Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley Joan Eardley (18 May 1921 - 16 August 1963) was a Scottish artist.

Although Eardley was born in Sussex, England, she is known as a Scottish artist. She moved to London and sadly her father had died when she was nine in 1929. In Glasgow she bought a studio in Townhead - not in the Gorbals as is often stated. The street children of the area had an impact on her and she became well known for her paintings which depicted the poverty in which these children lived. She also bought a cottage in Catterline, Kincardineshire later on, a place which became a subject of many of her works. The sea at Catterline was one of her favourite subjects, especially in stormy weather. When she heard from local people that a storm was coming, she would get on her motor scooter and go to paint the magnificent scenes at Catterline. She is most famous for her work on Glasgow street children, and the sea at Catterline. Her work can be found in the National Galleries of Scotland as well as many other galleries across the world. She became a member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1963, just before her death.

She was an assistant to the artist, John Maxwell, when he created his famous mural in Craigmillar School dining Hall in 1930s Craigmillar, now the John Maxwell Gallery.

After her early death from breast cancer her ashes were scattered on the beach at Catterline.

Many great paintings were painted though such as two children In 2007, The family of Joan Eardley founded Eardley Editions, to promote her work and provide reproduction prints. The Eardley family retains the copyright for the works of Joan Eardley.

In 2008 a collector found a new Eardley painting hidden behind one of her framed sketches.

She did paintings such as Two children and Children and a chalk wall

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