Dbee Robinson Artist - The Fat Struggling Menopausal Artist

For months I have been entering the Friday Forty to win tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child . This week was my lucky week... I won discounted tickets to see both parts of the play for two people. Total cost £80 and I'm told they are good viewing seats too!! How lucky was I, and of course the person I intend to take! After some googling it seems you can't take snacks in, I do hope they let me take my water in. I use a refillable bottle I purchased so I will be upset if they confiscate it as some reviewers and bloggers have said. Anyway, I'm too excited to care. I re read the book yesterday, yup I read the whole book in a day so no painting got done which is a little naughty I know but its really rare I sit and have some 'ME' time, no matter what people think I do all day at home. Guan Yin test piece 2 So I had better stop typing and get painting. Today i'm trailing how to do a Buda / Guan Yin painting for a friend. (My friend and I saw ...

Black and White Cat with Bamboo I was once asked why my paintings were so expensive? It was for a Chinese painting titled 'Black and white cat with bamboo.' Its a large 46cm x 64cm framed watercolour and ink painting on rice paper that had taken many hours to paint in layers as well as traditional style backing with more rice paper and then framed. Now if I paid myself the minimum wage for the 25+ hours I had spent painting it would be far to expensive and no one would buy it, so I thought £65 was a good price. When I explained it was an original painting that wasn't mass produced but created with love and attention to detail in the traditional Chinese way they began to understand.  I then explained it didn't include all the years learning Chinese art techniques or the many hours and experiments that went wrong preparing and trialing this artwork, it was just for the materials, frame and approximate time spent on this artwork alone. They were then astound...

My husband loves photography, it's his passion or perhaps I should say obsession. If he's not taking photos, he's editing them and if he's not editing them he's looking for new photo opportunities. The photos are so clear and well thought out with him sometimes waiting for ages for the right cloud to come by for his perfect shot.  I mainly take photos as a memory keep sake, or perhaps to use for inspiration for a painting. Some times I have asked him to take a particular shot and used his photo for a painting, but normally I would just take a photo with my own 'point and click' camera or mobile phone. I love this one of us at the Devil's punchbowl at Hindhead taken using my mobile. Now we like to go for walks, and I say walks in the loosest of terms as, as when he has his camera it's more of a stop than a walk. Every few steps he will stop and spend minutes lining up a shot, waiting for the correct light to hit a certain spot.... It...

Well its been a whole year since I endured a facial bone graft to rectify my cleft pallet. Its been a long and slow journey and I'm pleased to say the awful infection that damaged my initial bone grafts has not returned. ( Touch wood!!! ) I felt so ill for so long, over 4 years in fact, that I had forgotten what it was like to feel well, from total exhaustion all the time to my skin being too painful to touch. Now I am so happy to say I have nearly forgotten how ill I felt as I feel so full of energy again. Although it is still difficult to eat normally as my mouth still feels a little numb in places, it is all gradually coming back and have hope that the feeling in my mouth will fully return in time.  This painting above is called 'Contemplation Journey 1' and was purchased during my 6 week solo art exhibition "Lost and Found"  held in Penang, Malaysia at the gHotel. It is watercolour and ink on rice paper and I feel it shows my slow uphill journey back to h...

Happy International Women's Day, ok I'm a day late, but better late then never eh? Why March 8th you may wonder? Thank goodness for Wikipedia! Click here to find out more. Sometimes we need to remember us girls are awesome in our own right. No matter what we do in life I know most women strive for a better life for themselves and those around them. This painting was for Chinese New year of the Rabbit portrays the beauty of a gentle being to the flora and fauna around them. Its title - 'Lady with Chinese New Year Rabbit' is painted on rice paper using ink and watercolour. Its a copy of a poster Phoenix Printers in Penang Malaysia printed in 2013 and one of my favourite paintings I have done. This painting depicts a special friend of mine who is such a wonderfully kind hearted person who loves to hug everyone, especially babies. It's title - 'Hugs' shows unconditional maternal love and the beautiful Batik fabric used in Malaysia.  I was won...