Why “Fat Over Lean”?
It’s an oil painting rule: every layer needs a little more oil than the one beneath it, or the painting cracks as it ages. Get it right and it lasts for centuries. I’ve always thought that’s true of more than paint. What’s built on BS stands up for a while. Then it cracks. The truth just holds.
I’m Nadine Robbins, a hyperrealist oil painter. The first painting I ever sent to a gallery was an oyster. It was the feminine at its most exposed, and I’ve been painting a version of that ever since. The oysters became women, the women became portraits, and the work kept circling the same thing: the body, self-ownership, an invitation to be seen in a world that keeps asking us to hide, and to take up space, exactly as we are.
A painting doesn’t tell you what to feel. It meets you where you are. Come to my work sad, and it might make you sob, come to it happy, and you’ll find something to laugh about, or come to it hungry, and you’ll crave. People see what they need to see, depending on where their heart is that day. My paintings leave room for you to come in.
I came to painting after two decades as a graphic designer and creative director, and I’m mostly self-taught. I got tired of building fake narratives, so I started telling true ones. My work has been exhibited around the world, on the moon too, and a portrait of mine landed on the cover of Fine Art Connoisseur. But my credentials aren’t the point of this place. This is about my paintings and everything that happens before they're finished. Many of my paintings are on my website.
Start here. It’s Free.
Every Wednesday, one real story and photos from the studio and occasionally out of the studio. Sometimes it’s the person I’m painting and how they ended up on my wall, sometimes it’s the oyster painting that started it all, sometimes I’m nerding out over supplies, or sometimes it’s what went wrong.
Once a month I paint live on a Wednesday at 7pm ET, in front of anyone who wants to watch.
All of that is free, and always will be.
If you want to come further in
Paid members come into the studio while I work. That means:
The process videos. Not every painting has one, but when it does, it goes up into the video vault the same day as the story
All the works in progress pictures and honest critiques of my own paintings
Videos in the vault from old paintings
The recording of the free monthly live, so you can watch it whenever you want
A second live on a Wednesday at 7pm ET, members only. Some months a demo, some months a Q&A. Plus the archive of all of them in the vault
First dibs on loose demo studies, private studio meet-and-greets online, and print drops before the general public, two times a year!
Nothing here is polished. It’s a phone on a tripod and whatever the day actually looked like. That’s the point.
It’s $10 a month. Honestly, it’s less about what’s behind the door and more about keeping it open. Members are the reason I get to keep doing this.
If you want to go all in
Some people want to be more than a member. Founding members are patrons. You get everything above, plus:
The first chance to buy any painting before it goes anywhere else
A signed artist proof from the November print drop each year
First call on commissions, and I only take a handful of the larger paintings each year
One subscription a year to give to someone
Your name on the patrons page, if you’d like
A one-on-one with me, online, or in person if you’re ever near the Hudson Valley
It’s $500 a year. No pressure at all. But if you’ve ever wanted to be part of how the work gets made, this is it.
Come on in. I’m really glad you’re here. Subscribing and sharing is free.
Nadine
Music by Sub_Clair from Pixabay. All images are my own paintings, photographed by me, with no AI use. All content ©2026 Nadine Robbins. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. I don't use your information for anything other than communicating with you here.
