Click the image below or follow the link HERE to download from Dropbox. You can find coloring pages of Christmas past there as well :)
Post your masterpieces on Instagram and tag @robbnjohnston_art to share some Christmas beauty this holiday season!
Use promo code NICELIST20 at checkout during the month of December to get your discount. I’ll also throw in 5 cheeky Christmas postcards with your order so you can spread the holiday love. Visit the store HERE!
*** Please try to place orders by MONDAY, DEC. 17th to ensure delivery by Christmas :) ***
Beards in the Desert
I took a couple new friends along for the ride!
What a week! I just got back yesterday from my first ever book tour as an author/illustrator, and in some ways I’m still processing the incredible experience. It all began over a year ago now, with a message I received through my website on Aug. 25th, 2017:
Subject: Craves Book
Message: Good Afternoon,
I am the Coordinator for Baraga County Communities That Care and was turned onto your book by a local judge that uses it with small children that he sees come through the system. It's an EXCELLENT portrayal of addiction that is easy to comprehend for anyone who reads it.
Our team is looking at trying to find funding to purchase these books for a large number of students in our community.
Who would we get a hold of to talk about large scale ordering and what exactly is the program that you offer for coming to speak in person?
I'd like to have all of our ducks in a row before we bring this to the schools and see what we can do to get this launched in our community.
Please contact me and let me know.
Thanks!
A full year (and million emails) later, we had a schedule in place: Nov. 5th, 6th, and 7th, along with an order for almost 1500 books. The visit had grown to include Marquette, Baraga, and Ontonagon Counties, spending a full day in each, presenting to schools and libraries. My contacts in each of the 3 counties were amazing, coordinating schedules and securing funding for my visit.
My contacts in each of the counties gave generously of their time to show me around their communities, keeping me entertained, on-time, fed, and caffeinated (HUGE thanks to Mary, Mr. Jim, Carrie, and Adriana!!!) The famously harsh Upper Peninsula weather even seemed to cooperate, allowing me to visit some of the beautiful natural wonders on offer.
Canyon Falls, Baraga Co.
Heading into the schools, I was briefed on the issues and challenges that were unique to each community. Among other things, poverty and addiction were two harsh realities facing the kids in these schools every day. We were all a little unsure of what their reaction to CRAVES might be, so in some schools we had support on hand to provide counseling in the event that reactions got too intense.
The students were absolutely incredible. I was so impressed by their creativity, curiosity, and engagement. Standing out in front of any group is a total coin-flip in terms of how well you’ll be able to connect with the audience, but in these schools the rapport was almost effortless.
A young man gifted me his CRAVE drawing after the presentation :)
I am really hopeful that memories from my visit will echo within these students and their communities, inspiring their creativity and empowering them to make healthy choices. I would love to see this program grow and expand to reach more and more students. I’d re-worked my entire CRAVES presentation for this trip and I was kinda nervous about how it was going to go down , but now I can confidently say that it is my favorite book to present to k-5 classes.
With Judge Tim Brennan, who first shared CRAVES with community health workers and got this whole thing started.
I feel so blessed and humbled to have had the opportunity to share CRAVES with communities in the UP this week. Thanks to Marquette, Baraga, and Ontonagon Counties for having me…hope to see you all again soon!
(This post is from an update sent to backers of the CRAVES Kickstarter)
Exciting news! I have been working with Baraga County's "Communities that Care" program to get copies of CRAVES to as many of their students as possible. Baraga CTC is an awesome organization that focuses on creating healthy, vibrant communities by empowering, supporting, and connecting their youth, families, and schools. The folks I've been in contact with are incredibly passionate about their mission, and it's an honor to be able to support them in any way I can.
Yesterday I did a marathon signing session and rocked-out 1360 signed copies of CRAVES, all boxed-up and heading to Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula this weekend.
The Sharpie gave out before my hand did :)
I'll be doing a 5-day whirlwind trip to the UP and back in early November, visiting schools in Marquette, Baraga, and Ontonagon counties. I'm so excited to share the book with students and spread our message of making healthy choices.
More updates to follow, but I just wanted to share this awesome little bit of news with you all, because without your support this never would have been possible. So again, because I can never say it enough: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU :)
-Robb
I made a last-minute decision to participate in ArtPrize 2018, and received a last-minute confirmation from Palatte Coffee & Art to host my piece. ArtPrize encourages (demands that?) artists explore large format. I’m still relatively inexperienced in creating large works, but I was excited to show a new piece from my “arbor” cycle. My paintings from this series are done using homemade black walnut dye, along with a handful of other media such as gold leaf, gouache, watercolor, and my beloved mushroom spore prints. Palatte is an awesome gallery space and they are an absolute pleasure to work with.
