Born in Hertfordshire, England in the historic town of St. Albans, Martin’s early education took place at St. Albans School, one of the most prestigious and ancient educational institutions in Europe. It was here, at St. Albans School, that Martin first discovered his love of art and his desire for artistic expression.
The Mobbs Family emigrated to Canada in the mid to late 1960’s where he completed his secondary education and went on to study at the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD).
As a young man, following his OCAD years, Martin embarked on extensive travels throughout Europe and the British Isles, following his artistic muse and continuing to draw and paint.
Martin returned to Canada and developed a taste for the Canadian wilderness and became an enthusiastic canoeist and camper, discovering the more remote corners of Ontario’s northland. Continuing with his first love of art and in order to explore Canada’s vastness Martin took an opportunity to become a ‘long distance’ trucker, owning his own transport truck and travelling coast to coast in Canada and the U.S. and as far south as Mexico. The images and experiences enhanced his voyage of artistic discovery.
In the late 1970’s Martin pursued a career in the Motion Picture Industry as a Scenic Artist, working across Canada, primarily in Toronto and Vancouver on Feature Films. This environment provided an exceptional opportunity to explore a panoply of techniques with unusual materials, surfaces, pigments and finishes.
While working in Vancouver in the 1980’s and 1990’s as a Scenic Artist and continuing his private painting and drawing, Martin purchased a horse ranch in the southern British Columbia interior and discovered his love for horses.
The year 2007 brought Martin back to rural Ontario where he purchased property and a studio south of the town of Madoc. Since his return to Ontario Martin’s focus has been on his paintings in acrylic on canvas, depicting equine images and images of the great natural world in which he lives.
|