Some of you who follow me on my social media pages will be aware that recently I have been posting images of paintings of the Lakeland Fells. I have been painting the Wainwright Fells for a fair number of years now. I am not the first and will not be the last.
It began even before the idea came into my head for the Wainwrights in Colour. I often would depict the hills of the Lake District in my work for my Teesdale Gallery in Barnard Castle. It was only on completion of the whole Wainwrights in Colour project could I claim to have painted the Wainwrights, all 214 of them. Of course this was all part of the concept of the project. It hadn’t really occurred to me at the time that in doing this body of work I would perhaps be the first artist be painting the Wainwrights, all 214 fells. Maybe I didn’t see it as much of a claim, after all, AW was the first to depict them as artworks in his beautiful illustrations for the Pictorial Guides. I was just following in his footsteps with a paintbrush and not a pen.
So why am I posting the images from the project now?
Recently I was made aware of another artist who is producing a series of paintings of the Wainwright Fells. As I have said, I wasn’t the first and I won’t be the last to paint the fells. However, there was a statement on the gallery website “…to the best of our knowledge no-one has ever climbed all 214 of Alfred Wainwright’s iconic Lake District peaks, and then set out to paint each one! The effect should be spectacular, unlike anything done before.” More claims along the same lines were used to promote the exhibition.
Whilst I have no problem with artists working on their own 214 projects, some of you may recall a previous blog where another artist set out to paint them in oils just after my exhibition but this was never completed to my knowledge. As this new artist is aware, as they have followed my work on the Wainwrights in Colour, they will not be the first to paint the Wainwright fells. I am proud of what I did for the project, 10 years dedicated to a unique project is not something that I will allow to be taken away from me lightly. Their claim not only concerned me but also with others who appreciated my work.
Anyway, a few polite emails have been exchanged with the gallery and the new claim has now been withdrawn. I am happy with the outcome.
I appreciate the alert I was given by a couple of friends about this situation and am pleased at the amicable result between both parties.
The situation has made me aware though that as time moves on from the completion of the Wainwrights in Colour it can fade from people’s memory. Hence the reason why I am reposting some of the sketches from the project. We are currently in the middle of our summer show season, the interest in the Wainwrights in Colour is still great, I love talking about it and the fells. Book sales are also going well.
Of course, I continue with the Lakeland 365 project. As I have said in the past on the website, it is a slow process as I work on other subjects in my paintings. But quietly the work proceeds, two new sketches along with other prints will be on display for the first time at Ambleside Sports Day tomorrow (31/7/25).
This new project features not only me painting the Wainwrights, all 214 of them, but also the 110 Outlying Fells and well as other fells in the Lake District connected with Wainwright. Fells are being depicted as individual fell profiles, not panoramas. Quite a challenge in itself and one that not even AW completed. Wish me luck!
If you are in Cumbria over the summer why not call by to see us at one of the shows that we are attending. More information here.
Thanks for reading.
