Robin Hicks
Featured artist Robin Hicks appeared on Colour In Your Life Season Twenty One (21). Read a little bit about the artist here, and support our site by joining and watching the episode below.
In Robin Hicks’ early childhood her parents were very supportive and nurtured the creativity in her. They were both classical musicians, Robin’s grandfather was a brilliant watchmaker and artist, and her aunt was a wonderful violinist, so she grew up with creative and expressive people all around her.
Robin often attended concerts they were in, her father was an opera singer, her mother a pianist; and both taught music. Robin also trained a little in music and still loves it, but her deepest passion is visual art.
Robin studied Graphic Design and received a diploma in it, but never worked in a truly commercial environment. Her first job was enormous fun, cataloguing insects in Entomology at the Museum of SA, but one day she was offered a go at drawing insects for one of their journals or encyclopaedias. The insects were tiny, and almost invisible to the human eye without using a microscope.
This was a wonderful challenge, and Robin drew the insects in black pen, wash, using the stipple technique. It was very high detail work.
Robin was then transferred to the Education Section of the museum and there was able to open up more with her art. She was required to draw animals, mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and minerals for the worksheets for the school student groups that came through. She enjoyed that immensely and it gave her a good foundation on how to be versatile.
Robin’s love of minerals, rocks and gems was born then. She became fascinated with the earth and how it’s made up of many levels, layers and sediments. This, later on when she began painting much more, especially landscapes, helped her to “feel” it more, having had some experience with the qualities which contribute to our earth. When using watercolours in particular, it really helped her be aware of the ‘layers’ beneath so to speak. Robin still keeps this in mind when she paints in watercolours – the layering that is.
Robin has always been inspired by watercolours because of their translucency, and the ability to create a beautiful glowing effect with the layering down of multiple colours. She has a passion for portraying shapes, contours and designs found in nature, and watercolour is a very adaptable medium for this. She has a passion for portraying shapes and contours and designs found in nature and watercolour is a very adaptable medium for this.
Robin connects very deeply with nature and the inherent synchronicity between us and the world. Her experience is that art is a truly deep way for her to explore her thoughts and feelings. Art is, for Robin, an expression of how she feels about her own relationship with life.
Robin’s hope is that her art reaches people and that the beauty and transformative nature of the creative process is uplifting. She works in multiple mediums, which include watercolour, pastel, oils, acrylics, and mixed media. She also tutors in watercolour, mixed media and oils for a variety of organisations, galleries, community groups and privately.
Throughout the year Robin participates in numerous exhibitions in Australia, and internationally she is currently represented by, and a featured artist of, Bluethumb Online Art Gallery.
As a recipient of numerous awards in both landscape and portraiture, Robin’s work has been hung in a large number of exhibitions, including solo, and are in private collections worldwide.
Recent work has been exhibited on a large billboard in Times Square, New York, for SeeMe, which is both a gallery in New York, and an international online purchase art gallery.
You can contact Robin about her art tips or techniques directly via her website at robinhicks.com
Head over to our gallery and check out other amazing artists or jump on our forums and let us know what you think!
Episode: S21E10
Original Air Date: 3rd April 2020
