A Life in Spirals, Sightings, Joy, and Creative Play
by Jessica Winfield May 2026
That early spark led her, at just eight years old, into watercolor classes with National Watercolor Society artist Judy Wengrovitz, who became her first true mentor. Robyn laughs, remembering their deal: “For every three animals I painted, I had to do one without an animal.” Even then, she found ways to sneak them in — a duck decoy here, a hidden creature there. Animals were her muse from the start. A Career in Government, and a “Recovering Binge Painter” Although art was always central to her identity, Robyn chose a different professional path. She spent nearly 32 years as a civilian working for the Navy — a demanding career that left little time for creative work. She painted in intense bursts during vacations, describing herself now as “a recovering binge painter.” Retirement finally opened the space for a steady, fulfilling studio practice. During those working years, she also invested deeply in her artistic growth. For more than a decade, she traveled to New Mexico for immersive workshops with five influential artists — Katherine Cheng Liu, Alex Powers, Christopher Schenk, Fran Larson, and Skip Lawrence. Their shared philosophy profoundly shaped her: they didn’t teach students to paint like them, but to uncover their own voices. “They really fostered helping you figure out how to best express what you are trying to express,” she says. That intention-based approach became the foundation of her art and her teaching—and it opened the door to something even more important to her: joy. 
A Signature Process: Layers, Depth, and Discovery Robyn is a mixed media artist in the truest sense. She works fluidly across watercolor, acrylic, collage, sculpture, and — most recently — etched and patinated metals. But one of her most distinctive techniques is her multi layered acrylic process. She builds up thick, clear gel layers — sometimes 1/16 to 1/8 inch each — painting, sanding, and subtracting between them. Even five layers deep, the earliest marks still “sparkle through.” She describes the process with delight: “Under good lighting, the acrylic layers pieces are really fun — they kind of change before your eyes.” This sense of discovery — of watching something reveal itself — is part of what brings her a sense of wonder in the studio. She paints not to control an outcome, but to experience the unfolding. Working in Series: Fleeting Glimpses, Heart of the Horse, and Beyond Roby Her equine series has an even more personal arc. After the death of her last horse, she stopped painting horses for three years—the grief was too great. “Heart of the Horse” became her return, a renewed re entry into a subject that has shaped her since childhood. Those works blend playfulness, collage, acrylic layers, and a deep emotional connection to the animals that have been her lifelong companions. 
“Horses just blow me away,” she says. “These giant, strong, amazing creatures — and what they allow us to do with them.” The Spiral: A Metaphor for Life, Art, and Expression Ask Robyn to describe her artistic style, and she’ll give you a metaphor instead: a spiral. To her, life and art move in cycles — returning to familiar subjects or mediums, but always at a new level, with new skills, new perspectives, and new intentions. “You come back around,” she explains, “but you’re at a different level now.” This spiral guides her creative evolution. When her foundry closed, she didn’t mourn the end of bronze sculpture — she followed the spiral into metal etching, patinas, and encaustic. When she feels restless, she shifts to a different medium. When she feels stuck, she plays. And at every turn of the spiral, she returns to creative energy. “It’s not selfish to paint what I love… it’s authentic.” 
Teaching, Community, and the Magic of Making Robyn is also a generous teacher, offering workshops in collage, paper making, acrylic layering, and more. She loves watching students light up when they discover something new. “I like to infect people with enthusiasm,” she says — and she does. Her connection to the Loudoun Sketch Club runs deep. She first joined around 2013–2015, rejoined in 2022, and has found lasting friendships and inspiration through the group. She speaks warmly of the community: “I have made some of the best friends through the Sketch Club.” For Robyn, the club is not just a place to paint — it’s a place to share inspiration, to encourage one another, and to celebrate the creative spirit. A Studio Full of Possibility Today, Robyn works in a dedicated 14×28 ft studio above her husband’s workshop, with angled walls, stacked storage, and a 10×10 deck overlooking the land that inspires so much of her work. She prepares panels in batches, builds textured grounds, sketches on Gelli print paper for movable compositions, and lets each piece unfold through intention rather than expectation. Right now, she’s in what she calls “play mode” — exploring acrylic and collage on panels, experimenting A Life of Wonder and Creativity At the heart of Robyn’s work is wonder — childlike, authentic, and deeply felt. Whether she’s capturing the flash of a fox, the power of a horse, or the quiet poetry of layered marks, she invites viewers into moments of connection and presence.
Her art is not about perfection or performance. It’s about curiosity, play, and the courage to follow what you love. As she says, “Joy is a big part of why I create — and I want people to feel that when they see the work.” And that is exactly what shines through in everything she creates. Painting Images in order of appearance Acrylic Layers Process - Tap-Lift-Drag Acrylic Layers Gel Application Dream Horses ~ Noble 12" x 12" Acrylic and Mixed Media on birch panel Hear Horses ~ Guarding Sentinel 30" x 40" Acrylic and Mixed Media on raised birch panel Fleeting Glimpses
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From the moment you speak with Robyn Ryan, you sense it immediately: imagination isn’t something she does — it’s something she is. A lifelong maker with a vivid inner world, she grew up building tiny villages from strawberry baskets, fashioning tack for her model horses out of wire hangers and paperclips, and filling sketchbooks with the animals she adored. As she puts it, “Imagination is a major part of my being.”
n’s work often unfolds in series, each one a long term conversation with a theme. “Fleeting Glimpses” grew from her years of commuting to and from her secluded property — a place she describes as “Shangri La.” With limited daylight outside her government job, every wildlife sighting felt like a gift: a fox darting acros
with etched metals, and permitting herself to wander. It’s a new kind of openness for her, both exciting and a little unnerving. But as always, the spiral is turning, and something new is emerging.
And above all, she hopes they leave with a spark of wonder.