Robin Leonard
Oil Paint
Robin Leonard is an abstract marine artist who has lived and painted in Cornwall since 1981. From the start of his life, he was immersed in composition and colour, as his father was a freelance photographer and his mother an artist. He discovered Trenarren within a week of arriving in Cornwall, moved to the village six years ago, and hasn’t looked back since.
Born in 1960 and growing up in the beautiful Buckinghamshire countryside, he witnessed it being ‘built over’ in the 1970s. This was the catalyst that drove his family to relocate to Cornwall. He is an environmentalist who cherishes the natural environment, which inspires him endlessly.
Robin’s painting style naturally evolved over time. Initially, he used the medium of watercolour, which, with its fluidity, enabled him to catch the moment in its act. He believes that art is a continuing process of elimination and reduction. As a plein-air painter, the challenge is finding the right moment to capture onto the canvas. Robin revels in the challenges of painting the coast, where the composition of sea, sky, and land is constantly in a state of flux. This challenge has been instrumental in driving him to abstraction.