Eden Kötting

Eden was born in London 23 years ago and from a very early age she has enjoyed drawing and painting, especially with her father. Together they have had exhibitions in the UK and France. She began working at Project Art Works in 2010 as part of the mentoring group.

Eden has settled in well with the group and enjoys the busy atmosphere of artistic endeavour. She is working a lot more with paint and canvas and has been inspired by the rigour and focus of the studio. The rest of the artists have made her feel very at home and Wednesday is always a highlight of her week. She loves being with others that are also concentrating on their work. She has a great sense of humour and spends a lot of her time listening to conversations, smiling to herself or laughing out loud.

Eden lives in St Leonards with her family and enjoys lots of artistic activities including drumming, pottery, dancing and performance. She is also a keen swimmer. Her favourite music is by Abba, Bob Marley, Elvis Presley and Mowtown. Sometimes she manages to sneak some of it onto the CD player at Project Art Works so that she can sing along with it accompanied by John Croft.

Eden loves to paint objects that she ha chosen from 'Still Life' but sometimes she might also choose to paint images from her head. Her visual impairment influences the way she sees the world and she has worked hard to develep her abilities to look carefully at what she sees. She plans out her drawings in pen or pencil before adding plenty of colour. Working in the studio has enabled her to expand her range of mark making as well as her painting skills. The discipline required to remain focussed on a piece of work over several weeks has been challenging but ultimately very rewarding.

Eden says:

"I like drawing because it makes me feel good. It makes me feel big and I am happy when i am drawing. I like people looking at my paintings and drawings. I like writing on my drawings. I like working with Charlie at Project Art Works and with daddy in his studio. I am happy, happy, happy."