Hello! my name is Tobin Florio, and I’m a paintaholic. It was obvious to me from an early age, that if I were to fulfil my most burning desire, it would be to spend my life painting, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do ever since!

Both of my maternal grandparents were artists, and a great inspiration. As a child I loved to explore their studios, wonderful worlds of colour and intrigue, a feast for the eyes shared with my brother and sister, both of whom are also artists.

I studied fine art for only 2 years, during which time it became clear that I would have to find a commercial purpose for my creativity, so I went on to study Illustration and animation at University. I graduated in 1999, and began a promising career with a successful design company, but after some years the work became less creative, and the London life style became overbearing. So I took a risk, I resigned, packed my bags and left the country looking for inspiration.

I found it in Italy, where I set up a studio and spent a couple of years just about scraping a living from my art, hopping from cafe to cafe, bar to bar, exhibiting wherever I could and selling quite well. It was a promising start and one of my most prolific periods. A great experience.

I eventually settled in Norwich, just 30 miles from the village where I grew up. I became we, and we found a house and made a beautiful home. At the end of the garden I built myself a studio, custom made to fit my needs. A fantastic space which I tried to make use of as much as possible.

Shortly afterwards, we became three, and my time in the studio was mostly spent making glitter monsters and painting pebbles with my beautiful and magnificently messy daughter.
I’m pretty sure that once I am able to fully commit to painting again, I will have an eager and able assistant by my side!