Frederic Robineau is best known for his creativity in the pastry kitchen of Robineau’s Patisserie, in Darlington, which he runs with his wife Jane. However, his skills stretch beyond the artistry displayed in producing his menu.
Mr Robineau, who lives in Whorlton, has a passion for painting landscapes too and uses Teesdale as his backdrop. His oil paintings are currently on show as part of his first exhibition, Colourful Landscapes, which is being held at The Station, in Richmond.
Mr Robineau grew up in the Loire Valley, in France, but moved to London when he got a job as chef de partie at The Café Royal. It was here in 1996, when he first discovered his love of painting.
Mr Robineau, 42, said: “I was working at The Café Royal with a pastry chef who used to paint. He used to do the paintings on the cakes and I slowly started helping.
“I have always enjoyed anything to do with art. One day he came in with a small canvas, a bit of paint and a brush and said have a go. I really enjoyed it.”
Mr Robineau cooked up culinary delights at the Landmark Hotel, where the Royal family dined for a state banquet. He was also awarded the best pastry chef award at Salon Culinaire in 1997, the UK’s largest and most prestigious chef competition.
Having painted outside of work for about three years in the capital, he gave it up until 2011. Having relocated to the north east and opened the Cockerton patisserie in 2002, he went on to open his own art gallery in 2011.
He said: “I would go to the arts centre in Darlington every week to paint. That is where I got the bug back. I did something every week for about two years and it just became more. There is no stress involved whatsoever with painting. There is not the challenge of it having to pay the bills and staff and so on.
“It is the challenge of capturing the place and the look of the place as well as capturing the nature of the day and the seasons. I get lost in it totally. The hours just go by.”
The exhibition will run until Wednesday, February 7. Visitors will also be able to meet the artist on Sunday, February 4, from noon until 5pm.
He said: “In 2011, everything used to be very detailed. Now it is a lot of palette knife strokes. I have pretty much dropped the brush altogether.
“Nature inspires my work and Teesdale is full of it. We go on walks many times and before we lived in Teesdale we would come every weekend for walks.
“The camera is always with me and all year there are different pictures to take. It is different every time. The more you know the place the better you can paint it.”
Mr Robineau is also a member of Teesdale ArtNet, a recently formed networking group for artists in the dale. He will be preparing to showcase his work at the group’s open studios event later this year.
He added: “It is nice to see all of my work on display next to each other. At the same time it is the feeling of putting yourself on show and I am not the best one at things like that. It is nice to share them with everyone. It will be nice to see if people enjoy them as art is very wide ranging.”+
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