS FOR ALL OF US. SO I DID NOT SEE MY REFLECTION IN THE MEDIA, MAGAZINES, MOVIES, OR TELEVISION. I HAPPEN ED TO LOVE PAPER DOLLS. SO, MY SISTERS AND I WOULD TAKE THE SEARS & ROEBUCK CATALOGUE AND MCCALL’S MAGAZINE PAPER DOLLS AND COLOR THEM WITH BROWN CRAYONS TO MAKE OUR OWN. .

TRUTHFULLY, I CONTINUED DOING THIS AS A GROWN UP WITH THE PAPER MACHE CHRISTMAS ANGELS THAT WERE ON SALE AFTER CHRISTMAS. IN THIS INSTANCE I WOULD USE CHEAP ACRYLIC PAINT BECAUSE THAT WAS ALL I KNEW ABOUT, PAINT AND ADD SPARKLY GILLITER, they were beautiful. I would gift these angels to special people. I recently found out that they still have them and that was 20 something years ago. After my friend heard this story, she purchased a brown doll at an art fair because the doll looked and dressed like me. I know she prayed and imbedded meaningful intentions into this doll.

She mailed this gift and did not tell me it was coming. When I opened that box the tears started to flow.. This was Christmas and Easter all wrapped in one.This little brown doll has become one of my heart driven muses. She lives in my art studio watching over my shoulder to remind me how much I needed to see the physical manifestations of the dreams of little brown girls with their raggedy homemade paper dolls. To remind me thatI matter, my dreams matter and helps me remember that imagination is the infinite playing field. My friend heard me and she sees me, this is the kindest gift of all.

BRENDA, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Art found me, not the other way around. The only thing I knew was that I could sew my children’s clothing, but I did not think of that as art. Looking back I can see that art had been speaking to me most of my life, but I could not hear. After a tumultuous period in my life there was an opening and a hearing of the spirit speaking to me. I started creating. I found that as I listened to my intuitive spirit, I. could .paint. My ability to tell my stories with paint is my super power. I specialize in painting hope, acts of resilience, connections, and the light that drives out darkness. I paint the stories that bind us, the beauty of our common likeness. I paint the stories that make our hearts sing in memory and in compassion. We all have raggedy threads that become entangled with one another. . Yet, we all have the same DNA and we are connected whether we want to be or not. My art captures the essence of our humanity.

In the beginning I became a rubber stamper because I could not draw, and how can you paint if you cannot draw……welp, I found that I can smear paint around on the canvas and the paint would reveal the subject matter to me…..all I had to do was listen and paint. It becomes difficult when I don’t listen. I have to let myself get out of the way for the painting will be revealed. My art has been described as visionary, inspiring, spiritual and joyful. I am very grateful to be able to do what I do and my collectors are very special people. They want to be connected.They want to raise their families in a multicultural heart=centered world. MY COLLectors realize that our “collective “messiness” as humans is part of the story. Art flows through us all creating something that is greater than all of us.

I solve the problem of lack of connectivity and relationships with others that are not in our lives . Like attracts like.They sense my sincerity. I give them what they need in a unique way. I tell stories. I listen to what they want and I speak their language. Spirit shapes my narrative, my part is to always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder. I am not for everyone. I have found my target audience. People don’t buy what I do, they buy why I do it.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The biggest lesson I have had to learn is that I am not for everyone. When I first started out, I painted whatever I wanted to, no thought of limiting myself, this is not a bad thing. But at some point I moved to a different area of the country where there are palm tree, water, colorful birds, boats, gorgeous flowers. I noticed almost all of the art in this area is related to these subjects. So, therefore this is what I should be painting. Flamingos, water all the tropical stuff. This is a tourist area and this is what was selling at the time. So, I jumped on the bandwagon or the boat. These paintings did not feed my spirit. I grew to hate doing them, so finally I jumped overboard and have NOT looked back. I was trying to fit my round peg in a square hole.

I regrouped and gradually started to get my intuitive paints legs back on land. Painting is my response to the messiness of humanity. Painting is a journey for me and I have to believe in and find the story and the joy in what I paint. That is my purpose I am in awe with what the creator has gifted me to do. God, memory, stories, paint. This is my story and this time I am sticking to it.\

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative?

THE MOST REWARDING ASPECT OF BEING A CREATIVE IS BEING ABLE TO SHARE THE GIFT THAT I HAVE BEEN GIVEN WITH OTHERS.

ART HEALS, ART GIVES US POWER, ART SAVES LIVES. ART HAS THE ABILITY TO HELP US SEE THAT WHAT BRINGS US TOGETHER IS STRONGER THAN WHAT DIVIDES US. ART AWAKENS OUR SENSES AND PROVIDES A PORTAL FOR UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER.

WHERE WE CAN CONNECT OUR SPIRIT, CREATING SOMETHING THAT IS FAR GREATER THAN OURSELVES. I AM SO BLESSED TO BE ABLE TO DO WHAT I DO.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brendakrobinson.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/brendakrobinson7/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brenda.robinson549

Image Credits
Threads of Connection, by Brenda Robinson