Robin Clugston is a Canadian artist and illustrator raised in Ottawa, Ontario.
Robin has done many personal commissions and paintings during her time working as a freelance illustrator, along with a number of logos for small businesses and projects, and has had her work published in several magazines. She mostly works in watercolour, acrylic, gouache, graphite or digital paint (or any combination of these), but has also enjoyed experimenting with lino-printing, silk-screening, etching and more to create her images.
Robin holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Illustration from Sheridan College.
Please reach out to robinlaurel.clugston@gmail.com for inquiries about illustration work.
Artist Statement:
As an artist I portray the beauty that I see in the day-to-day life around me. I love to convey and share what I see when I look at the world; to show the extraordinary that is found in the ordinary and “everyday”.
I am intrigued by these found scenes that are not aesthetically contrived in any way; places that are pedestrian or utilitarian—their appearance is created and affected purely by the functional daily actions of humans and the natural elements and passage of time. The fact that these places were created unintentionally, to me, makes them even more special and fascinating. I am of the opinion that there is so much beauty and so much that is worthy of appreciation in the world all around us, if we just look at the world without preconceived notions of what is beautiful or interesting.
I love recreating these found scenes through paint, sharing what might have otherwise been overlooked, and holding it up as meaningful and worthy of admiration. I work in both gouache and acrylic paints, depending on the level of detail and the effect I hope to achieve. I love going in depth into the details, the shapes and colours. I tend to be very representational in my work, but for me it is also about creating an interesting painting, and truly capturing the mood and feeling of a time and place. I am always chasing that perfect balance of representing my subject matter and using colours and mark-making in such a way that the painting itself is, to me, captivating, interesting and inspiring; a painting I would want to hang up on my own wall.
A huge thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts for funding this work in 2021 and 2022.