​He’s played at the junior Wimbledon tennis finals and tried his hand at free-fall parachuting and hang-gliding – now Robin Storey is an award-winning artist. Andy Mortimer went to find out more . . .

Chris and Robin Storey with their dog, Ben

Ben, the five-year-old rescued greyhound, is a very big dog. Long and lanky legs are supported by huge back muscles and, with his tail wagging at full tilt, even the force of the air rushing around him is enough to make you back off.

But, according to owner and award-winning artist Robin Storey, who frequently uses Ben in his watercolours, he’s also an absolute softie.

“He’s never been known to bite or growl and he’s incredibly laid back,” said Robin, as his dog’s huge frame flops down on his bed in the lounge. He was chewing on a denti-stick bone and his teeth were . . . sizeable.

“We got him from a local greyhound rescue centre and I love having a big dog about the house.

“He’s always on the go (cue an ironic yawn from the silver-haired former racer), he is always happy to see us and he even sits with me when I’m working upstairs in my studio.

“I have to be careful, though, because he’s usually right behind me when I paint and I’m always wary of stepping back and standing on him.”

For much of our conversation, Ben stayed by the side of his loving owner. The latest in a long line of dogs re-homed by Robin and wife Chris, he is also the reason my interview at the house was a little later than planned – he had to go to the vets.

“Ben retired because he had a bad foot and, once our other dogs had all died, we knew we wanted him here,” said Robin.

A hugely respected watercolour artist, his original paintings have been accepted for national exhibition, including in the Royal Society of Artists prize exhibition in Birmingham; C21 (Royal Watercolour Society) exhibition at Bankside Gallery, in London, and the Singer-Friedlander (Sunday Times) exhibition at the Mall Galleries, in London. On this final stage, his work was shortlisted for a prize.

He has also exhibited at the Sculpture Hall, in Manchester, and the Industrial Gallery, within Birmingham’s Museum Art Gallery. This year, Robin was the winner of the Society for all Artists’ Professional Artist Of The Year in the waterscape/seascape category. Not bad for a man who didn’t pick up a paintbrush until he retired.

Robin at work in his studio

Molescroft resident Robin (68) explained: “I had never really looked into art but after Chris and I retired from teaching, she went to night school and started to learn.

“Of course, she came home with all the materials and I decided I would have a go, too. I really enjoyed it, although looking back at some of my early work, it’s a bit laughable. I’ve got a much more constant standard of work now.”

Chris is rather less blasé about Robin’s undoubted talents. “Robin started painting and then, suddenly, there were all these amazing pictures appearing around the house.

“He had no training whatsoever but the things he was producing were fantastic.”

And although now his most “consuming passion”, Robin admits it’s nothing like a nine-to-five job.

“I’m not one of those artists who goes into their studio at 9am and doesn’t come out again until 5pm,” he said.

“I work in fits and starts and if I get an inspiration from somewhere I put it on the page.

“I initially get attracted to things by the way the light reflects; be it on a river, through some trees or in the city and then I try to paint around it.

“An inspiration like this may not actually make it to the page for a couple of years but what I am left with is a painting that hasn’t just been put together in a couple of hours on the side of a road.

“It’s multi-layered and three-dimensional. It would never just be a picture of a church; it would be about the people in the church and their story.”

Robin’s story is as multi-dimensional as his art. He spent his school days in Hull before moving into teaching at Beverley Grammar and Wolfreton School in the 1950s and ’60s. He then got involved in teacher training at the Hull College of Education, but before this, discovered some rather special hidden talents.

Dog Walkers by Robin Storey

“When I was young, I was quite sporty and played a lot of tennis,” he said. “I would play at the Young Persons’ Institute, in Ferens Avenue, Hull, and I reached the quarter finals of the Junior Wimbledon championship in 1958.

“I lost out to Roger Taylor who later appeared in three Wimbledon semi-finals.

“A year or so later I very nearly qualified for the senior championships myself, losing to a South African player 16-14 in the final set. I wasn’t very fit at the time, but if I had just had that little bit more, I would have got through.”

Robin continued to play the sport and represent Yorkshire at county level, but while teaching at Wolfreton School, found another sporting hobby, this time a little more dangerous.

“When I was teaching at Wolfreton, I was persuaded to take part in a charity parachute jump to raise money for a school minibus,” he recalls.

“I got into it and found it just the most amazing feeling. It’s very safe – you only ever do it when the conditions are right – and the feeling you get when you pull the parachute is tremendous.

“It’s almost as if you are just hanging there and not falling at all. The scariest moment actually came when I didn’t jump from the plane and was inside it when it landed – I had never done it before and it was terrifying the first time.”

Parachute jumping eventually led to hang-gliding and, in the early days, Robin could be seen running off low hills in Newbald trying to get some air. This, of course, was before he tackled the more major cliffs at Cayton Bay, near Scarborough.

He said: “Hang-gliding is much more free than parachuting and much less time-consuming. You could go all the way to an airfield to find the weather wasn’t good enough to jump from a plane, but with hang-gliding, it is much easier.

“It’s a beautiful feeling, too, to be soaring some 200ft above a cliff and see everything around you. It you do it at Cayton like I used to, you can see Scarborough to the north and then the Moors and the Dales.”

Even more extra-curricular activities followed in the shape of karate and karate teaching before Robin found his true calling in life as an artist. But after 45 years with his beloved Chris, any references he makes to his work always starts with “we”.

“It’s very much a team effort here,” he said, as Ben let out yet another yawn, obviously a little bored of the company by now.

“Chris is in a lot of my paintings and she’s very often the muse for my inspiration.

“She also produces all the prints of my original paintings. The originals are all quite expensive but that’s because I spend a lot of time producing the art. She makes sure the prints are of the highest quality.”

For more information on Robin Storey, call: (01482) 869561 or email: Robin@Storey.karoo.co.uk to book an appointment before visiting.