Sue Atkinson (1949-2021) was born in Bradford, the daughter of a wool merchant, and built a following for her town and seascape paintings of ordinary people going about their lives. She once said of this:
Painting gives me the opportunity to express my enthusiasm for nature through landscapes, and observing people – with some curiosity and humour – in my conversation pieces and figure painting.
She studied art at Wakefield College of Art and worked as a journalist with the Wakefield Express before launching her career as a freelance professional artist.
Sue’s work was widely exhibited over the years, including at Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions, The New English Art Club, The Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour, The Royal Society of Marine Artists and in The Singer Friedlander/ Sunday Times Watercolour Competition.
Many of her subjects were children at play; her impressionistic work captured the uninhibited energy of them outdoors across all the seasons. She had a studio at Runswick Bay, and painted many seascape scenes in that area of the Yorkshire coastline.
Image: in a private collection
‘Hot Day at Sandsend’ (near Whitby). Image: in a private collection.
Sue won a number of prestigious awards for her work. In 1999 she was nominated South Yorkshire Artist of the Year and in the same year was awarded joint first prize at the Hull Ferens Open Exhibition. In 2000 she was the winner of the Manchester Academy Small Picture Award; other awards include: South Yorkshire Artist of the Year; and a Royal Watercolour Society Saunders Waterford Award.
She worked from a studio in the Wakefield area and was a long-time member of the Leeds Fine Art Club and the Fylingdales Group of Artists. Sue was also a former President of the Wakefield Art Club.