Visual Arts

Lisa V Robinson is an emerging contemporary artist who has recently graduated from Manchester School of Art, gaining first class honours in Fine Art Painting. She specialises in oil and gouache paintings.

Gouache is a paint medium comprised of watercolour mixed with chalk to give it an entirely opaque effect. Cheaper than high quality oil paint, and easier to use for the fact that it can be thinned with water, it is an ideal substitute for both oil and acrylic works and is often used in graphic work and for poster art.

Although gouache is completely opaque it does reflect light. The fact that it is opaque also means that it holds the light very well with bright colours. Probably the most famous exponent of gouache was Vincent van Gogh.

Prior to her degree at Manchester, Lisa studied on a Foundation course at Batley School Of Art, but her first exhibition predated her art education, when her work was shown at Kendal Hall in Ossett. Since then she has exhibited in Batley, Manchester, Nottingham and Leeds.

Lisa believes her work hovers between abstraction and figuration - an exploration of the physicality of paint and the possibilities of what can be achieved with space and colour.

"The basis of my practice stems from my overwhelming attraction to the sensation of oil paint from the satisfaction in observing the progression of a line from start to finish, to the tactile sensation of applying generous amounts of paint. The marks produced by the brush, particularly its personal characteristics provide intrigue and an appealing element within the painting. Consequently, the work can often allude to a memory of a sensation, perhaps experienced in a previous piece."

You can see more of Lisa's work on her website: