When she wasn't at school, drawing or "working", she spent many days in the country riding ponies and bikes and fishing in the neighbor’s ponds and creeks. Neighbors would see her riding her bike or pony to a local creek with a fishing pole over her shoulder and watched her walk through the fields looking for grasshoppers or worms for bait.

And about the darn pony, Robin remembers:

   She was a Chincoteague pony and her name was Beauty. Beauty was a beautiful little seal brown tobiano mare. She never wanted to be caught and was always trying to rub me off on a tree. I had to devised sneaky ways all the time to trick her so I could catch her for a ride. We lived on 11 rented acres in a 4 room bungalow. One day, when I was about 10 or 11 years old I decided to go for a ride, she was half way across the field, so being sneaky, I walked out with a bucket that usually has her corn in it. She stuck her nose in the bucket and I grabbed a handful of mane and jumped on her back. She took off like lightning! Oh, did I mention that the owner of the property had hogs... big ones... really big ones. She ran straight for those hogs, the biggest, meanest one in the bunch was a sow with 11 piglets. My pony took an immediate right and I fell off.... in the middle of all those little pigs. Whoosh.. the air was knocked outta me, but my brain said RUN!!! And I did, I was running, when I got my air back I started screaming at the top of my lungs with that sow right on my heels! My step-dad came running out of the house turned to corner and saw me just a booking it toward the fence. He ran toward the fence about 5 seconds later I reached him and he grabbed me an swung me over it. We both fell on the ground with that ole sow on the other side giving us what for.

Robin laughs and with a mischievous glint in her eye.

  We won't talk about shark heads and raccoons in the mailbox.

Drawing in those days consisted of horses, which she also cut out and used like cut-out dolls, complete with saddles and bridles of different shapes and sizes. With the influence of her step-dad she started drawing white-tailed deer and waterfowl. He was sure she'd be an artist for Ducks Unlimited one day.

Robin was president of the Smyrna High School Art Club for 2 years and has many awesome memories of her high school Art teacher, Mr. Shotzberger. He taught so any mediums and Robin did her absolute best to get a horse in every single one of them. And he did his best to steer her away from it. She was sure the subject was a love hate relationship. At the end of 4 years of high school, she doesn't have any art with horses in it to show for it. Robin wanted to go to art school, but her family couldn't afford it so, with the exception of art classes in high school, Robin is self-taught without any formal art education.

So after high school, thinking there really wasn't much the this small town had to offer her, she joined the U.S. Navy. Her art took a backseat, with the exceptions of doodles here and there.

After the military, she moved to Oregon had kids and got back into horses (I'm not sure those go in the same sentence together, lol). Barrel racing, pole bending anything fast with a timer, as well as showing her horse at halter.

While in Oregon, Robin did some art for a local needlepunch company. She was paid by the book. Robin had to draw the picture, and add numbers that corresponded with a thread color skew. It was very exciting to see these books at the local fairs and stores for sale. She would say "I did that! That's my book."

In 1993 Robin moved to Idaho, where she bought a beautiful buckskin granddaughter of Doc O' Lena. Most cowboys, cutters and reiners know that name. She proceeded to turn this little bulldog style Quarter Horse mare into her everything horse, Oh she meant it, in the beginning of this story when she said she wanted to be a cowgirl, I bet you forgot. With this little mare, she barrel raced, pole bended, ran keyhole, roped, team penned, drill teamed, team sorting, rounded up cattle, branded, and yes... you know those pictures people draw and paint with the cowboy riding his horse with a calf across his thighs... she did that. She became a cowgirl.

Robin stepped away from artwork for many years, though she did dabble in it here and there. Even etching with a diamond point dremel on mirrors.

When she decided to start pursuing art again, she was conflicted over which medium would best reflect her visualizations. She played with a few ideas; among them, etching, acrylic, soft pastels, but mostly pencil. Then, she was lucky enough to enter a monthly contest online, where you could only use ballpoint pen for your medium. "This is it!" Her heart sang, it was almost like falling in love!!

