Robin Reynolds
Garden Immersion
materials funded: birch and pine boards, paper, mediums and solvents, oil paint
Being immersed in nature, painting plein air, my garden is my sanctuary. The flowers and plants act as a catalyst allowing me to manipulate paint and create a dance between abstraction and representation. Where my eye focuses; what I choose to paint as I enter my garden is solely determined by random moments of a flicker of color, a shape of a leaf against a petal, or the depth of field looking through a jumble of stems and vines. It is this moment where careful, focused attention on a more micro level transports me into the landscape.
An intuitive approach of playful and energetic mark-making begins a process of looking, layering, wiping away and building up of a surface celebrating the exuberance of color and line found within nature. I work in a series of three to seven sittings welcoming weather and the passage of days to transform my viewpoint. Being able to encapsulate these segments of time found within my garden allows me to create my own environment of beauty and the rhythm of nature; emergence, bloom, growth, and decay.
In creating this installation: Come into My Garden, I want the viewer to share and experience the spatial sense of being immersed in my backyard; visualizing micro/macro space, color and form, light and darkness, and a sense of depth, scale and background. Just as the flowers speak to one another, with their varied color, shape and texture, my individual paintings are interacting and creating a dialogue. The implied three-dimensional space and birdsong heighten the feel of being within my garden’s embrace. I’m inviting you in to meditate and find solace as I do each time I step into and lose myself in my garden to paint… welcome.
About the artist
Robin Reynolds is a contemporary plein air painter who draws her inspiration from her backyard garden. She is concerned with the dichotomy that exists between abstraction and representation widely focusing on color, layering and mark making to achieve her vibrant paintings.
Reynolds has shown extensively throughout New England, New York and in Santa Fe in various one person and group shows. She has also won numerous awards, grants, and residencies which include a Mass Cultural Council award and attending the Millay Colony, Vermont Studio School and Dorland Mountain Arts Colony. Reynolds earned her MFA from Savannah College of Art & Design, and a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and a BA from Colby College. She is represented by Soprafina Gallery, Boston, MA and Cynthia Winings Gallery in Blue Hill, ME. Reynolds presently lives and works in North Brookfield, MA with her husband and three daughters.
