Member Spotlight - Brenda Robidoux

I was born and raised in Minnesota, but lived and worked most of my life in Washington State. Living now in Texas has reinforced my belief that you can find beauty everywhere you look, if you just look, whether it's the wind-swept northern plains, metropolitan DFW, or pine covered rolling mountains.

I view myself as self-taught, although I studied fine art and art history at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. My studies were decades ago, and the intervening years did not allow much time for fine art. I spent almost 40 years working in the Engineering Department of a municipality, supporting the work of the engineers, drafting plans, and making maps. While that might sound the total opposite of the world of art, in reality it was a great environment for concentrating on design and discipline.

My artistic endeavors during those decades included dabbling in watercolor, colored pencil, photography, and studying classical piano. The thousands of photographs that I took are now a great resource for my paintings. But my first love was acrylic paint, which captured my heart in some of those long-ago fine art classes. My promise to myself was that I would once again take up acrylic paint once I had retired, and I was able to keep that promise. And while I work only in acrylic paint and canvas, I am not similarly selective when choosing subject matter. I paint whatever grabs my eye due to the colors, contrasts, graphic elements. I prefer a realistic style, but my goal is not to copy what I see, but to interpret what I see, to simplify, to augment, to paint things the way I prefer they would look, as opposed to how they actually look.

Being a member of Rockwall Art League has been educational and affirming. The ability to share information and rejoice in the journey is invaluable. Artistic endeavors are, by their very nature, often solitary activities. But being part of a like-minded group is special.