I am passionate about land and landscape. Through my work I aim to give an unsentimental portrayal of what I see taking place in a mostly rural environment. Changes are brought about not only by nature but also by human intervention. What fascinates me about the farms and woodlands which I draw and paint are the layers of history which lie beneath our feet. Every step taken reveals another image to be documented before it changes or is lost Historian Jackie Ryan has described my work as having a 'rugged painterly quality'. John Turpin, Professor Emeritus National College of Art and Design who kindly opened a show for me wrote in 2005- 'Chris Atkins is one of a large number of English-born artists who have made a substantial contribution to the evolution of Irish landscape painting. Unlike continental modernism, heavily indebted to Cubism, English modernism has a deep engagement with landscape based on two centuries of innovated landscape art. Artists such as Chris are inheritors of that tradition.'