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Andy Beck- My Wainwrights Project. The Wainwrights....
in colour.
Inspired by the work of Master Fellwalker and artist Alfred Wainwright, Andy is undertaking the major project of producing a watercolour sketch of every illustration drawn by A.W. in his seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. Every single location of the illustrations is being meticulously researched so that Andy's references are taken form the exact location where A.W. stood to take his own black and white photographs.
Hours are spent locating the exact location of each illustration. As a keen hill-walker the fells of the Lake district is one of Andy's favourite places and being so close to hand he is able to visit the area even on short day trips. These trips are used to gather the required photographs for the project as well as ideas for other Lake District paintings. Due to the number of illustrations, more than one route on each of the 214 fells has to be undertaken and of course the weather conditions have to be favourable to allow the scene that A.W. depicted in his sketches to be viewed by Andy. The work of A.Wainwright in his seven Pictorial Guides was a thirteen year undertaking which to this day, approximately half a century later has not been bettered in its ingenuity, artistic content and detail. It is perhaps testament to the man that all 214 of the fells depicted in the volumes have become known under the collective name "The Wainwrights".
The development of this project has been on going for the past three years. "It has never been my intention for the project to be seen as copying the work of A.W., 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."
Gladstone's Finger, Crinkle Crags. On completion of the project a major exhibition will be held at a venue in the Lake District. It is planned that this event will be in October 2009. Prior to that time none of the completed works will be for sale but they will be for view either through this website or at The Teesdale Gallery. Take a look at the Frequently Asked Questions page for more information on the project. 20th. December 2008 updated: Will there be a book on the project? Work in Progress Work in progress: Dove Crag 1 Recently uploaded: Red Screes 4 The 214 Wainwrights are listed below in table form in seven sections equivalent to each pictorial guide. Dates are shown for when the hill was walked for this project. Page numbers are included when the image for that page has been produced. Please note: As this project is in its early stages as far as the finished sketches are concerned, you will only be able to view a limited number of sketches at this time. New work is uploaded almost daily. As an example to see how each fell will look when complete, go to "Armboth Fell", Book 3, The Central Fells.
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