Mountain, trail and fell running art

Here are some paintings and drawings I have made flowing out of my experiences as a mountain runner. Prints are available of all of them - just contact me for prices and I will post them to you promptly.  I also take commissions, which means that you can have an original oil painting, watercolour, acrylic or drawing to celebrate your own or a loved-one's relationship with the landscape, a favourite run, a race or successful challenge. Most of the images below are from life or memory, but I can work from and improve photos, combining images from different sources, and tailor the style and colour to arrive at something special to you that might be impractical to photograph.

Wasdale fell race finish and Sca Fell, acrylic on paper

"Past the tarn" watercolour on toned paper.

"Past the crag" watercolour on toned paper

"The Bob Graham Round: nearly there on Dale Head" Charcoal

"Reaching the trig" watercolour on toned paper

"After the race" charcoal and watercolour

"Leaping the burn" watercolour on toned paper

"Through Light" watercolour on toned paper

"Across the flow country" watercolour on toned paper

"Across the river" watercolour on toned paper

Billy Bland is one of the UK's greatest ever fell racers, especially over rough ground and long distances. He holds the record for the Bob Graham Round in the English Lake district, which he set in 1982, taking and astounding 13 hours and 53 minutes for the route 66 miles (106km) with 27,000ft (8,229m) of climbing over rough ground. I consider this to be one of the great achievements in world athletics and it deserves to be more widely known. Billy, from Borrowdale in the Lakes, also dominated classic long races in the 1980's, winning Borrowdale ten times (current record holder), Wasdale nine times (current record holder) and Ennerdale five times. He won the Lake District Mountain trial navigation event 9 times, arguably the hardest single day event in the UK and a true test of mountain skills as well as fitness. He still holds the record for the Duddon race and the traverse of the four Lake Disrict 3,000m peaks. He trained hard and long and he was a tough, no nonsense racer, sometimes deliberately taking a rougher route than necessary to shake off runners trying to follow him.

"Billy Bland on Great Gable" Acrylic on paper