Jane Mitchell

I loved art at school but was unable to pursue this as a career at that time. However I continued to draw and paint, attending many evening and weekend classes and workshops. I worked through the OCA painting courses and this positive experience gave me confidence in my work and encouraged me to change direction. Following a diverse career in teaching, administration and politics, I decided to return to study art full-time.

My portfolio of work from the OCA courses enabled me to gain a place on the Foundation Studies course at Leith School of Art, Edinburgh and I then went on to complete an Honours Degree in Fine Art (Drawing and Painting) at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee. As I student, I won several awards and prizes, including the RSA Landscape Award at the RSA Annual Student’s Exhibition. I found it fulfilling to work as a mature student, as I had more life experience to draw on for my studies, and it was inspiring to work with young, dynamic contemporary artists in the college environment.

Since graduating I have worked as a practising artist to commission and have participated in group exhibitions throughout the UK. My paintings hang in corporate and private collections throughout Scotland. I have also been a tutor of Drawing and Painting with the OCA since July 2004 and I continue to work with Leith School of Art, acting as administrator during their Summer School.

Statement of Practice

The subject matter of my work deals with ruin and destruction, reinforced and informed by my visit to Chernobyl in June 1988, two years after the nuclear disaster occurred. My work examines the unseen threat of radiation and the negative impact of humanity on the environment, looking in particular at abandoned ruined buildings, debris and contaminated trees and the ability of nature to reassert itself and heal the landscape.

I work in gouache on a small scale and in oil on a larger scale, and my paintings range in size from 6cm wide to 6 feet. I also work with pastel and charcoal and I like to experiment in mixed media and with different methods of printmaking, especially etching and linocut. I particularly admire Japanese printmaking. I work from fragments of photographs, drawing over black and white photocopies, to find the composition. I work slowly as my paintings are meticulously planned and they are time-consuming to complete.

In order to present the threatening, sinister subject of radioactivity, fire and destruction as a benign or attractive image, I use the ideas of camouflage and dazzle painting to break up and simplify shapes and tones. This produces an abstracted hard-edged image, retaining traces of the representational scene on which it is based, and the finished work becomes a hybrid of photography and painting.