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Adding colour to famous Alfred Wainwright views
Sep 22, 2009
AN artist from Barnard Castle is nearing the end of a mammoth project to bring colour to Alfred Wainwright’s pen-and-ink sketches of the Lake District.
Three years ago, Andy Beck began painting the 1,502 scenes that were originally captured by Wainwright in his seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, which have been fondly used by walkers for decades.
The artist, who owns The Teesdale Gallery, hopes to finish most – if not all – of the paintings and is holding an exhibition at Rheged, near Penrith, in October.
Mr Beck said: “It has never been my intention for the project to be seen as copying the work of AW – an impossible task – more as a matter of interest as how his sketches compare to today’s scenes.
“Standing on the exact spot where he stood every time is not only a sense of achievement to me but also a feeling of closeness to the man and his work.”
Mr Beck stumbled on the idea of recreating Wainwright’s work when he painted a small picture of a Cumbrian fell in 2006.
“I thought, ‘That’s interesting – it just looks like something out of his books’. Then I started painting all of Wainwright’s sketches. No one had ever thought of it before, but how it came about was a pure fluke,” Mr Beck said.
The artist has revisited the exact locations chosen by Wainwright for his sketches. From photographs taken at the scenes, Mr Beck recreates the view in watercolour.
However, Wainwright’s depictions weren’t always accurate.
“They’re not exact – there are a few exaggerations and even the odd mountain missing from the background. But AW didn’t think anyone would do what I have done,” he said.
Wainwright was also four inches taller than Mr Beck – and if that fact isn’t taken into account, the perspective of the watercolours will be different from the originals.
Mr Beck even goes as far as trying to capture the exact season in which Wainwright did his pen-and-ink sketches.
The watercolours will be available to buy at the exhibition, which is on until mid-November. Prices for the finished works range from under £200 to more than £2,500.
With less than two months to go until the exhibition, Mr Beck admits that the “pressure is on” to complete the project.
But he said his Wainwright mission has been worth the effort.
“
The finished works look quite special, even if I do say myself,” he beamed.