A few Words with Robert Heilman

Robert Heilman, 10th Street Bridge, 6 x 9 inches, oil on board

I recently spoke to September’s artist, Robert Heilman. Robert describes his intimate paintings as “genre paintings of little towns and landscape.” He says, “The nocturnes the night landscapes have tonality. I try to keep the color close and set off little notes of emotion. I want to make the paintings accessible. They are a quick response and I hope to provoke a response in someone. Art is a shared experience otherwise it is just the artists navel gazing and what’s the point in that. I paint so people will respond to it.”

Robert Heilman, Mission House, 9 x 9 inches, oil on board

I asked Robert about his career as a painter. He said that he has been painting for 40 or 45 years. When he was in school, he painted the figure but after graduating, he wanted to paint what was around him. He began painting landscapes and small town scenes. What he calls “the real things all around me.” He looks at his paintings as “a failure in a way. Every time you paint you are trying to get it right and maybe you will get it in the next one.”

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