Tony Robinson is the founder of plein air festival, Art in the Open (2008), based around Wexford, Ireland. Whilst hailing from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he completed a Fine Art Foundation course and a fine art degree at Stoke-on-Trent, he has since made his home in Ireland.
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“Painting outdoors is difficult and sometimes frustrating but it is something I’m passionate about. I try to let the subject dictate the painting, whether it be loose and spontaneous or more precise. Working in an ad hoc way helps me take an intuitive and exploratory approach. It can bring surprises but is essential to convey the authentic response to the subject. The surface may be distressed or scraped back before finding the image again. I try never to waste a positive accident and to be looking to declare the painting finished at the earliest opportunity, without overworking it.”
Tony is passionate about painting from life outdoors and participated in the inaugural Paint Out Wells-next-the-Sea in 2015 producing some stunning artworks. In 2018, he was a guest artist at various points during Paint Out Norwich, offering demonstration during the event, as well as being one of the three judges.
“While judging exhibition entries for Paint Out Norwich 2018 I was greatly impressed by the dedication, quality and inventiveness shown by the thirty artists who took part. The organisers had set an artistic assault-course for them to try to portray and interpret the city of Norwich from her bustling market scenes to the academic quarter, and from the medieval streets around Tombland to 1960s slide-rule architecture in concrete, glass and steel. I commend the artists and organisers of Paint Out Norwich on a marvellous festival and the foremost plein air painting event in the UK. I urge any artist to put Paint Out Norwich in their timetable in their anorak and not miss it.”
Paint Out History
Paint Out Norwich – Guest Artist & Judge (2018)
Paint Out Wells – selected and participated (2015)
Other Awards
Tuscany Plein Air, Florence, Italy, Honorary Guest Artist (2016)
Royal Talens Rembrandt Award at Noordwijk Schildersfestival, First Place (2014)
Noordwijk Schilders Festival, Netherlands, Commended Artist (2012)
Hertogenbosch Schilders Festival, Netherlands, First Place (2011)
Greenacres Gallery, Wexford, Emerging Artist Award (2011)
Sample Gallery & Works for Sale