The Christmas season is indeed upon us now, and I have to admit, I feel in a sort of limbo at this time of year. No airshows to go to …boo hoo, yet for me just a little too early to put decorations up.

What I have done for the first time ever in fact, is to open up my gallery at the very last minute to the village as an ‘Open Gallery’ sort of thing. It looks quite good I must admit with just about everything I have painted since I started, and that is some time ago. This time of year does generate wonderful memories of the past though. I remember when I was first encouraged to paint, I was very young. I think I break all records on this. I remember the very first time I was given a paint brush, I was in fact an embryo between two microscope slides cellotaped to a cute little easel thingy and planted in the middle of a nice field using a single hair split in two as a brush… bless. I remember getting a telling off though as I mistakenly depicted an early Mosquito with a two stage Merlin compressor! What was I like!!!

Projects are coming along well with commencement of a Curtiss Kittyhawk struggling to free itself from the desert scrub in preparation for take off. This is an interesting painting as, although every aviation enthusiast has heard of the Kittyhawk, it is not frequently painted. I am hoping I can catch all the lovely sand being blown up by the backwash of the prop and the exciting visual effects it creates. It is these by-product effects that make a good composition to me, to be able to get away from the ‘text book’ detail and bring the image to life with all the misgivings of mess and muck.

I look very deeply into the composition of a painting, and sometimes modify the content as it progresses. In the Curtiss canvas, it may initially look as though the aircraft on the right will interfere with the main subject on the left, but eventually the aircraft taking off on the right will be half obscured by the heavy presence of sand being kicked up. This will not only re- establish the aircraft on the left as the main subject, but will add lots of movement to the painting, and allow me (hopefully,) to add some shadow rays often caught in such subjects with a combination of dust, sand, smoke, sun and a piece of hardware stuck in the middle of it!

I will be commencing a painting depicting a Stampe aerobatic bi-plane soon. A beautiful little red and white thing that will come to life in a sky to match. I am going to be taking some photographs of it soon, so I will keep you posted on that one.

If you require more information about ordering prints please telephone 01507 327681 or email robin@robin-smith-art.co.uk

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As a result of the Dambuster mine test drop painting I did at Reculver, showing the tail of Les Munro’s aircraft getting a jolly good soaking, I have received a great amount of interest in depicting the test drop of the first prototype mine that was in fact clad in timber. This would make a good follow up subject, as it will be viewed from the rear, including Reculver coast and the castle in the background. The image will show the mine shedding its coat of timber, with splinters flying around all over the place. The challenge here will be to catch a good image of the scenario, bearing in mind there will be a lot of water splash in the way of the disintegrating mine. Got to get the angle just right here! I think that will be the last Reculver subject. I don’t like the idea of latching onto a successful formula, and just going on and on.

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I opened up my gallery/studio to the public during the weekend of 21st./22nd. Nov. It was a last minute thing so I was wondering how successful it would be. It went very well, and minced pie crumbs were flying around all over the place. I am going to open it up again just before Christmas for the weekend of 12th. /13th. Dec. Allways good for generating a little Christmas spirit and an excuse to plant a few more decorations up.

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A new task I have set myself for the coming New Year will be to paint an ongoing series of miniature oils of aviation subjects. They will be 8” x 6” canvas size and cost around £200 each. To enable me to establish a collection of these, I am going to hold back sales, as the first three sold off the easel and building up a collection this way obviously would be impossible. So keep your eye out for the New Year and hopefully a good collection to choose from. I think the best way to go about the task, will be to have a specific plan to work to. As I go to all four Duxford Airshows per year, I am going to try to paint as many of the aircraft types that are there. I’ll call it the Duxford collection. Who knows, it’s certainly going to be good fun!

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Well I think that is it for this time, so until the next one, take care,
Robin.

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You can meet Robin and see a display of his work at the following 2009 events: