Marion Aitken

My earliest memories derive from a childhood filling large empty scrapbooks with pages and pages of pencil drawings. Cartoon characters, animals, botanicals and just about everything in between.

It was my love of flowers and gardens together with my mother's passion for both, that first inspired my desire to paint them. Having no formal training, I turned to online tutorials and have had the pleasure of weekend workshops with Melody Downie of Tauranga, and one on one with Amber Emm up in Kumeu both fantastic botanical artists. Floral and botanical art is my main choice of artwork but I love experimenting in all different types of art including landscape and abstract.

Being a perfectionist, I prefer paintings with a lot of detail as opposed to a looser style of painting. Colour and light inspire me and this is more apparent with sunlight and shadows that play when the light turns and catches onto petals and leaves. I am constantly observing nature, landscapes and surroundings in my day to day life.

I work in both acrylics and oils often with a base coat of acrylics with top layers done in fast drying oils to get the blending effects that make them come to life. I often work large canvases as the large scale is truly immersive and provides a dramatic perspective into the floral art world.

View Marion Aitken's art page