William Robinson | Irish Artist

My first job on leaving school was with an American Company specialising in photo-engraving for the wallpaper and textile printing industries. It was with this company that I trained as a Graphic Artist.

This was before the days of computer generated graphics and the skills of plate-maker and camera operator were part of the training.

I continued to work in the graphics, print and display fields and even learnt the skills of traditional sign-writing from a master craftsman.

As a young man I had an interest in fine art and attended night classes to explore the various media including Still & Life Drawing, Oil Painting etc. My deep love of art was encouraged and fostered under the tutelage of the world renowned Breton Artist Yen Gullet Raynard. Gullet Raynard further developed my skills in the basics of perspective drawing and the rudiments of Oil painting.

As often happens, living got in the way of my developing love of painting and it was only in 2001 whilst recovering from a serious illness, that I again took up my paintbrush and this proved to be quite therapeutic. Initially, I worked mainly in water-colours using photographs of family and friends to further develop my portraiture skills. When I recovered I decided I would continue to paint having rediscovered the need to express myself in this creative way.

I now paint mainly in acrylics which give the bright and vibrant finish which is essential to showcase the modern style of my art. I have been influenced by Andy Warhol, who worked mainly in acrylics, and this influence is evident in some of my Iconic Icon paintings with the Debbie Harry image in particular paying homage to Warhol.

To date I have only had limited exposure in my local town of Bray and this site is the start of my art being introduced to a wider audience.

Previous exposure included when I was invited to submit some work to the Mermaid Theatre Local Artists Exhibition in Bray which took place in June 2009. I was delighted when both my canvases were accepted. I was the only artist out of a group of thirty who had two paintings on exhibit which were Che Guevara and Marilyn Munroe.

Following this exhibition I was commissioned to paint two of the paintings which are exhibited on this site - Bono and Andy Garcia.