|
When Melissa Morton wrote to me and asked if I could write about the “Robin on a Stick” project, I thought, how in the heck would I explain the insanity of our fellow traveling EBSQ artist Robin McGee’s image being printed wearing a gnome hat, glued to cardboard, adding a stick to him, (I thought that would make him plant friendly, in case we found some garden gnomes on our travels! ;0) ) and taking him around Germany and other countries in Europe with my family. So if you don’t read any further I will summarize for all you skimmers out there. “Robin on a Stick” or R.O.A.S. is the hot new Flat Stanley! All the kids have one! :0)
Once upon a time .. no that’s not a great start, been used before. Hmm?? :D
One of the fun things about our EBSQ artist Robin McGee is that he loves to travel and meet fellow EBSQ artists. In fact, it is almost like a game, where will Robin pop up next? The famous photo of Robin was originally taken by EBSQ artist Doris H. David when Robin made a stop at her house while in route to the Pembroke Art Festival in Massachusetts, that Robin would be attending with EBSQ artists, Kris Jean, Donna Gill Colestock, and Heather M. Mathieson. Donna thought of adding the hat to Robin, and Kris took the photo into Photoshop and came up with the image that would take Europe by storm!
One day on the member’s forums we were having fun, as always, and I saw the Robin with a red hat image that Kris created in Photoshop in a few different virtual scenes and posted in one of the threads. Well, I just thought that was HYSTERICAL, because we all knew that Robin likes to travel and meet other EBSQ artists. Robin (the real Robin ;0) ) has met ten artists and counting, including the director of EBSQ, Amie Gillingham. I thought Kris’s image she had done was FANTASTIC and I proceeded to spam poor Robin’s image all over the member’s forums. (Um.. Sorry again about that Robin. ;0)). As usual, I took things a bit overboard and had plans for my Robin image the next day! Our friend Dave had come to visit and I knew we would be doing a little traveling. I printed the Robin image out, cut up my Pepsi One 12 pack box, applied some Gesso to the cardboard, added the image.. I had the Gesso handy since I paint and all! Hehe. Elmers glue will work fine for anyone else though. (For official instructions, please see the R.O.A.S. website :D) I taped on bamboo skewers and PRESTO, “Robin On a stick” or R.O.A.S was born!!!! Birthday is August 14th, 2007 ( for anyone who wants to send presents to Robin). And R.O.A.S. began his European tour.
EBSQ artist, Noelle Hunt saw Robin on a stick and just saw something a bit bigger for this project and Noelle started the website. Noelle with her great sense of humor got the website started and we’ve been adding photo’s to the site. Noelle has added, “virtual R.O.A.S.” EBSQ artist Lisa Thornton Whittaker, put R.O.A.S. at a volcano eruption in South America. Of course we only put our R.O.A.S. in images that would never disrespect Robin. I have thought of this project as a fun way to document some of the places we have traveled, and I look forward to taking R.O.A.S. to more places around Europe. Of course R.O.A.S. will be coming on one of my shopping trips to Poland for the pottery there. I think I will have to send my friend Robin (um, the real Robin) a little Polish Pottery memento for being such a good sport and letting us do this project! So, THANK YOU Robin!!! You are our favorite “Roaming EBSQ’r!!”
Of course I will shamelessly promote Robin and his wonderful artwork, which is Fine Art Jewelry, Repousse', Chasing and Keum Boo. (Um, I had to look up most of that too, :D ), As an owner of a few pieces of Robin’s work, I can honestly say that I love his work! Check out Robin’s Etsy store so you can own an original piece of art from the real Robin!
Here are some examples of a few places R.O.A.S. has traveled. Check out the official sites for more photos and keep an eye out for upcoming travels.
Official R.O.A.S. Website
Official R.O.A.S. Flickr Group
Here he is at the Coliseum in Rome. (Thanks to my husband for taking ROAS!)
R.O.A.S. at Rothenburg Ob der Tauber, Germany
R.O.A.S. Waterfall in Triberg, Germany
Virtual R.O.A.S. (from Lisa Whittaker)) Volcano Eruption in South America
R.O.A.S. (photo from EBSQ artist, Muriel Areno)
|
