Robert Macdonald
Robert was born in 1935 in Spilsby/Lincolnshire. When he was ten years old, his family emigrated to New Zealand where he went to school. Eventually, in 1958 he decided to return to Britain on his own and in 1959/60 and 1971/2 he studied painting and printmaking at the Central School of Art in London. His tutors there were Keith Vaughan, Mervyn Peake and Cecil Collins. A special treat was his involvement in the etching workshop run by Merlin Evans, where techniques were deeply influenced by the avant garde experiments of S.W.Hayter. In the meantime he worked as a journalist: during the 1960s in Fleet Street as Commonwealth Correspondent for the Scotsman (specialist interest in the progress of African independence movements). In the I970's he was Chief Diplomatic Correspondent for the Central Office of Information, travelling widely overseas in delegations led by Britain's Foreign Secretaries. In 1976 he gave up this work and, until 1979, did postgraduate studies in painting at the Royal College of Art/Courtauld Institute (MA painting). From 1980 to 1982 he was again at the Central School of Art in London doing Advanced Studies in Printmaking. He has lived in Wales since 1989 and has his studio in Abersefin near Brecon; member of the Welsh Group & the Watercolour Society of Wales.
