A Q+A with Aida: Landscapes, Sustainability and Growth

Aida Smith, celebrated for her evocative still life paintings, embarks on a new artistic chapter with a shift toward landscapes. This latest collection offers deeply personal works that capture the essence of the two places she calls home.

With a strong commitment to sustainability and an intuitive approach to painting, Aida invites us into her creative world. In this Q+A, we explore the influence of place, the challenges of evolving styles, and the emotions that drive her work.

Your landscapes are deeply personal, spanning your two homes of New Zealand and the United States. How do these places shape your artistic vision?

I grew up in the far northeastern United States, as far from New Zealand as you can get in the country. Now I live in Kaitoke, a rural area between Wellington and the Wairarapa, in the foothills of the Tararuas. My place of origin and my current home have so many similarities: stretches of rocky coast, long sandy beaches, and a deep-rooted rural heart. Even in their architecture, you can see the shared British colonial history.

I believe that when you live somewhere, that place becomes part of you. Even when you leave, it calls you back. When I paint landscapes, I’m interested in capturing the places that have shaped me. I paint from sketches and photos I’ve taken, and I’m just beginning to experiment with en plein air painting.

Sustainability is at the heart of your practice. Can you share more about how this influences your process?

I spent years trying to figure out how to make art in a way that felt both fulfilling and environmentally responsible. I initially learned with acrylics but was uncomfortable with their plastic base. I experimented with watercolor and gouache, which were lower-impact but lacked the texture I love. Since I work from a home studio, I hesitated to use oils, assuming they required solvents. However, after some deep research, I discovered solvent-free oil painting techniques, and I was completely hooked.

I use professional-quality artist oils (Langridge, Winsor & Newton Artists Oils) and start with a thin underpainting in a fast-drying pigment like burnt sienna. Then, I build up thicker layers of oil paint without thinning them with mediums.

I clean my brushes with a cotton rag, allowing it to dry until it’s stiff before disposal. Between sessions, my brushes stay wet in a jar of safflower oil, and I wash them about once a month with a non-solvent cleaner. I also choose linen as my canvas for its fine texture, durability, and lower environmental impact.

I don’t varnish my paintings, as it requires solvents. Instead, I embrace the slow curing process of oil paint, allowing it to breathe naturally. My studio has a faint linseed oil scent near my palette but is otherwise odor-free, a peaceful, safe space to create.

This collection marks a shift from still life to landscapes. What inspired this new direction?

While people may know me for my still life work, I’ve always painted both still life and landscapes. Last year, I focused on exhibiting still life paintings created from direct observation, but I constantly felt drawn to landscapes, they wanted to come out! I see my still life pieces as “tablescapes,” composed similarly to landscapes.

Landscapes present a unique challenge, which excites me as an artist. Many of these works are larger in scale and include architectural elements that once intimidated me. I don’t over-plan my subjects; rather, they reveal themselves to me. I’ve heard sculptors say the same, they uncover what the material wants to be. I follow that pull, allowing an image to emerge and persist until I paint it.

My work moves between loose and realistic styles. There’s a gravitational pull toward realism, and I spend significant energy resisting it to maintain a looseness in my brushwork. I call my style “imperfect realism,” influenced by artists like Lois Dodd, Rita Angus, and Fairfield Porter; painters who embraced representational art when abstraction dominated the art world.

You had two extremely successful shows last year and are a finalist in the Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards this year. How does that kind of recognition motivate or challenge you as an artist?

I’m incredibly honoured when someone brings one of my paintings into their home. I have pieces from other artists in my space, and I know the joy they bring me. There’s something special about original art something personal in the artist’s hand that connects us.

Being named a finalist in the MMCA was a surprise and a delight. It reinforces my commitment to painting from the heart.

When I’m in the studio, I’m not thinking about sales or recognition. I’m immersed in the process, considering techniques, compositions, or colour relationships. I think about the place I’m painting; how the air felt, what it smelled like, who I was with, and my emotions at that moment. My goal is to distill the depth of human experience; love, comfort, longing, into a two-dimensional space.

What do you hope viewers will feel or take away from your work in this exhibition?

I hope people connect with my work, whether through the place depicted or the emotions woven into the image.

Painting, for me, is a form of communication. If a piece isn’t gentle to the viewer, I don’t want to spend time creating it. We live in a world full of tragedy and stress. I’m intentional about making my work an antidote to that. My goal is to offer a moment of reflection, calm, and connection, something that can bring a quiet sense of joy into people’s lives.

Through this collection, Smith offers a deeply personal exploration of place, memory, and artistic evolution. Her commitment to sustainability and intuitive creative process results in work that is both thoughtful and resonant. Whether through the rugged coastlines of New Zealand or the familiar landscapes of her childhood, her paintings invite viewers to pause, connect, and find a sense of home within the art.

ARTIST BIO

Aida Smith is a self-taught oil painter whose work bridges two worlds, her birthplace in the United States and her chosen home of Wellington. For the past 17 years, these landscapes have imprinted themselves upon her, shaping a visual language that speaks to memory, belonging, and the quiet beauty of everyday scenes. Through her paintings, she weaves together personal history and the natural world, crafting an autobiography in paint.

Aida’s creative journey began when she was just ten years old, discovering the magic of black and white photography. Capturing light, shadow, and contrast through a camera lens sparked a lifelong fascination with visual storytelling. In high school and university, she explored drawing and painting, experimenting with composition and form, yet it wasn’t until years later, when her own children reached high school, that she returned fully to painting, rediscovering the deep sense of fulfillment it brought.

Sustainability is at the heart of her practice, not just in concept but in execution. She is committed to minimizing the environmental impact of her work, using solvent-free professional oil paints, working without mediums or varnishes, and choosing linen or canvas as her surfaces. This approach reflects her belief that art should exist in harmony with the world it depicts, rather than at its expense.

Although Aida has built a reputation for her delicate and evocative still life paintings, this collection marks a shift, her first dedicated exploration of landscape. Her work captures the essence of place through a softened, almost dreamlike perspective. Each painting invites the viewer to step into a world that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant, evoking a sense of nostalgia, tranquility and quiet wonder.

Her distinctive approach has gained recognition, earning her a place as a finalist in the 2025 Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards and the 2024 Wellington Regional Arts Review. These achievements reflect her growing impact in the New Zealand art scene, as she continues to evolve her practice and expand the boundaries of her artistic storytelling.

EXHIBITION STATEMENT

This collection is an exploration of the intricate relationship between humanity and the landscapes we inhabit. Aida’s paintings traverse the environments that have left an imprint on her life, Wellington’s rugged coastline, the vast, open spaces of the Wairarapa, and the rich forests and shorelines of the Northeastern United States. Though separated by oceans, these places are connected in her work through recurring elements—water, trees, homes—each serving as a visual thread tying together distant yet familiar worlds.

Her paintings are not just depictions of place; they are reflections on memory and emotion. The soft edges, luminous color palettes, and delicate play of light imbue each piece with a sense of nostalgia, as though the landscapes exist not in reality, but in recollection. They invite viewers to step into scenes that feel like half-remembered dreams—familiar, yet just out of reach.

Through this collection, she extends an invitation to pause, reflect, and connect—to recognize the landscapes we carry within us and the ways in which they shape our sense of self.