Artist PJ Atkins with The Twins
Drawing on his surroundings, painter Peter (PJ) Atkins often features the King Country as his character.
“The landscape is a huge influence for me. I just love the land, I love hills. In Matiere, where I grew up, there are hills everywhere – they’re across the whole of the King Country.”
Commonly associated with realism, landscapes can also be produced in a more abstract style. Essentially, PJ portrays the soul of his subject more so than replicating surface appeal.
“I add a touch of fantasy sometimes and I’m tending to lean more towards abstract as I go along,” he said.
“Others call their work ‘abstract landscape’ too. It’s to stop people criticising because the river’s running backwards or something like that,” he said. “If you call it abstract, that covers all bases, or I should say it gives you more room for interpretation.”
In line with many landscape artists, PJ uses watercolours. However, while they add to the look of the finished work, watercolours offer other advantages too, he explained.
“I’ve always painted in watercolours, partly because they’re easy to clean up. I have dabbled in oils, and I would like to do some more, and I also use ink and coloured pencils and watercolour pencils and pens as well.”
Whichever tools he uses from his paint box, PJ is at least as interested in the journey as he is the destination.
“I just like to make a start and then see what happens. Sometimes it’s magic and sometimes it’s not, but I’m an experimenter – I just like mucking around with paint and paper.”
PJ’s mucking around began in high school under the tutelage of Second World War artist, Reverend Ted Lewis.
“I was the only one in the family who was artistically inclined. I never thought that I had much of a talent for art but other people did.
“It was at Whanganui Boys College (now Whanganui City College) in the fifth and sixth form that my interest in art was really encouraged, by the art teacher, Ted Lewis, who had a big influence on my life.”
Raised on a sheep and beef farm, PJ was destined to make a living on the land long before he became focused on landscapes.
“After I left school, I was more interested in being a hippie than having a profession. I was a shepherd for years and years. I started off here in the King Country then took shepherding jobs wherever I could.
“After I married, my wife (Christine Jorgensen) and I bought a small supermarket on the Kāpiti Coast. I also bought a rural delivery run and I did that for years.”
During this time, work and family commitments meant his art took a backseat.
“I did hardly any art at all for years, but when we moved to Hawkes Bay, I had my own studio, and that’s when I really started getting back into it.”
Five years ago, PJ and Christine moved back to the King Country settling in Maihiihi near Ōtorohanga. Now in his 70s, retirement has finally afforded him more time to pick up the brush.
Artist of the month at The Gallery Ngatea on the Hauraki Plains, PJ’s work was included in a group exhibition – his first – in Ōtorohanga and Te Awamutu late last year.
“It was great. It was really a good experience and it meant a lot to me to have my paintings up on the wall where people could see them.”
