Artwork by teen girl is highest selling item at Crites benefit auction

As 16-year-old Bristol Robinson sat on the familiar blue bleachers inside the Bakersfield high school gym Feb. 7 for a benefit auction, she watched in disbelief as bidding cards shot into the air again and again - raising the bid higher and higher for a piece of artwork she created.

“With every new bid, I just sat there stunned,” Bristol told the Times in a recent interview. “I never imagined something I created would sell for that amount. I was overwhelmed in the best way possible.”

By the end of the night, her deeply personal piece of art had become the highest-selling item at the event. But that moment meant more to Bristol than just seeing her piece sold. Bristol had poured time, effort and love into the artwork, and the cause it supported struck especially close to home - supporting local resident Natasha Crites in her journey with breast cancer.

“I’m especially sensitive to cancer because my dad passed away from stage 4 brain cancer when I was 8 years old,” she said. “It was a devastating time for my family, but our community held a benefit auction that helped us tremendously.”

And that was what really mattered.

For Bristol, the happiness she felt wasn’t about the applause that echoed through the gym or the thrill of watching paddles lift higher and higher. It was about paying forward the same kindness her family once received.

When her father, Johnny Robinson, died from stage 4 brain cancer in 2018, Bristol was just 8 years old. In the middle of unimaginable grief, the local community showed up, organizing a similar benefit auction to the one she and her family were at that night. She said it really helped ease the financial strain her mother and siblings were facing at that time and reminded them that their family wasn’t alone. That memory has stayed with her ever since.

So when she decided to donate one of her most meaningful pieces of artwork to the fundraising effort, it wasn’t simply a generous gesture. It was personal.

Bristol said she was first inspired to create the piece after hearing her preacher’s sermon last year about Jesus sweating great drops of blood.

“When he mentioned that moment, I instantly thought it would make a powerful art piece,” she said. 

But, at the time, she was in the midst of a busy high school basketball season and spent most of her free time on the court in practice or at games set across the Ozarks. It was amid that season that her life took an unexpected turn.

“On December 30, I ruptured my ACL and tore my meniscus during the Gainesville basketball tournament,” Bristol said. “Facing recovery, I felt like God slowed me and gave me time to create this piece.”

So, Bristol sat down determined to pull what she had in her mind and put it on paper. She gathered her tools - her Bible, a fine-tipped Sharpie and a large piece of poster paper. She chose a technique that she’d used twice before, which utilizes words or phrases written in small flowing lines to create darker areas, which, when viewed from afar, take the shape of an image. Then she got to work. 

“I found an image online I wanted to use as a reference. I adjusted the contrast, so I could project it onto a poster paper and mark where I would write,” she explained. “After that, I selected my scriptures and began writing.”

But that wasn’t as easy as it sounds. “Choosing the scriptures was honestly the hardest part because I wanted to make sure I communicated the right message. There is only one verse in the Bible that specifically describes Jesus sweating great drops of blood: ‘And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly: and this sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. - Luke 22:44,’” Bristol said. “That verse stood out to me because it directly reflects the image I was creating and clearly points to the gospel. I chose verses from the book of Luke to keep the message centered on Christ’s sacrifice and love.”

Bristol said that she completed the piece during an intense four-day session in which she worked a total of 16 to 18 hours. “I finished on January 28,” she said. “It took many sit-down writing sessions and a lot of focus.”

She didn’t have a plan in mind for where it would end up while creating it, but its purpose became clear soon afterward. “I didn’t originally create it specifically for the auction, but when the opportunity came to raise money for an important cause, I knew I wanted to donate the first print of it,” she said. 

She attended the auction that night to see her artwork put up for bid and to support Crites and her family, as others have done for her, Bristol said. 

As bids climbed to $500, $1,000, $1,500, Bristol sat in stunned silence, hardly daring to believe what she was seeing. When the bidding finally stopped at $2,000, the gym erupted in applause. 

For Bristol, the real victory wasn’t the record-setting sale. It was the chance to give another family the same hope, relief and community embrace that once carried her and her family through one of the darkest chapters of their lives.

She had an overwhelming response to the piece of art and has received requests from community members to purchase prints. In response, Bristol has now opened an Etsy shop, BristolLynnArt, where she is offering signed prints of the original piece in varying sizes. To find out more, visit the shop at www.etsy.com/shop/BristolLynnArt or email her at bristollynnart@gmail.com.