Aida attends the Project Art Works studio for a two hour session every Friday and works without a break during this time. She is entirely focussed on her practice, choosing to explore, mix and use a varied colour palette with wide careful brushstrokes that cover the entirety of her canvas.
Aida’s practice has evolved in the time that I have been working with her. In the beginning she chose to work in one colour and I would help to mix more of the same hue for her as she used it all up. Now Aida is less concerned with one tone, preferring to use a variety of colours and her work is developing with rich brushstrokes that are varied across the surface she chooses to cover with paint she thins herself with water, as well as thicker denser textured areas.
Aida communicates sometimes with words but also by taking my hand and placing it where she needs it to be, for example to hold the canvas higher or lower, to pass another brush etc. Aida often gently laughs as she works, she appears happy and knows immediately when whatever piece she is working on is finished, as she will pass it to me and say ‘dry’ I will then place it in the drying area, Aida will then select a new surface to work on.
From her beginnings of painting on paper and card, Aida has now moved onto much larger stretched canvas frames and also hardboard. Most recently she has chosen to work on a number of different canvases throughout the duration of the morning. She covers every corner and edge, front and back in paint before she moves to another. Last week she chose to paint multiple times upon one surface in one session.
Aida is very much in control of her artistic practice and it is exciting to know this is just the beginning of her journey at Project Art Works and the infinite possibilities that can unfold as she explores her practice further.
Georgie Scott, Associate Artist, Project Art Works.
