Kim Atkinson SWLA

Statement

Kim Atkinson's subjects are of the garden, cliffs and coast. Her work is made directly outside or in the studio, often incorporating monoprint into mixed-media pieces. The small events of local nature on farmland and coast also inform her work.

Methodology

During the past three or so years, the notes on bird sounds made in her sketchbooks have become subjects for paintings in their own right, leading to a recent collaboration with Noëlle Griffiths to make Bird Song, a limited edition handmade book of prints and writing. Atkinson keeps a Sound Diary, at present in concertina form. It has made for greater attentiveness, alertness, and perhaps a different approach to picturemaking.

Over her son’s school life she has documented as often as possible the twenty minutes or so when the bus comes, by making gouache and sometimes acrylic paintings very fast and without forethought. They are as much about the weather and light as about the changing fieldscapes over the seasons. 

She typically paints outside, from within the landscapes of Pen Llyn the rich garden in her home, or even in the seawater itself with snorkel and waterproof drawing kit! 

Bio

Her fascination with nature was nurtured by her childhood in Bardsey Island, where her parents farmed in the mid-sixties. She graduated from the Royal College in 1987, with an MA in Natural History Illustration, and moved back to Bardsey. In 1992, she became a member of SWLA, and has since joined the Artists for Nature Foundation project in various countries.