On Friday we welcomed David and Kwok, two artists from Garvald in Edinburgh, for the first part of their residency. The artists will come back and join our Aspire workshops on Thursday and Friday, this week and next.
“Our day started in glorious sunshine as we met at Haymarket train station at 8.30. We were all excited, and nervous, and a little tired.
When we arrived at Project Ability we were warmly welcomed by Elisabeth and Valerie. The studio is so big and lots of artists were already working. The artists got settled in a lovely space beside a window to work. David had a really big canvas to get started on and Kwok spent some time feeling the different printing plates. Kwok was able to familiarise himself with the collograph plates and etching plates and feel how one is glued on and the other is scratched into.
Both artists worked throughout the day. David primed the canvas in a lovely blue before planning his composition.
“The canvas felt different to paper it was softer. I chose blue as it reminds me of the sky as it’s sunny outside today. I was looking at the sky out the big window.” David
Kwok glued a tiger and boat template into place with some flowers before repeatedly gluing and drying his printing plate to seal it. David unpacked the new water based oil paints in the afternoon and there was much chat about them being new to all of us. He selected two browns to mix together to make the tree trunks and tried them out on small canvases before working with them on his big painting.
It was really interesting to see all the different styles and techniques people were working with in the studio.
Our journey home was in lovely sunshine too, with a chat about the day and then a little rest for our tired eyes. The artists are looking forward to being in the studio for two days this week.”
-Morven Macrae, Garvald