Ballpoint pen is her medium of choice and she absolutely loves what she can do with the layers and pressures of using a ballpoint pen. And of course horses are her favorite subject.

In 2012 She saw a call-to-artist at a local venue in Boise, Idaho... her very 1st one. Not long before this she had become very good friends with a wildly talented contemporary textured cloth abstract artist named Angela K. Stout (paintingbyaks). She called up Angela, told her about the art show and then says "Hey, wanna do this with me?" I'm pretty sure she was shaking in her shoes when she said yes.

At one of the next shows in 2013, Robin was working on a commission for the 2014 World Gypsy Vanner Show to be held in Fort Worth, Texas. This piece was 12 hours along and sitting in her tablet on a camp chair (we weren't very chic). Angela walks by with an bottle of orange Gatorade, it slips out of her hand, lands perfect straight up the on the floor in front of Robin's chair and volcanoes out all over the commission.

Robin's mouth drops open.. no words.. can't find any. Angela is mortified. Robin closes the tablet and puts it away saying "I guess it didn't want to be a commission." Later, she started a different piece for the commission, called Hi-Point.

For two years that picture sat in her tablet (artists take note). Then her brain says "Watercolor, what a great idea." So, she ended up adding watercolor to hide the light orange Gatorade spots. This piece is still a great source of giggling today. Robin calls it Two Tone. While Angela to this day still calls it Gatorade. Needless to say, Angela is now my very best friend.

Over the next few years Robin did tent shows, art booths, juried for exhibitions and had her art in local gallery's that have since closed their doors. She continually looks for better ways to get herself out there and improve her skills.

In 2018 she started on Hamilton. October 2018 Robin had a total knee replacement, She didn't feel like doing art.. at all. August 2019 she had a booth at a Regional Paint Horse Show and did some more work on Hamilton totaling about 30 hours of work (he looked like a cartoon, she thought about throwing him in the trash). Then November 2019 she had carpal tunnel surgery on her drawing hand. She showed the surgeon her art and said "Will I still be able to do this? He said "Yes. In time." February 2020, she still didn't believe him, her hand was doing great except that it wasn't cooperating with the fine lines she use to do, she couldn't hold the pen well or for very long, so she started doing doodles for physical therapy.

In 2020 She officially became a full-time artist, kinda... taking her doodles over the years and turning them into graphic designs.. At the time it was way easier than trying to draw and get frustrated. She stopped drawing, but she was still doing art.. right?

August of 2020, She was invited back to the Paint Horse Show with her art. She set up her booth and with a sigh got out Hamilton. She stared at Hamilton for about half an hour. Well, she thought "He stills looks like a cartoon, guess I can't mess that up too much." She got out her pen and got started. After being away from Hamilton for so long it was hard to remember the technique she was using, but it all started to come back.

The great thing about this horse show was the other vendors, toward the end of the show, two of them came up to Robin and said "Are you doing the next show?" Wait, What? And they gave her a contact, then at the end of the next show.. it happened again and again, until she had done 6 shows over the summer with them. Robin thought "I think I found my people! Not only that, She had gotten 4 commissions, sold art and she had fans!!

So, back to Hamilton. At 65 hours of work, the folks that had been watching his progress over the 6 shows, said he was starting to get attitude. At that time, Robin decided to make her 1st Youtube, video using Hamilton. She also got interest in purchasing his limited editions. He was finally finished after 125 (or more) hours of work. When she took Hamilton in to get a capture and have prints made. Bob said "This is the best one you've done yet!"

She connected with so many people, artist, collectors, other artist who want to pick her brain and artist who she wanted to pick their brains. Many people telling her that she should be at all these different shows.

She also gets approached at many of the shows that she does to be a tattoo artist. Recently one of them was going to set her up with her own art studio where she could do her art in the back when she wasn't "working". She thanked him and declined, but was very proud of the compliment. Later when she told her husband he asked "What was he going to pay you?" She laughed and said "I don't know, I didn't ask."

Robin says, “What I would love more than anything else to accomplish with my artwork is to have people be drawn into my picture. It could be the tiniest of detail that grabs that person’s attention….. And you are mine…. If only for a second.”