Phillipa Atkinson (b. 1994) is an Australian plein-air painter based in Amsterdam. She works in surrender to the elements, forging a relationship with the present moment. Her sun-rendered satin scenes are backdrops to longing: for role, for place, for sanctuary.
Phillo Works
Kanonnenloods 24
1505RX Zaandam
The Netherlands
KVK 94555656
BTW NL005090776B69
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Catalogue
Shadows slept below
120x150x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
Light reflects off a dusky gardenscape. Vines of gesture tangle around a proudly upright composition. A central, oversized leaf shines like a shied.
Rose-pleated (01)
140x250x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
A wild rose offeres shade to an audience of one. Ink mixed with pond water bleeds over faintly articulated lines. A faded theare set peice, discovered after many seaons of dis-use.
Rose-pleated (02)
140x250x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
The second sister. Ribbons of line fall from a single stamen, like a shooting star. Its faded glory still twinkles in shades of plum. Ink blooms like fruit stains on a napkin.
A coin not spent
55x55x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
Hesitantly symmetrical, a single botanical gesture contained in serifed edges. Frosty pinks, coppers, and greens reflect the early-spring days in which it was made.
Old thorns from new stems
100x80x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink and chalk pastel on Duchess satin
Reflected on a diagonal axis, a bramble looks upon itself. Quick-scattering pastel marks trail like beetles across the satin.
Foxglove, half-drawn 01
80x180x4,5
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
Reaching upwards, a skirted foxglove forms half an embrace. Muddied edges, a sun-bleached centre. Painted on an overgrown June day, green imprints onto the satin like grass stains on a child’s knees.
Foxglove, half-drawn 02
100x80x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
A second panel completes the embrace. Pink bleeds shyly, as it does in clover. Articulated leaves build upwards without a strong foundation. Their stained-glass architecture is won only momentarily.
Petalled 01
40x40x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
A hopeful composition of sparse lines. Ink bleeds into a family of forms; a single flower grows from the light.
Bellrose
40x50x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
The first work of the February sun. Cloudless sky. An iridecent sun dog rewards faith in the un-doubting, forgetful application of ink.
This crowning bitterness
230x130x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
A fan, crown, or sunrise opens in anticipation. Memorised botanical gestures guide the journey in. Over time, immaterial backdrops to the artist’s fantasies arrange into familiar forms.
Untrained vine
40x44x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
Made just after a trip to Australia: an attempt to prolong incredible, passion fruit sunsets. In our familiar Iluka, uneventful days are bookended by the sun’s panoramic theatre.
Half-inclined to fancy
180x130x4,5
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
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The viewer is small in this make-believe scene, though entirely safe. Their welcome gift is a tangle of petals and ribbons.
Kinsman of indifference
300x100x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
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A taught satin “U” holds the contents of the painting like cradled arms. Heady inked gesture tangles around a botanical motif, signalling disruption.
I will ease my heart
100x105x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
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An inverted “U” shape borrows its proportions from a hearth. Magnetic in its symbology—transformation, rebirth—the fireplace poses an invitition to crawl inside, accross a threshhold.
Thieves of the days beauty
55x55x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
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An atmosphere so delicate it could blow away in the wind. Here, a spiderweb is tethered to woody botanicals like glass in lead.
Hours were cups
130x165x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
Measuring precisely the artist’s height, an archway invites entry to a place of memory and sanctuary. A perfect fit, available always.
Holy Fields
80x55x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink, charcoal, oil stick & chalk pastel on Duchess satin
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The artist’s initials, P.A., serve to anchor a journey in. One of the first demarcations of identity given to us as children. Scrawled in permanent marker on the corner of a tempera finger painting, the name marks the end of fantasy, a return to the real-world.
Tuesday Morning
40x55x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink on Duchess satin
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The window: a delicate veil between interior and exterior, here and there. Faint colour application suggests that this frame is a temporary apparition.
Yesternight
40x55x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink, charcoal & chalk pastel on Duchess satin
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Ecstatic charcoal gestures conjure information from a faint, umber scene. The text below, reading “matriarch in waiting” speaks to a state of becoming, of biding time.
Night-tripping
55x70x4,5cm
UV-sensitive ink, charcoal & chalk pastel on Duchess satin
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A composition of undergrowth—a dense, sheltered hideaway. Drawn to accommodate the scale of a small creature, at home in an ever-changing landscape.
Copyright Phillipa Atkinson, 2025Instagram