Edie Atkins is best known for her Melbourne suburban backyard paintings. Especially poignant after the events of the past year, a principle theme in her work is simple beauty in the ordinary – particularly, the observance of our immediate surroundings that can offer us surprising delights.
Edie Atkins’ minimal brush strokes, colour, and style are an effort to capture an intimate and heightened sense of an image. A Melbourne-based artist, she has worked in numerous projects as an illustrator and across mediums and is currently working with oil and acrylic paint.
‘My latest paintings are of Merri Creek in Melbourne. I wanted to capture the feeling of visiting Merri Creek, of being under the shade and listening to the water.
I have always liked looking at how light and shadow fall on objects, and I try to capture that within my work.’
– Edie Atkins
Tell us a bit about what a day may look like for you as an artist. Where are you based and what are some of the things that you do in your daily routine? Tell us about your morning rituals, your cup of tea/coffee, plants, etc!
I don’t have a strict morning ritual, apart from coffee. If I’ve had a good day painting the day before I wake excited to see my work again. If I’ve had an unsuccessful day before I am excited to see what I will create next. There’s a lot of looking when painting, just looking and thinking.
How did you start your creative practice and why? Are you self-taught, an art student, a full-time artist, etc?
I never thought I would be a painter. I always thought was better at drawing. Jess McCaughey asked me to be in a group show at Tinning St Gallery about magpies called “Ode to the Magpie”. I wanted to show magpies in a suburban backyard. I painted two backyards with magpies using acrylic paint and a thick brush and I really liked the process. I ended up painting 30 backyards and having a backyard show. My latest paintings are of The Merri Merri Creek in Melbourne. I wanted to capture the feeling of visiting Merri Creek, under the shade and listening to the water. I am self taught however my year 12 art teacher, Peter O’Gorman, set me up for a life of visual art making. I have always liked looking at how light and shadow fall on objects, and I try to capture that.
Have you got a studio/creative workplace? Tell us a bit about where you create and some of the significant things that support and inspire your practice.
I live and paint in the same space. I sometimes lose track of time when painting, work into the night, and that’s the best. I have a lot of native flowers that have dried out around my studio. Their faded earthy colours, smells and shape are inspiring. I get inspired by looking at and reading about artists’ work. I recently discovered photographer Henry Wessel and I am currently reading Karl Ove Knausgaard’s The Art of Edvard Munch.
What are some of the ideas that you explore in your work and the mediums that you have chosen to work with?
During lockdown I did more research on oil painting. I love how thin you can make oil paint by combining different mediums. Oil paint is easily wiped away so it lends itself to more experimenting. It’s more like sculpting with paint on a flat surface. I never draw on a canvas before I start.
Let us know about any current/future projects – Have you got anything planned in the near future?
I’m into still life painting at the moment. I’m an infrequent potter and I’ve made some Morandi-esque vases. During lockdown I painted those with the dried flowers. I met a painter named Audrey Kearns at The Workers’ Club a few years ago. We kept in contact and share similar painting ideas. We plan to show our work together in a show this year.
Edie Atkins latest Stockroom collection can be view online here.