Patrick Mitchell

I paint and draw subject matter that has personal significance – friends and family, places where I run, myself. For me, painting and drawing is a means of acting on my experience. I only work from direct observation, or from drawings made from direct observation. I’m interested in translating what I see into the language of the material and exploring this language in relation to my changing perception and mental state. I repeatedly work from the same subject in the hope that I can get a better grasp of it each time, and I’m only satisfied with a painting or drawing when it works and feels cohesive, but at the same time seems spontaneous in how it is constructed: it reflects my immersion in the experience and looks like a moment.

The works here were made at home or in my studio space: the former in artificial light, the walls painted blue; the latter in natural light and the walls alternately white or grey depending on the weather. The two landscapes were painted from drawings made outside, near to where I live: different parts of my running route.