New Exhibit of Oil Paintings on Display at Frances Anderson Center

Beginning today, oil bar paintings by K Robinson can been seen thorugh Dec. 14 at the Frances Anderson Center in Edmonds.

The exhibit is sponsored by the Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation and the Edmonds Arts Commission.

According to Kris Gilliespie, cultural services assistant for the City of Edmonds, oil bars are basically oil pastels. Unlike chalky pastels, there are also oil pastels which are more like crayons—they give a depth of color and stability and texture that is different from chalk pastels or paints.

In the display case exhibit “Color of Light,” Robinson demonstrates a progressive study of how to express an idea using different formats and media. “I was inspired to find a way to show these elusive effects of light that changed with the seasons, weather, and time of day," she said. "The medium of oil pastels has the color intensity of oil paint but also allows for interesting strokes, overlays, and weaving of color.”

“Beach Walk,” displayed in the EAF Museum gallery, includes representative pieces from an ongoing series of oil bar paintings inspired by walks along the shore in Virginia and North Carolina. The artist says that the techniques possible with oil bar “express well the scintillating energy … felt at the edge of the ocean.”

Robinson grew up in Virginia, graduating from the College of William and Mary with a bachelor's in fine arts. Adding a architecture master's from the University of Pennsylvania, she practiced architecture for many years in Washington, D.C.

She reconnected with painting in the 1990s in California’s Bay Area and chose to work in plein air oil painting and botanical watercolors, painting with the Glover Group, painters perpetuating the legacy of the Society of Six with artist and teacher Pam Glover.

After moving to Seattle in 2003, Robinson continued her study and painting at Gage Academy, working with mentors Mitch Albala, Margaret Davidson and Tom Hoffmann. In 2008, she became a member of 49th Street Studio in Ballard where, with the influence of years of sailing and living on the water, she continues to draw inspiration from the constantly changing coastlines, luminous skies and endless waterways of the Pacific Northwest.