“Clinch’s fascination with brick walls often manifests itself. Fair-Isle 1999 provides a tour-de-force in Hawthorn brick work, its chatty quality sharpening the isolation to the elderly figure seated at the bus stop, knitting.  A little investigation unravels the ever so present touch of whimsy. The title is derived from one of the Shetland Islands to the north of the Scottish mainland.  Fair Isle is also a traditional knitting technique, its patterns of multiple colours are like those of the Hawthorn bricks. Even Clinch’s model was a lady of Scots name.”

Thomas, D. Robert Clinch: Fanfare for the Common Man, Art Gallery of Ballarat, 2013, p.63