From his Smoky Ridge studio in Texas, Atkinson seeks to "capture the emotion, be it subtle or exaggerated," a pursuit that has been in evolution since he started painting as a child in the northwest Texas town of Lubbock. 

Attracted early to the study of architecture, he earned a degree from Texas Tech University, then taught and worked in the field for a time.  From the first, his art has reflected his training, experience, and wide-ranging  interests, as he creates images - buildings, oceanscapes, animals, and Southwestern landscapes - through a unique, semi-abstract style and a mastery of watercolor's "spontaneity and freedom." 

White space is an essential element of the composition that characterizes the Atkinson "look". yet, as Atkinson explains, "The white is not empty.  It is completely finished."  Treating the paper as an element of design, the artist works from one concentrated area of detail and color, leaving much of the paper white and allowing the eye to focus on the central image without intrusion from the periphery. 

The white space is defined and given direction by Atkinson's signature birds, which either sweep towards the center of interest or decrease in size as they go back into the painting, drawing the eye into, or out of, the painting, and thus completing it for the viewer.