One of the north’s greatest living landscape painters is set to feature in a new exhibition in Grasmere.
Works by Donald Wilkinson will be on show at the archive gallery at the Heaton Cooper Studio.
Donald Wilkinson was born in Keswick and studied at Carlisle College of Art from 1953-1957 and then at the Royal College of Art, 1959-62, where he was awarded the Andrew J. Lloyd scholarship for landscape.
His work mainly focuses on the landscape of the Lake District and is noted for light effects achieved in the atmospheric landscapes.
He says that he has been looking at and drawing landscapes for as long as he can remember.
“All the work in this exhibition is about the Cumbrian landscape – the fells here in the Lakes or the Solway coastline. Both are places I have known all my life.
“I spend a great deal of time working in the landscape, often returning to the same location over a period of time to watch the changes that the weather and the season have on a particular place,” he said.
Wilkinson says that his early memories are of being taken for walks among the fells or having picnics by the beck in the Mosedale Valley, below Carrock Fell.
“This still remains a special place for me where I continue to return to draw. I tend to work in the autumn, winter or early spring and like to find somewhere I can tuck myself away so that I can concentrate on the drawing without being distracted.
“When I begin working in a chosen landscape, I spend time looking, trying to really understand the essence of the place. I make drawings in sketchbooks as I move through the landscape as well as taking photographs and working on larger drawings on location. I work very quickly because for me the important thing is to express the elusiveness of the light either on the land or the water.
“I often make a series of large drawings in the landscape in one session as well as the briefer sketchbook studies. These are sometimes in colour using pastels or watercolours and sometimes in charcoal. Once I am back in the studio, I spread out the results and away from the landscape I will assess the works in their own right,” he said.
For many Wilkinson worked as a printmaker focusing on making etchings. “I still enjoy the experience of printmaking and some of the works in this exhibition are a combination of monoprint and pastel,” he said.
“I enjoy the directness of the medium, making marks using cotton rag, ends of brushes or fingers before printing onto large sheets of paper. Each one is unique and I enjoy responding to the unexpected happenings integral to printmaking using pastel.”
The exhibition is curated by fellow artist Julian Cooper who said: “Donald Wilkinson is now 84 but doing his best work ever, in my opinion. This is going to be a very important show.”
The exhibition opens on September 16 and runs until the end of November.
