The Artist
Vibrant and talented, Edda Hadley has led a very rich and varied life around the world, which brings to her artistic skills an abundance of international flair and creativity.
Born and educated in Vienna she studied journalism and fine art, later specialising in graphic design and spatial concepts. After a spell managing a progressive advertising team, she trained in the rarely used painting technique of verre eglomise (painting in reverse and in mirror image in enamels and gold and silver leaf). She took up a career in corporate profiling in Germany and then gave it all up for, in her words, ‘a life of freedom and adventure’ moving to Thessalonica with her partner to prepare for life on a 42-foot ketch to be built in Taiwan and, using Greek art and architecture as her inspiration, to paint intensely in her chosen technique of verre églomisé combined with reverse glass painting.
Later, sailing from Taipei back to the Mediterranean, she eventually settled in Egypt with her husband where she started another intense stretch of prolific painting at the desert shores of the Red Sea and later in Cairo. That concentrated period of painting ended when she started her family. With her innate flexibility and a strong attraction to take on challenges Edda, back in England, took further education in spatial design, finished her diploma with high distinction and enjoyed running her interior design business until her final decision to return to her passion for painting.
Painting in the verre eglomise technique very much mirrors Edda’s obsession with spatial awareness and meticulous attention to detail, requiring, as it does, painting in reverse and in mirror image in enamels and gold and silver leaf. The foreground goes on first and layers are built up until the background is painted in last. If something goes wrong in the process, then the whole area has to be removed and started again.
Edda’s complex works encapsulate her adventurous life and are intensely personal by clearly expressing her enthusiasm and respect for life, surroundings and emotions.
An ardent admirer of the great Austrian painter Gustav Klimt she teams the elegance and embellishment of Art Nouveau with her typically direct and honest approach to subject matter. Each painting tells a distinct story but, at the same time, invites the viewer to step in and find their own personal story within her work.