Colour blind artist turned down by RAF makes bright sculptures but refuses special glasses saying he is ‘not broken’

A colour blind artist who makes bright resin sculptures after being turned down by the RAF because of his visual deficiency has said he threw a pair of colour-boosting glasses in the bin as he asserts he is “not broken” and his sight is “part of” who he is.

Robert Mitchell, 37, an artist and mechanic, who lives in Chatham, Kent, dreamed of becoming an engineer for the RAF, but was rejected because of his colour blindness after finishing secondary school.

He decided to become a mechanic, like his father, but worked on his art on the side, making sculptures out of cans and litter which he found in the street.

Over time, his art took priority, but in order to make sure he and his clients were on the same page about which colours he was going to use, he asked customers to choose specific spray paints in the shade they would like.

In January 2023, he tried wearing glasses which make certain colours more noticeable and vibrant, discovering that his fences were brown and his neighbour’s car was red, but decided not to incorporate them into his work.

Robert told PA Real Life: “I didn’t even know my neighbour had a red car or my fences were brown (until I tried the glasses) but I just threw them in the bin because I’m not broken and I just see it as part of who I am, and I’m not alone either.

“There are so many artists who are colour blind.”

Robert has always been interested in art, but after finishing school, his dream was to be in the RAF.

However, he “fell at the first hurdle” and could not advance into the training stage because of his colour blindness – so he ended up joining the family business, Donnelly Auto Works, as a mechanic.

Robert said: “It was a bit of a kick in the teeth… they said I could do something else within the RAF, but I wanted to work on the helicopters and have more of an engineering role.”

However, his then-girlfriend inspired him to get back into art, and helped him create a Facebook page to promote his work.

“I started off making a load of things out of recycled cans and things like that just because the materials are cheap,” he said.

“You walk down the street and there’s litter everywhere, so I thought ‘How can you turn something which is thrown way into something a little bit more creative.’”

Because of his colour blindness, he cannot always tell what colour his designs are – he is unable to see the difference between pink and purple, and cannot see different shades of greys, blues and greens.

Robert has not let this get in the way of his colourful creations which include vibrant skull sculptures and helmets made from designer handbags and basketballs.

“I get a lot of colours mixed up and I get a lot of people saying ‘Why are you wearing that?’ and I’ll think I’m wearing black but it’s actually blue,” he said.

“It’s just little things like that and shades and colour charts, they mess you up.

“Sometimes the customer might have a colour that they like, so I’ll just say ‘well, you fish out the colour, send me the link and I’ll buy that colour aerosol.’”

Over time, he perfected his style, and now specialises in crafting skulls out of resin, with a dripping effect, but also makes sculptures out of £600 damaged designer bags.

He said: “Resin is my main thing… and that’s my bread and butter, and then I’ll do more expensive stuff which is like helmets and things like that which are made from designer bags.”

Robert also creates one-off pieces, such as a BMX bike which cost him a whopping £30,000 to construct and took around two years to complete.

In 2020, he even appeared on Channel 4’s The Fantastical Factory Of Curious Craft, a competition hosted by Keith Lemon, where skilful crafters use their artistic talent to secure commissions from celebrity guests.

“It was basically like Bake Off but for artists, so that was really good,” he explained.

Since then, he has racked up 70,000 Facebook followers but his success has not come without its challenges and he often gets negative comments from people who do not like his artwork on social media.

“They’re just trolls – I get absolutely hideous stuff like, I wake up to emails calling me things and that I should die,” he said.

“I’ve got no idea why they do it – you click on their profile and they’ve got like zero friends – they’re people who haven’t got anything better to do.

“I try to use my following to try to be motivational for younger people… but for someone just starting out, it can put you on a downer straight away.”

Although Robert does not let his colour blindness get in the way of his art, in January 2023, he tried specialist colour blind glasses, which are designed to make certain colours more noticeable and vibrant.

“I haven’t used them when making things because I’ll look even more of a fool if I get it wrong or not the right shade,” he explained.

He hopes his experience will help young artist not be afraid to advertise their work or feel like they need to change who they are.

To find out more about Robert’s artwork follow him on www.facebook.com/Robmitchellartist/ or www.instagram.com/robmitchell_art/