Stannage Edge
Painting with the climbers!!
I’ve always loved the Peak District and ridden my bike through the landscape countless times over the years, it seemed an obvious place to go to start my en-plein air project for semester 2 at Uni. After a 30 min scramble up to the Edge from the car park I set myself up in what I thought was a quiet spot, nestled under the rock face. An hour or so into the first pen and ink sketch I was ambushed by a group of retired medics, all climbers who proceeded to climb around me, above me with a non stop commentary on hand holds and named ascents. The peace was shattered! But we got chatting, I finished my work, they finished their climb and we all went home happy.
Full scale pen & ink wash 240cm x 106cm
The plan was to produce an expansive landscape on a grand scale inspired by Hockney’s A Bigger Grand Canyon (1998) painted on x60 canvases. My Stannage Edge piece was to be painted on x8 canvases based on the above full scale drawing. I went back to the Edge for 2 more visits, and I have to say in January in the cold this was challenging, not least getting all my gear up to the painting spot. So battling the cold and the wind I set about completing more sketches, draft paintings and working on the 8 canvases.
Coping with the cold on the Edge
After a few visits to the Edge and working from reference photos in my studio I completed an x8 canvas acrylic painting 240 cm wide by 100cm tall, screwed together with wooden battens on the back of the canvases. I tried to convey the sense of scale and drama of the place, the foreground detail of rocks and grinding stones creating a cliff edge to fall into the painting from. The colour of the piece adds to the drama and as they fade into the distance you get a sense of space. The road climbs from the valley up to the top of the Edge and on to Ringinglow. Hathersage is off to the right.
After several weeks of work I am happy with the finished painting that then inspired a series of collagraph prints and two ceramic pieces that echo the craggy grit stone forms of the Edge. I am going to talk to businesses in Hathersage to see if they would like to exhibit it.
Stannage Edge. Acrylic on x8 canvases 240 cm x 100 cm
