Robin Hill: artist and birdman

Robin Hill, Great Horned Owls

With a name like Robin Hill, you were expecting someone other than a natural history writer and artist? Perhaps, a composer? An illustrator? An outdoorsman? A conservationist?

Check all of the above.

Robin Hill at the Fairfax at Embassy Row, Washington, D.C.

The Robin Hill who was in town recently at the Fairfax at Embassy Row is about as colorful a personality as the birds he draws: lively, quick, intricate, and down to earth. 

His name and birth place were an early prescription for his life, steering him to wildlife and natural history paintings, chiefly birds which the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia claims ownership of 200 (and has devoted four exhibitions to them over a period of seven years).

Robin Hill

Robin Hill, Loon Family

At the "artful evening" hosted by Studio E Partners of Bethesda which represents Mr. Hill, he talked about his life's work, standing alongside a few of his canvases.

An artist in the style of John James Audubon, Mr. Hill said he never sits outdoors to draw animals and plants, nor does he take photographs, but he relies upon years of experience knowing where to find the best pictures to use for modeling, including Ranger Rick magazine for children.

He amplifies scenery and branches, often including a beetle or two, and when they are omitted from a work, purchasers frequently ask that he add them.

He likes to draw birds of prey.

Born in Brisbane, Australia in 1932, Mr. Hill's family moved to England when he was a year old, and there at age 11, he enrolled at the Wimbledon School of Art. When he was 16, he returned to Australia and studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

“I got tired of school partway through, and I ‘went bush,’" Mr. Hill writes on Studio E's website:  "I worked as a cowboy on a sheep and cattle station, and then I travelled the country working in shearing sheds. During this time, I was drawing, painting and closely observing nature, which laid a foundation for what was to become my career."

He eventually returned to school and finished his studies, continuing on his natural history path, drawing and illustrating books on wildlife, crafting magazine illustrations. 

Like his subjects, he thrives on the natural world. Pox on tech stuff and gadgetry: “Electronic communication is not my world; I’m not technically inclined. I know Studio E can facilitate this for me, and I can get on with my painting.”

And so he does. 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Ellen Sinel's art at the Cosmos Club

 Ellen Sinel, "Mill Pond II"

You do not have to be a member of the Cosmos Club to see Ellen Sinel's works on display there now, but it helps.

Without membership in the exclusive society, however, one can still gain admittance to see Ms. Sinel's show, "Nature in Motion," by contacting one of her representatives at Studio E Partners, which is based in Bethesda.

  Ellen Sinel, "Grey Grasses"

Ms. Sinel's art hangs on the first floor of the mansion, near the walls of esteemed members' photographs, making quite a contrast from the celebrities' lives and the stress they endured as mostly Washington residents. 
  
Landscapes and sinewy scenes are peopleless and respites in an urban setting, occupied by water and skies and pieces of nature's inhabitants found far from contemporary lives. Ms. Sinel's peaceful scenes of curvy tree trunks and browns and greens do not seek to stimulate as much as placate existential proclivities.

Ellen Sinel, "In a Thicket"

Links to geometrics and mathematical formulas become evident from demonstrations the artist embellishes with nature's hues.  A calmness suffuses her works, rather like a sedative, and one can hear the grasses and wind if minds are loosened (but what are those red lines which interrupt a tranquil interpretation?).


In an artist's statement, Ms. Sinel writes "The source of my inspiration is landscape...nature's constant transformations....real or partly imagined places....My objective is to evoke an emotion--an awareness of the natural world."

Trees are a constant subject, and modern abstractions she finds in forests enter her woods. marshes, and grasses, found in many parts of the U.S.  

Ms. Sinel draws from the perspective of one lost, isolated, riding solo on a train which seems to stand still. 

The show's "Country Grasses with Purple Skies" is somewhat discomforting and not as peaceful as other paintings, with color clashes of purple skies above the mountain's plain, thrust against nature's color presentation which is hidden until you look closely and think about it more than intended.

The list of Ms. Sinel's major exhibitions fill more than four pages and span decades, beginning when she was a college student, which is shocking itself for her appearance belies her age by years.   

An art student at Skidmore College, San Jose State, and American University, Ms. Sinel divides her time between Washington and Truro, Massachusetts.

In collaboration with the Fairfax at Embassy Row across the street from the Cosmos, Studio E hosts "Artful Evenings," a chance to meet artists, see their works, and share the joys of creation with other aficionados.

Future "Artful Evenings" are scheduled for October 13 with Rodney Smith and November 10 with Robin Hill

Studio E also represents Laura Battle, Steve Burnett, Andrew Faulkner, Brece Honeycutt, Frank P. Phillips, Catherine Linder Spencer, and Brockie Stevenson.

What: "Nature in Motion" by Ellen Sinel

When:  Through September 6, 2016

Where:  The Cosmos Club, 2121 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20008

How much:  No charge if contacting Studio E Partners or join the club "recognized as a Platinum Club of America & a Distinguished Emerald Club of the World."

patricialesli@gmail.com