Druid of the Arbor ii
The biggest challenge of preparing for ArtPrize this year was making my own custom frame. Having works this size framed professionally is incredibly expensive, and I wanted to explore the DIY process to cut costs. Aside from all of the planning and figuring, the work itself went quick, and the materials were cheap (the plexiglass was the most expensive part). All told, I spent less than a quarter of what I spent to have a similar-sized piece framed a few years ago. I’ve built 2 more large frames since the first, and the process is steadily improving.
Just finished the latest interpretation of my lil dumb fatties. I did a watercolor painting of Aska and Po as a bday gift for my gf. I've been a fan of Studio Ghibli and the brilliant Hayao Miyazaki since I was wee, and have been re-watching some of my old faves with Tracy, introducing her to those masterpieces. "My Neighbor Totoro" was particularly well-received, which inspired me to paint my cats in that style.
Totoro and susuwatari
And there they are. This was a fun one!
A good friend in Grand Rapids commissioned a couple paintings of her kitties last December.
Lucy and Milo!
I was very excited for this project after hearing her vision for the pieces:
“Hello,
There is no rush, within the next couple months perhaps?
I was thinking one separate picture for each cat in a 10 by 8. Each cat having antlers! With a Mythical feel. Think..a cat that a wood elf may have haha. Or not, lol just where ever your artistic soul takes you!
Let me know if there are any more details you need to know :)
Take it easy,
Melanie”
I had one piece to finish before Christmas, and I didn't do any work until the new year. After doing some rough sketches, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do to give these cats an elvish sort of flair.
Miloshroom
Mossy Lucy
I'm still taking orders for commissioned pieces for the winter, so please get in touch if you're interested!
Autumn in Michigan is an incredible time of year, not least of all for the variety of fungi that start popping up as the temperatures cool and the rains fall. As an avid forager and mycophile, spore printing is an invaluable identification tool. As an artist, the designs they make inspire me to create.
Agaricus arvensis or "horse mushroom"
This year was an especially good one for me. Mushrooms of all sorts were in abundance, and I was even fortunate to discover a new favorite (pictured above). The horse mushroom is an edible species. It has a strong, sweet smell reminiscent of almond extract and dark brown spores that make incredible prints. All you need to do is remove the stalk, and place the cap with gills facing down on light colored paper (for a species with light-colored spores use dark paper). Leave the mushroom undisturbed for a couple hours before gently lifting it off the paper to reveal the spore print beneath. I am very excited to further experiment using the spores in my black walnut paintings.
It's winter now and the mycellium are dreaming softly under a thick blanket of snow. But I am looking forward to next season when I can grab my basket and my knife and start printing again.
This good boy is Wally. He belongs to my coworker's dad, and she asked me to do a painting of this old fella as a Christmas present. I'd never painted a dog before, so this presented an exciting challenge.
These were the two reference photos. I obviously relied very heavily on the first one, but used the second for some details. I did a couple sketches to work on proportions and form, then began the final piece on a 9x12in. hot press watercolor block. Here's what we ended-up with:
watercolor, colored pencil, and black walnut ink
I'm pretty pleased with how he turned-out. I think the proportions could be better, but I think the "loose" style works well. My coworker seemed happy with the work, and there were a few tears when she finally saw the finished piece. Just a quick glance at the photos will tell you that Wally is a gentle, kind soul. If you spend a few hours looking at every detail on his face as you try to capture it on paper, maybe you get a deeper insight into his personality. And if you've known the dog for a lifetime as his family has, you know that there isn't a photo or painting in the world that could even begin to capture his true warmth and character. But that's the task set before me, and I am always grateful for the privilege to try.
I'm in the process of lining-up commissions for the winter, so if you're interested, please get in touch through the contact page HERE.
A sweet little nook. Still decorating.
I've never been fond of making art at a desk. Even as a young fellow with a perfectly acceptable little schoolhouse desk in my bedroom, I found it difficult to concentrate and stay focused if I was secluded and tucked away in a corner. Instead, I would carry my paper and crayons to the kitchen table and set about my work there. I prefered the ambient hustle and bustle of being in a open common area of the house, with lots of little distractions around, but nothing particularly distracting. The habit borne of this preference has pursued me into my adult life, as I schlep armloads of watercolor paraphernalia to and from the dining room, my drafting table more often serving as a broad, flat storage space rather than a working surface.
However, the most recent iteration of my "desk" has proven to be an excellent little corner in which to work. The desk and chair were Christmas presents from my girlfriend, and I've been making an effort to make proper use of the gifts. So far, I have some posters and artwork hanging on the white walls in my little corner, and my little trinkets on a shelf next to me. In addition to being creatively inspiring, I find the new space approximates a certain lively atmosphere and background "noise" that I need in order to do my best work.
Also my iPad, w/ Netflix.