Here are some sketches from my first week or so at Cambo – see previous post about my residency or in my newsletter number 6 – a link is attached on my About Me page of this website. The weather is everything when working outside because I sit still and look, and look, for many minutes or maybe even hours because that is what it is all about for me. So I have been wrapped up in layers of clothes and even fingerless gloves. The bare winter trees, springing into life after the winter, and the bright spring bulbs are just looking fabulous at the moment. These mixed media sketches below may be developed further into new pieces or oil paintings in time for my exhibition at Cambo in the early autumn. I like the contrast between the greys of the dead wood and the fresh colours of new growth. I have seen quite a bit of birdlife too including tree sparrows, blue tits, jackdaws, buzzards, bumble bees and also a butterfly – flying too fast to identify.
philippa mitchell artist 