Blonde Girl in a Purple Jacket was painted in Ethel Walker’s studio at Whitegate Cottage, Robin Hood’s Bay. She rented the property for several years before purchasing it sometime around 1915, and paid regular visits there for the purpose of painting the local scenery and people. This painting depicts a young girl, her back turned to the window immediately behind her and her gaze levelled steadily at the painter as she worked. A vase of flowers on the window ledge is severely cropped at the right-hand edge of the picture. Against the bright light of day, which causes highlights at the back and side of the girl’s blonde hair, the figure and the room are mostly depicted in atmospheric mid tones. The hue of skin and the back wall are enriched with a variety of unexpected colours. A mixture of warm pinks and cool blues create a subtle effect of vitality and suggest the instability and liveliness of light in the room. Even as she introduced non-naturalistic colours wet-on-wet, Walker successfully integrated them and sustained a naturalistic image free from distortion or exaggeration. As with all her portrayals of female sitters, the characterisation of this portrait is sensitive and evocative.