Robertson, Linda

Linda’s life drawings are always available at the gallery, with many new works arriving end of November. She has worked with the figure in pastel and charcoal for many years, and teaches life drawing to adults and senior school students. Linda has won numerous awards for her work, and was a recent finalist in the Banyule Works on Paper Award. Her work has been influenced by drawings from the Italian Renaissance, Edgar Degas; and by contemporary Australian artist Godwin Bradbeer.

Linda explains, ‘My life drawings are worked on a pastel ground covered with charcoal; I draw into the ground with more charcoal and erasure. Rubbing back into this dark surface allows the colour to re-emerge as form revealed by light, expressing the radiance of contained human spirit and vitality.

I like to work with models who are also dancers, musicians or other kinds of performers. I use illumination and shadow in a way that reflects the theatrical and emotional nature of their work; this interests me more than drawing the human figure simply as anatomy.

A life model exerts a great deal of energy and effort in holding a motionless position in space; my work is a response to the energy and life contained within this stillness’.

Seaview Gallery always carries a range of Linda’s Figure studies.