Derwentwater Fells Triptych North

The first of the modellos under-drawing  for the North wall of the Stone room shows Catbells, Skiddaw and Causey Pike. The painting is in pencil, inks and acrylics on canvas scaled to size. The completed work will be 2 metres  x 6 metres.  I am satisfied so far that I have the volume of the felss is about right and that especially for Skiddaw I've just about managed to get a hold on the topography with the focus on Grey Crags. Whatever the changing light Skidddaw is a fine looking fell due to its great height and mass but it does lack the more athletic looks of the Coledale group and its handsome neighbour  Blencathra. ..next stages are much more fun for me as as the studio gets messy and the paint flows. Turner discovered that mountains and fells look better early in the morning or late in the evening when the shadows are long Heaten Cooper and others exploited this as well. My route to finding this was more personal, caused by a lack of an ability to sleep as the sun blistered through the windows of Lord Rochdales room above the stone room at 5am throughout August.