Todays Spotlight interview is with Robin Samberg, who talks about how he formed his striking abstract style. For more of Robins work, check out her forum thread: acoloradventure 1) Where are you from? Ive been a Kansas City area resident all my life. Heart of America, USA. 2) How long have you been painting for? Its only been about 5 or 6 years. Ive always been creative, but I had never painted. It came about in a very random way. I had a few tubes of brightly colored acrylic paint and a couple of canvases that I had intended to use for another project, and one day I started pushing the paint around on the canvas. I posted a few photos, friends commented, and it just kept going. Everything started with acrylic on canvas. Lots of texture and bright colors. There are times when Ill spend an entire weekend in my studio, blissfully unaware of anything else. I do shows around the Midwest a few times a year, and I enjoy seeing peoples faces light up when they visit and look at my work. Even more fun is when they cant figure out how I did that. 3) Whats your favourite thing about painting digitally? I have a couple of favourite things about painting digitally. Mobility is at the top of the list. As long as I have my iPad with me, I can get my creativity fix anytime, anywhere. Then of course, the Undo Button is another favourite. Its much more difficult to undo wet paint on canvas! Seriously, though, digital painting has opened up so many more possibilities. Since everything I do is about color, the spectrum available in digital art is a huge draw. It also provides vibrant, beautiful translucency, something very difficult to achieve in traditional acrylic. One of my (Procreate) digital images - printed at 24x48 and framed, is so vibrant that patrons at several shows asked if it was backlit :) 4) How would you describe your style? Aside from the standard (and obvious) answer abstract, I would say quirky, fun, in-your-face color and texture. Rarely neutral, occasionally mildly subjective. Most of the time I am exploring what I can do with colors, layers, blend modes, etc. 5) Where do you get the inspiration for the art you create? It starts with a thought or a daydream. An image in my head that morphs into a painting. Vibrant color - because it brightens any space. Texture - because of the shadows and illusions it can create. Those two things combined are the foundation of my work, whether its digital or traditional media. Each painting unique and different from the other, the best way to describe it is I paint my daydreams. 6) Describe the process of creating a complex abstract piece. In my world, there is a lot of what would happen if...? Ill spend time with different brushes first, sometimes tweaking the settings and experimenting with the shapes they create when used larger or smaller than what they were intended for. Of the images shown here, the flower is the most complex. Started with 5 simple layers of petals in tonal colors and no background. Each single layer of petals became 5 layers for shadow, light and texture. The background began as several layers of simple gradients in warm colors, followed by smudging and erasing with different brushes, and finally a solid background color under everything. On the other end of the coin, the red/orange swirl painting was done on a single layer with a single brush - but still looks like it could have been made from multiple layers. 7) Why do you use Procreate? I found Procreate shortly after I got my iPad, which was a complete impulse purchase in late 2012. The thought of digital painting had never really crossed my mind at the time; I just decided one day that I needed to have one. I use Procreate because there is no other app Ive tried that can do what it does so fluidly. The endless combinations of brushes have been what has fuelled many of my digital artworks. I found Procreate shortly after version 1.7 was released, and I havent put it down since. 8) What do you do when youre not painting? Aside from the regular day job, if I am not painting, youll find me in the gym. Powerlifting is another favorite. 9) What’s your favorite work of art? Of the classics, I cant say that I have a favorite. Right now, my favorite is a custom piece I had created for my home - coincidentally, it is a stunning digital image, created before the iPad even existed. 10) Is there a particular skill or technique that you’re trying to develop or improve in your art? Im always looking for new ways to invoke the how the heck...? response from folks who see my work. Shadow and light, illusions, and even (what Im calling) mashups - images created half in Procreate and half in another app - then brought together in Procreate to be tweaked and finalized. I have only barely scratched the surface of what Procreate is capable of. 11) Whats your next project? Next on the list is to get busy printing my digital images. I am preparing for a local art show later this year, to which I was invited to display and sell my digital work. This of course means I will have to put down the iPad for longer than an hour...
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 15:05:00 +0000
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