Cumberland Drawings 2020 - 2023

Exhibition at Archive Gallery, Heaton Cooper Studio, Grasmere. 22nd Sept - end Nov 2023

Work will be available to buy from the Heaton Cooper Studio from 22nd.

I first came to Loweswater 30 years ago when I met my husband. His family have deep roots here. He showed me around - took me to the lake, up the fells, looking for crystals in the disused mines, picking bilberries and fishing. He showed me all the things he loved about this place. And for a long time, it always felt like his place. We’d row up and down the lake, fishing for char, sometimes for so long that I thought I’d die of boredom. Going down to the river was for evenings when the midges were terrible, and the goal of many a walk was a Douglas fir plantation to hang about in the gloom and look at growth rates.

It was only when the children got older, and I started to take myself off drawing, that I began to see and move about in this landscape differently. I began to see it and inhabit it in my own way, looking at shapes, colour, plants and light. Seeking places to draw that offer shelter in the winter or shade in the summer. Finding the best place to see the midsummer sunset or the perfect spot from which to draw the January full moon rise. There are things, like the lone thorn at the bottom of Low Fell or the sagging zig-zag of wall behind the house, that I’ve drawn over and over again. There are places that I’ll never tire of, like the curve of the fold of the ground above the beck or the constantly changing light on Grasmoor.

The Lake District- famous holiday destination - much written about, endlessly photographed and painted, ceaselessly trampled on, bicycled over and swum in. We all see it differently. There are as many different points of view as there are people, from Chris and Susan making a living farming in the fells to the hoteliers and tea shop owners, the retirees, the second homeowners, those seeking tranquillity - or thrills - or romance, the foodies, the health freaks, the litterers, the idiots and the dog walkers. The whole world is here, everyone’s got a view. To add to the cacophony, here are my drawings of a farm in the fells.