Oil on panel
Yesterday, 31st March 2023, I had the great honour of being a student in Sandy (Alexander) Robb’s painting workshop at Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries. The above preparatory painting, which I should emphasise is a work in progress, was the result, and has I think a hint of Robbishness about it in places, not that I was trying to imitate his style, but rather learn his approach and methods.
Sandy is a painter whom I have always held in high esteem for his excellent still-life work. It is typically ‘deep’, beautifully composed, richly coloured, considered, and emphatic.
The striking thing about all Sandy’s painting is his commitment to laying down emphatic statements of well-judged colour-value that he then leaves to stand, each in its context, without then resorting to further fiddling, tweaking, blending, smoothing etc. It is this above all that gives Sandy’s paintings his unmistakeable stamp of painterly competence, authority, and good taste.