Katya Robin

✏️ drawing everyday
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petit genre
documenting daily life

Nightshift
Watercolour, A1
Mopping
Ink & Pastel, A2
Lobby Boy
Watercolour & Pastel, A2


Petit genre
is an art history term for depictions of everyday life, in contrast to the grand genre of ‘important’ subjects.

These three drawings belong to a series depicting cleaners. They are painted using Prussian Blue, a highly staining pigment, with  yellow acrylic accents suggesting plastic cleaning equipment.

Mopping was included in the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019.  Four further large drawings from this series are showing  in Cupboard Love.

Skip Surveillance
Watercolour & Graphite on Sketchbook Pages, 2023

Sketches of a yellow skip in a parking bay. Pages from a sketchbook arranged in a 4×4 grid as a time-lapse sequence.

Private Parking 
Watercolour & Graphite on Sketchbook Pages, 2023


Sketches of a parking bay, arranged in a 5 x 4 grid, like a work schedule or surveillance feed.

nature morte
revisiting still life

Bowl of Succuments
Ink & Pastels, A2
Bowl of Succuments #2
Ink & Pastels, A2
Bowl of Succuments #2
Ink & Pastels, A2
Artichoke
Graphite & Watercolour, A2
Fish Dinner
Watercolour, A2
Fallen Bough
Ink & Pastels A2 approx
In Flight
Acrylic on Cardboard
In Flight
Acrylic on Cardboard

Old Dog
Marker and Watercolour, A2
Goldfinch
Monoprint, A3
Mourning Coffee
Graphite & Gouache, A4
Mourning Coffee #2
Graphite & Gouache, A3
Salt Urn
Graphite & Salt, A3
Salt Will Vary
Graphite & Salt, A3
Mourning Coffee
Graphite & Gouache, A3 approx

Nature morte
, also known as still life, traditionally depicts everyday objects symbolising deeper themes:

flora fauna
vanitas
beauty, abundance & vitality
transience & mortality

I apply these themes to contemporary domestic objects such as plants, food, and domesticated animals, isolating them on white backgrounds—a style often used in commercial or scientific imagery for its clarity. However, my style  is instinctive and gestural. I work quickly, in short stages, as my energy fades too soon for longer sessions. This also reflects the vitality and fragility of daily life that is encapsulated in the concept of nature morte.

figure vivant
drawing lives

Torso 01
Pastel on Paper, A0
Torso 02
Pastel on Paper, A0
Torso 03
Pastel on Paper, A0

Figure vivant
meaning ‘living figure’ in French, refers to drawing from a live model rather than from plaster casts of classical figures. The Torso series occupies a space between these traditions — self-portraits that variously evoke medical diagrams alongside classical and historical references.

The human torso, particularly as a fragmented relic, beauty, endurance, and vulnerability. This series of larger-than-life torso drawings reflects on the experience of critical illness and surgery, visualising resilience and recovery.

Torso 01
A diagrammatic drawing made with friable chalk pastels, mapping the traces left by medical procedures

Torso 02
Painted with earthy colours. References include: shiny armour, Demeter and Ceres, Classical goddesses of agriculture.  

Torso 03
References include: patinated copper, and leather jerkin—a protective garment, typically worn by manual labourers in the Medieval period.


Drawings from SHOWWOMEN: Extraordinary Working-Class Women in UK Circus and Variety (Carnesky Ltd.), Graphite, Watercolor, & Pastels on paper, A3
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blood vessels


Blood Vessels
series  of watercolors on paper, dimensions vary,  approx 40 x 35 cm 

Blood is both life-giving and life-threatening - fluid yet volatile. Blood carries oxygen and sustains life, yet it can also stagnate, thicken, or spread infection. For me, living with multiple bloody conditions means balancing the risk of excessive bleeding or dangerous clotting. 

When painting this series I was thinking of both transfusion units (i.e. blood bags) and visceral organs. I used Perylene Maroon and Lunar Black watercolours to suggest the density of blood as well as the Classical concept of the Four Humours.