Stuart Atkinson was well known in Guernsey as a watercolour artist and his paintings hang in countless homes, while some are held by Guernsey Museum at Candie. He died in 2023 at the age of 83 and his wife, Canda, is arranging a final exhibition and retrospective of his work near her home in Suffolk. However, she is keen for some of his paintings of the Bailiwick to return to the island.
‘While sorting out his studio I unearthed some spectacular Guernsey watercolours which have never been seen before,’ she said. ‘Stuart had such a following and I wanted Guernsey people to have the chance of acquiring these paintings and seeing them before they are included in his memorial exhibition. It just seemed right that they return to the island.
’ ‘Stuart loved Guernsey – he spent many hours out painting in the open air – and surely as an artist was spoilt by so many beautiful views. He was so clever at capturing light through the use of translucent watercolour.’ The seven paintings include depictions of a ‘race squall over Herm’, Brehon Tower and Bordeaux Harbour.
Mr Atkinson lived in Guernsey from 1969 until 1995, gaining a reputation as one of the leading Channel Island artists, known for producing landscapes that captured the ever-changing skies around local shores. In 1995 the couple moved to Suffolk, where Mr Atkinson continued to paint, specialising in coastal and estuary landscapes with the famous ‘huge skies’ of East Anglia, but still returned to Guernsey to paint. Failing sight and growing frailty prevented him from painting in the final years of his life.
‘Stuart was a free spirit and I think this shows in his paintings,’ said Mrs Atkinson. ‘When the sight in one eye started failing he found it so frustrating that he was no longer able to find that joy and freedom of expression that painting had given him.’ Mrs Atkinson said this final exhibition on 2 and 3 November in Woodbridge in Suffolk was a tribute to Stuart and the result of a thorough search in his studio where beautiful works were found tucked away in drawers and under half-finished canvasses.
The paintings can be viewed online at www.sherwilldesign.com.
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