One painting can take Robinson from 1 to sometimes even 6 hours to finish. He has been painting tiny artwork in Altoids tins for almost 5 years and knowing that, we can only wonder how many of these tins he has already used up.
Robinson commented: “I have probably painted over 700 tins at this point, although I haven’t counted in a long time. I don’t always paint consistently, so it’s hard to say how many I go through in a month. Probably anywhere from 5-30 per month.”
He added: “People frequently ask me where I get all my tins, or what I do with all of the mints. I purchase tins secondhand from eBay, and so when they arrive in the mail, they are all empty. There is absolutely no way I would dare eat a whole box of mints every time I wanted to do a painting!”
Making paintings outside on the spot, also known as Plein air painting, is challenging enough due to various weather conditions. But that doesn’t stop Robinson from visiting all sorts of places, whether it is winter, autumn, spring, or summer.
When asked what places has he visited and painted, Robinson shared: “I have painted in several countries, including Canada, Mexico, Peru, Aruba, France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, as well as all over the USA, including Alaska, Hawaii, New York, Florida, Montana, Idaho, Missouri, my home state of Ohio and of course my current home state of Colorado, where I have lived for the past 18 years. This year, I have plans to paint in several new countries – Argentina, Spain, Australia and Japan!”
Learning to paint is a process, and Robinson has never stopped, even though he has been in the art world for most of his life. Doing small paintings requires just as much knowledge and practice as making bigger projects. The main difference between large-scale paintings and the small ones that Robinson shared on Bored Panda before is: “that it is important to make the work readable to the eye. Don't try to include too many distracting elements in the composition."
When asked what he would like for people to take away from his work, Robinson replied: “I hope that for the people who follow my work, that they get something like an equalizing effect from watching my videos where I walk them through the painting process, and hopefully they learn something about painting, too.”
Being as unique an artist as Robinson is, his work has caught the eye of a few collectors. “I know of several collectors of my work. Some people have sent me photos of their collections displayed in their home. Since I pack and ship all of my pieces, I have seen several familiar names over and over again when doing shipments,” shared the artist.
And lastly, Robinson added: “There is a new short documentary about me and my work, on Voice of America News – where I answer a lot of questions, and go into my work and my story a little more in-depth. The video shows miniature work I have made, as well as several of the murals I have done.”
