An informal chat with the artist Robyn Laing
It was a pleasure to meet with Artist Robyn Laing at her studio at Square Edge.
The room reflects her lively and curious mind, her latest project on the easel behind where she sits. Various portraits and works-in-progress adorn the walls.
Her story is a familiar one for women of her generation on becoming an artist.
Born and raised on a farm, her desire to train in this field wasn’t met with encouragement or enthusiasm. It was more important to have training in a 'proper career' like
that of a teacher, so her path would take some differing turns before she took her Arts degree in Auckland during the 1990's.
At this time the push in the art-world was for more conceptual work, not something that Robyn felt akin to at all. However, as she says, she had the advantage of maturity and experience,
knowing her art within herself. She jokes that although they saw her as a woman who "just painted flowers", this image was defied by her creating a massive canvas in the 'Dutch style' of that very subject.
Guided by painter and friend Raemon Rolfe she learned more about her craft.
She has a deep love of portraiture and her work is predominantly in oils, sometimes using the impasto technique, layering on top of acrylic paint. She experiments with other mediums creating 'studies' for portraits and other works.
Robyn talks with me about using her sketchbook and how essential that is. She leafs through it to show me exquisite working sketches and little thumbnails of various topics.
She "draws all the time" whether it is hand studies, faces, or ideas from magazines; even news stories have moved her to pick up her pencil and render images on the page.
Her sketchbook, like her studio, reflects her artistic process and her inquiring mind. Her love of the natural world is more than evident as is her observance of detail and beauty.
Interview by Mhairead MacDonald