It’s the Little Things

For Colorado-based artist Remington Robinson, working outdoors on a smaller scale—much smaller—was the key to artistic success and creative fulfillment.

By Amy Leibrock

This article originally appeared in the July/August issue of Artists Magazine. Read the full issue HERE.

From illuminated manuscripts to ships in bottles to dollhouses, people have been captivated for centuries by tiny things and the skill it takes to create something at a small scale. Today’s social media public is no different. Take artist Remington Robinson. His miniature oil paintings, which he paints on panels cut to fit on the inside lids of Altoids mint boxes, have attracted the attention of more than half a million followers on Instagram and TikTok. 

Robinson captures vistas near his home in Boulder, Colo., as well as scenes from world travels with his partner. His everyday slice-of-life scenes—from coffee shops to mountaintops—are rendered realistically and created en plein air with a painterly touch. He mixes his oils right in the box and leaves them there to dry when he’s done. The result is something both modern and nostalgic, a moment captured in time with the artist’s palette left behind, almost like fingerprints. 

Robinson shares short, start-to-finish videos, narrating his method for distilling a sweeping mountain vista onto a wood panel smaller than a playing card. He makes it look easy, and he hopes his examples might inspire even novice painters to give painting a try. He has a book coming out this summer from Walter Foster Publishing, titled Mini Plein Air Painting with Remington Robinson, which will give artists of any level insights and tips for painting their own mint-box artwork.

Robinson stresses that he didn’t invent the idea of using a mint box as a tiny en plein air painting kit. He gave it a try after meeting Heidi Annalise, another Colorado artist who was already doing it. Not wanting to copy her idea, he asked if she’d mind if he tried it. She said sure—she didn’t own the concept. In fact, she’d picked up the idea from yet another artist. 

Inspired by Nature

When Robinson goes out to paint, he likes to have a loose idea of a subject in mind, like an autumn tree or a coffee-inspired still life at a local café. “Sometimes I get inspired by another artist’s work or see something on Instagram or in a magazine, and I think I know a spot where I could do something like that,” he says. Other days, he’ll challenge himself to use a particular color palette, like green and white, and will look for a subject that meets those specific conditions.

Robinson says subjects that work well on a small scale are graphic, with a lot of big shapes or areas of color. He doesn’t completely avoid more detailed or busy subjects, but they do take him longer to paint. He works from life nearly 100 percent of the time. “It’s just so much better, because you see more with your eye than your iPhone can see,” he says.

Once he chooses the subject, Robinson develops a composition and then begins by giving structure to the basic forms. Often, he does this by covering the whole surface with a wash of mineral spirits mixed with a little pigment. He cleans and dries his brush and lifts out pigment to establish the lighter values, then adds darker pigment for dark values. Other times he’ll do a quick pencil sketch to establish the composition, details and values, especially for a scene that features architecture. 

“When I was first starting out,” says Robinson, “I just wanted to start detailing it. I wanted it to look good without having any idea about the structure underneath.” The end result would look “scrunched,” he says, because he hadn’t taken the time to establish the overall framework.

With these basics established, the artist blocks in large shapes and tweaks the color nuance of those shapes; adds some mid-size shapes; and then paints the final details. He uses larger brushes as long as possible before moving to smaller and smaller brushes as the painting progresses.

Peace Through Painting

Robinson’s art and recent social media popularity have brought him some exciting opportunities with major brands and celebrities. These platforms connect him directly with customers, and he sells his finished works on his website. The pieces come in the box with the palette and a small wooden block affixed to the back to prop it open for display.

Most importantly, Robinson gets satisfaction from inspiring others to get out in nature and try painting. He proudly tells the story of a college student who stopped him mid-painting to tell him how his work inspired his mother to get back into making art after two decades of raising kids. “It’s an easy entry point,” says Robinson. “All of the supplies could add up to about 20 bucks. You don’t need a ton of colors. You can just get the three primaries and a white.”

For Robinson, his art practice is, in many ways, a form of meditation. “When I’m painting, I’m concentrating on the subject, and the rest of the world can fall away,” he says. “It’s one of the most healing things.” And, if it can be healing for him personally, he hopes those benefits can expand outwardly as well. “If I can inspire people to get into meditation through painting, maybe it will help world peace or something. That’s kind of corny, but I like to think it’s possible.”

A Compact Kit

Robinson painted his first mint-tin painting in 2017. Over the years, he has perfected a compact painting kit that fits inside a fanny pack. In it, you’ll find a zippered pencil case with elastic holders for brushes and a few sheets of thick Viva-brand paper towels. He also brings a mint container with a wood panel already affixed into the lid with squares of thin Velcro. 

For paint, he’ll bring a tube of white and a few colors. “If you’re trying to be minimal, you don’t even need to bring the tubes with you as long as your palette has been in the tin two days in advance so it doesn’t slide around,” says Robinson. He uses oils most often but occasionally uses Golden Open slow-drying acrylics. “They dry faster than oil but still slow enough to be able to blend,” he says.

As for brushes, Robinson likes the Princeton Aspen Series of oil painting brushes, and uses ½- and ¼-inch flats, a round brush with a diameter about the size of a chop stick and a variety of smaller Princeton Velvetouch brushes for detail.

Robinson also brings five small (¼-ounce and ½-ounce) containers of odorless mineral spirits. To keep them from spilling, he wedges them into a small wood block with a hole drilled in it that fits the containers.

Sometimes he brings a lightweight camping chair. If he wants to record a video of his process, he also carries a small tripod with flexible legs that he attaches to the strap of his backpack or fanny pack. 

In cold weather, he recommends gloves (those metal boxes get cold!). He also made himself a little wooden holder with magnets to hold the boxes, hands-free, on really cold days. 

As for where he gets all the mint boxes? Ironically, he says he almost never eats mints. He buys the empty boxes in bulk on eBay, and some people have kindly donated boxes to him.

About the Author

Amy Leibrock is a Cincinnati-based writer and editor, and a regular contributor to the Artists Network group of magazines.

About the Artist

Remington Robinson grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, in a family of creatives. He now lives in Colorado, where he studied art at the University of Colorado Boulder, and at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. He has made art on both a large scale, working on a number of murals and public art projects, and on a small scale. Robinson’s tiny mint-box oil paintings, painted en plein air, have captivated collectors and art-loving audiences on Instagram and on TikTok. The artist finds inspiration in many subjects and many locations, drawing on the mountainous landscape of Colorado as well as neighborhood spots and scenic views across the globe.