Welcome to my world Being a painter is pretty cool. It sort of goes without saying. There’s always a smile when I tell people what I do for a living, traveling the world painting beautiful places, hanging out with other artists. It’s a charmed lifestyle for sure, but it’s not without its challenges and that’s what keeps it interesting. ‘It must be so relaxing!’, is something I hear a lot. Yeah... nah. Painting outdoors is more of an extreme sport than studio work. It should be in the Olympics. It doesn’t get you fit, but it is exhilarating and frustrating, challenging and meditative all at once. It’s a full brain workout that keeps me coming back to the easel time after time. Why? I guess it’s the pursuit of beauty, which includes appreciating beauty in the world around me while trying to pay homage to that. Treasure hunting is a big part of it for me too. I love going somewhere new and finding a paintable spot. Sometimes you strike gold - boy do I feel blessed when I find a scene that has plenty of interesting elements already nicely composed and lit to perfection. That’s maybe one in a hundred. The rest of the time you’ve got to do some digging to get the treasure out of a place,
and often, when things are going well I’ll get to the end of a painting and wonder how on earth it happened. It’s a sense that the painting came through me instead of from me. LOVE that! Someone said that for a fulfilling life you need to work on trying to master a skill that can’t be mastered in a lifetime. Sounds a bit daunting to me but it’s what I feel drawn to do with painting. Even though I know the road doesn’t end, which I suppose is why when people ask me how I feel about my latest painting I always reply ‘It’s getting there, it’s getting there.’ If it ever actually gets there I don’t think I’d know what to do with myself. What’s it like being an artist? I figure we’re all born artists to begin with, but some of us just can’t stop playing with paints. Welcome to my world. I hope you enjoy the paintings.
Richard Robinson
“Golden Years” 30x30” Oil on Canvas
“Chickens in Paradise” 22x22” Oil on Canvas
“Point Lobos” 16x16” Oil on Canvas
“Peach Cove, Winter” 13x16” Oil on Canvas
“Aloha” 31x23” Oil on Canvas
“Davenport Beach” 17x11.5” Oil on Canvas
“A Warm Spot” 11x14” Oil on Canvas
“Big Swell, Makapu’u” 16x20” Oil on Canvas
“From Our Garden” 10x8” Oil on Canvas
“Apple & Orange” 14x8” Oil on Canvas
“First Blush” 9x16.5” Oil on Canvas
“Roberton Island” 11x16” Oil on Canvas
“The Path to Half Dome” 12x12” Oil on Canvas
“Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey” 15.5x 15.5” Oil on Canvas
“Smooth Sailing” 10x10” Oil on Canvas
“Lady Isla” 13x12” Oil on Canvas
“Dune Light” 30x30” Oil on Canvas
“Waipu Cove” 12x12” Oil on Canvas
“What a Wonderful World” 20x20” Oil on Canvas
“Footsteps” 36x48” Oil on Canvas
“Hanalei Bay” 22x22” Oil on Canvas
Why I paint en plein air. For many years I painted solely from photographs. It seems to be the way most artists start out these days. However I have always had a love for the work of the Impressionists and in 2001 I got to see their work in the flesh as I painted my way around Europe. It was a life changing event. Since then I’ve moved away from photographic reference and I love nothing more than finding the ‘right spot’ in nature and translating my impression of that place onto canvas.
‘Paul César Helleu sketching with his wife Alice Guérin’, 1889. by John Singer Sargent
Painting ‘en plein air’ is a French expression meaning painting ‘in the open air’. Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid 19th Century, with the invention of the collapsable paint tube and the portable box easel the practice was popularized by French Impressionist painters such as Monet, Renoir and Pissarro. The ground breaking work of these artists and their methods of painting outdoors have endured to this day and has led to Impressionism now being regarded as the most popular painting movement of all time.
I see now just how limited photography is in capturing the true colour, light and atmosphere of a place in time. If you paint from the photo so much is lost in translation. So much better to be within the source itself and to let all your senses become part of the grand experience of expressing your love of a place and a time right there, as it happens around you. Once you truly experience plein air painting by beginning to overcome some of its many hurdles there’s simply nothing that compares with it. In 2012 in Las Vegas the largest plein air painting convention of all time was held, seeing over 500 plein air painters gathering at one event to paint and learn together. I was fortunate enough to be the opening speaker for that event and I finally got to see my ‘tribe’ as I called it then. In New Zealand there are so few serious plein air painters I can literally count the ones I know on one hand. Suddenly surrounded by 500 painters sharing the same passion it was like coming home. I now make it a point to travel the world as much as possible teaching workshops and painting with other artists in an effort to get in touch with these people and the wonderful energy that comes from painting together in the great outdoors. My hope for my art is that it expresses something of the wonder and passion I feel for this great gift we have in the planet Earth and that it might stir some of those same feelings in you.
About the Artist B.1975. Richard Robinson lives mostly in Ruakaka, New Zealand and has been painting professionally since 2001. His work is featured in several international publications including International Artist Magazine, Australian Artist Magazine and Plein Air Magazine. In 2012 he was the opening speaker at the world’s largest ever Plein Air Painting Convention held in the US. His work is in private and corporate collections around the world.
For more information about purchasing a Richard Robinson original painting or a Limited Edition Giclee Print please ask a gallery representative.