The illustrations of Graham Robinson, a.k.a Beaston, have a fanciful quality that offer a look into an ordinary life in the woods and all its hilarious quandaries. Illustrations found in magazines, journals, and other papers feature images of luxury, wealth, and people enjoying the high life. In today’s fast paced world, he chooses to take times out to focus on the unseen banalities of venturing out into the woods rather then a busy cafe’ on a crowded street in the city. The quiet moments and believability of the everyday mishaps are what makes the Canadian artist’s drawings so special. Scenes of woodsmen struggling with their worn out rust-colored canoes, or parked in front of roaring fires cooking tin cans of beans, are only some of the endearing characters in Robinson’s world. Brilliantly colored fish, wiry tackles, bicycles wrapped in fly fishing hooks, cut and float through the empty plane of the paper like birds through air. One could easily imagine these images alongside a text in a manual instructing the camper on how to be a successful woodsmen. The paintings could also tell Robinson’s personal adventure into the forest, or simply illustrate Murphy’s Law applied to camping.
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