John Campbell Mitchell, RSA (1862-1922)
John Campbell Mitchell was born in Campbeltown, Argyll. Painter in oil and occasionally watercolours; landscapes and marine scenes. He started life in a lawyer's office but at the age of 20 abandoned his legal ambition and entered Edinburgh College of Art where he worked in RSA life class and later in Paris under Benjamin Constant. On his return to Scotland 1890 he settled in Edinburgh where he remained for the rest of his life.
He painted large expanses of moorland and rolling countryuside as well as wide expanses of beach and ocean. He had a strong feeling for sunlight and fluctuating shadow. He very much enjoyed changing his technique in portraying changeable skies. In about 1904 he moved to Corstorphine, this change reflecting in his artwork: from the breezy to a more pensive sentiment.