Hello!!

Alrighty, well here is the first post in my art blog! How exciting!
I've been wanting to start a blog for ages but I've always put it off. I almost put it off again today but I kicked myself in the butt, cracked open my laptop, and started typing!

So, here is a little bit about me:

My name is Ashley Robin F. and I love art. I'm an addict, honestly. Art supplies, art books, and my own art journals litter nearly every surface in my office/studio and library (and kitchen table, and bedside table, and- well, you get the picture). My greatest passions include: drawing, painting (acrylic, oil, and especially watercolor), art journaling, collage, reading (graphic novels and fiction, mostly), and writing short stories, personal essays, poems and comics. I live just outside of Austin with my boyfriend, two dogs, and two cats!

Severus, my pooch!

Me & my guys at a rest stop!

Art journaling has become so especially essential for me these last two months. I recently started a grad program, MA in Literature, and nearly lost my mind. I didn't have time to create big paintings or write comics or any of the other things that keep me sane. Art journaling has been my lifesaver in the vast ocean of Shakespeare and deconstruction criticism and twenty-page essays and all sorts of other things that I thought I wanted to partake in but apparently I misjudged myself! Anyways, basically, having a creative outlet that I could indulge in for maybe two hours every other day not only kept me from going all Oedipus on my own eyes, but it also helped me realize just what I really want from my life. I want to be happy every day, and art is essential to that. 

Recent journal pages!

In one of my next posts I want to give you a special peek into my art journals, hopefully via a video.

Until then, stay happy and creative!


Ashley Robin