Elysian 
A visual journey through atmospheric cloudscapes, at Studio 18.

Recently relocated to Stroud and working from her studio at SVA, Charlotte Aiken’s work celebrates the beauty of the sky and explores her intrigue with cloud formations, offering a perspective on our connection to nature. A 2017 graduate of the School of Art, Architecture, and Design in London, Charlotte, is represented by The Belgravia Gallery, ARTIQ, Cotswold Contemporary, and Ad Lib Gallery. In 2023, her painting was exhibited and sold in 'Only Connect,' The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition.

Charlotte’s paintings are informed by how she experiences the world, often feeling overwhelmed by how overexposed and pixelated life looks through her eyes. Her paintings are expressions of her surroundings and the colour scheme explores her emotions. Skies became an important interest to her during a period of challenging mental health, whilst living in London. Looking to the endless sky allowed her to escape how she was feeling and observe something bigger than humanity. Clouds gave her clarity and a reason to put brush to canvas to capture the uncapturable. ‘Interruption’, Charlotte’s first series of skies, included electricity wires cutting across the canvas. The electricity wires often appearing in her work reference a feeling of being trapped and struggling to communicate with others. Since first pursuing her sky paintings in 2016, she has travelled across the world to photograph interesting cloudscapes and evoke an emotional response in herself.

In her new series of skies, she is exploring oil paint and mixed media, combining paint with metal leaf to add another depth to her compositions. Her love of colour, and the versatility of oil paint lends itself well to the movement, layers, and texture Charlotte creates. More recently she began weathering copper plates to create a Verdigris to use as a background. The process of oxidising the plates interests Charlotte and the pattern created informs a starting point for the painting.

In addition to her personal artistic pursuits, Charlotte undertook training as an art teacher and worked at a Secondary school for two years. It was during a trip to Southern India in 2019, where she volunteered as an art facilitator for Sebs Schools, that Charlotte's passion for teaching was ignited. This experience inspired her to obtain the necessary qualifications, recognising the profound impact creativity can have on individuals. Particularly drawn to assisting those with educational needs, Charlotte found joy in helping students express themselves through art and build confidence. Upon relocating to Stroud, she made the bold decision to leave her school position and pursue her career as an artist whilst running classes and teaching students one-to-one.

One of Charlotte's recent achievements includes securing an artist residency with ARTIQ at The Pump House in Nottinghamshire. During this residency, she delved into the creation of her own paint pigments sourced from the local flora and rocks surrounding The Pump House. One of the highlights of her time there was utilising a Victorian letterpress to create a series of cloudscape lino prints, some of which will be featured in the upcoming exhibition.

Don’t miss Charlotte’s exhibition Elysian at Studio 18, opening on the 24th of February from 6pm and running for three weekends until the 10th of March. During the exhibition Charlotte will be working on a live painting at Studio 18, giving you a firsthand look at her creative process.

You can also book onto a painting workshop with Charlotte running Saturday 2nd March from 10:00 – 16.00. During the workshop you will get the chance to explore abstract drawing and painting techniques, learning to free your mind and explore composition, shape, and colour. Email Charlotte at charlotteaiken@btinternet.com for more details.

“Each painting is an investigation into the colour and atmospheric particles I can see in the clouds”.

Exhibition Details:

Date: Opening February 24th from 6pm For three weekends, closing on the 10th of March.

Gallery: Studio 18, Hope Mills Business Centre, Brimscombe, Stroud, GL5 2SE

Contact:

Gallery: zacstudio18@gmail.com

realartsandmedia.com

Artist: charlotteaiken@btinternet.com

www.charlotteaiken.co.uk

@charlotteaikenart