Biography

Bob Smith has been a practising artist for almost 6 decades. More if you count his formative primary school years where he used to fill his school books with drawings, much to his mother’s dismay. He studied art at the Caulfield Technical College (now Monash University), before attending teaching college and practising as a teacher for some 33 years. Smith took up full-time painting in 1994, moving to Port Macquarie where he established a studio and a classroom for private tuition. He has worked as a graphic artist, cartoonist, book illustrator, and art teacher. Smith has taught figure drawing classes and now continues to attend with great passion and enthusiasm for his work. He was well-known for his water-colour work both in Australia and internationally, touring throughout much of Europe. Since the early 2000’s, Smith has been working with soft pastels.

Smith paints in a realistic manner with the use of expressionistic colour to achieve atmosphere and mood. Much of his work is drawn from the theme of man’s struggle to come to terms with the Australian environment. Subjects of old mining towns, scarred landscapes, failed farming ventures and abandoned hopes are regular features of his work. Drawing is a strong aspect of his work, clearly evident in his pastel studies of the figure and in portrait painting.

He has held over 30 major exhibitions across the major cities on the east coast of Australia, and numerous rural and group exhibitions. Smith has not had a major exhibition since moving to the Sunshine Coast over 10 years ago.