VAL ROBINSON paints in sweeping oils – curvaceous women with a faraway look in their eyes. But her husband, Doug, chooses acrylics, rendering architecturally accurate buildings on to the bare canvas.
Together, their opposing styles create a third – and the strength of their collaborative art works is all in the contrast.
“I think the figures make the buildings come alive,” says Doug, 73. He plays his part first, using his skills as a retired architect to scale the backdrops from photographs. Then it’s Val’s turn.
“I paint straight over the top,” she says, almost recklessly. “I am nervous that I’ll mess it up, but I haven’t yet.”
The couple, who celebrate their golden wedding anniversary this year, paint side-by-side in a studio in their Aigburth home. It’s a lovely image, the pair dabbing brushes on to canvas while music plays on the radio. Val, who has an exhibition at Blackburne House, trained at the Liverpool School of Art before teaching for a while at the Junior Art School, where one of her pupils was Cynthia Lennon.
Her solo works feature voluptuous women in settings that seem mythical.
“I just love painting women,” says Val, 73. “They are more interesting to paint than men because they have more curves.
“I love faces, too, and getting my own idea of the person behind them into my work. I don’t believe in flattering people, but hopefully I express something of who they are.”
Also included in the exhibition is a number of portraits of the Robinson’s grandchildren. Seven-year-old Amelia is depicted in a traditional setting with the family pet cat, Mr Thomas.
On the opposite wall, four boys stare confidentially out from the canvas. Their strong features and certain gaze imply the painter knows them well – and, indeed, she does, for these are Val’s and Doug’s four grandsons – Louis, 29, Sam, 18, Jake, 13, and 25-year-old Joe.
The collaborative works are hung in the cafe and feature iconic Liverpool backdrops.
Doug indicates one of a family playing in front of the Planet Lighthouse, at Salthouse Dock.
“At the time we painted it, the ship was expected to leave the dock,” he explains.
“So that one was a sort of ‘in memoriam’.”
* VAL ROBINSON’S paintings are on display at Blackburne House until April 30.
