We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Robyn Bellospirito. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Robyn below.

Robyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

When I was a kid, my parents each took college classes at night and one of their required courses was art. One day I saw a paint box filled with tubes of oil paints in our home and asked what they were and if my parents would teach me how to use them. I began by attempting to copy famous paintings from an early edition of Janson’s History of Art. I fell in love with colors, the scent of the oil paints, and creating images on canvas. Several years later, as a young teenager, I met a new friend who came from Europe and the first time I went to her house, I was awestruck at the art on the walls. Her parents were artists. I had never been to an art museum before, and their paintings with the rich blended colors, shading, and atmospheric imagery moved me so deeply. Just seeing their work opened up a whole new world for me. I began mixing colors in a way I didn’t know I could and exploring themes that were dreamlike and surreal. They were perhaps the biggest influences and inspirations in my life as an artist.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a visual artist who has worked primarily in oil painting for over 40 years. My paintings are hard to label, as some may call my style surreal and visionary, and they also have a spiritual component to them. They are primarily figurative although I have done abstract works at different periods in my life, most recently a series of circle paintings after having had three strokes in 2022. When I paint, I don’t draw anything out on the canvas beforehand. Instead, I cover the canvas with a brown wash and allow whatever wants to emerge to be brought out onto the canvas organically, then I develop it into a finished work. Working this way has often shown me what I am feeling deep inside when otherwise I might not have known. My images show me what I feel, and tell me stories that I often was not aware of before I see them on the canvas before me.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Resilience is something I don’t think we know we have until we have to have it. Honestly, there have been so many times in my life when my art saved me. Many of these times were health crises. When I first developed heart issues, I began painting a series of heart-themed paintings and they were not the cute heart-shaped shapes most people are familiar with. My hearts were painted in the shape of an actual human heart, with veins and circuitry. Another time in my life when I was experiencing agoraphobia, I painted a series of houses. First they were floating, then as I recovered, the houses in my art became grounded and they were like fantasy houses, or stylized houses out of a fairytale. When I lost some vision in one of my eyes and needed emergency surgery to save some of the vision in that eye, once my eye had healed I began painting to see first if I could paint, and how it might be different. I remember loving color and the very first painting I did after the eye surgery was titled “Lady of Colors”. It was glorious to be able to see. I appreciated the vision I had, even though it was not the same, but I appreciated it even more because I could still see. When I paint now, it’s hard to see the lines clearly up close because of my partial vision loss, I struggle with changing different strengths of reading glasses and moving my head closer and farther to the canvas to be able to see what I’m doing. But I do it and it can be frustrating but when I really want to paint, I paint. And in 2022, I had three strokes and the right side of my body was affected. For a short time I was completely paralyzed on my right side, but because I got to the hospital so quickly, I was eligible to receive the drug tPa which restored my ability to move. I still have effects from the strokes and my fine motor coordination is still compromised, as is walking, and other things. The first thing I did in the hospital after being able to move was write and draw, to see if I could. I could! This is resilience… I never, ever stop.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think there are many things non-creatives would have difficulty understanding about artists. For instance, years ago I was sitting having lunch with coworkers, some I knew and some I didn’t know very well. One lady asked me about my art and I mentioned that it was difficult to make a living from it, which was why I had a 9-5 job. I’ll never forget her response. She said, “How do you expect to earn money from your art when you don’t give anything back to the world?” I was rattled, deeply hurt, and speechless and questioned my place in the world as an artist, and the meaning of my work. Since then, and that was many years ago, I have heard many people say the opposite, whether they are writing it to me on social media or say it to me at one of my exhibitions, or when they purchase my art… that my art touches them and makes a difference. So I do my best to believe this now, but what that lady said to me years ago has stayed with me and I often wonder how many people think that way. How many non-creatives have no clue as to what art is, what it takes to create art, how to experience art – which is much deeper than merely looking at it or choosing a manufactured framed image that matches their sofa. Another thing I think non-creatives would have a hard time understanding is the solitary nature and need for solitude (at least this is true for me) when I am painting. Quiet, or music and definitely being alone for at least the first part of the process is crucial in order for an image to emerge on canvas. I have to have that space without interruption when I’m working or it will break the connection from inner to outer. It’s what some call “the zone”. It’s quite a powerful place to be and needs to be respected. One friend who understood and tried to protect my space when I was working was told by a relative that he was “mollycoddling” me by giving me that time and space. The truth is, it’s more like what Virginia Woolf wrote about needing a room of one’s own.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.robynbellospirito.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellospiritorobyn/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynbello
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/robynbellospirito
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/bellospiritoarts

Image Credits
Robyn Bellospirito