Haystacks

Famously Wainwright's favourite fell, this illustration is a bit of a dedication to the mountain and the man.  I'd planned to do the whole thing with dip pen and Indian ink but you can probably see from this picture that where I used it on the left hand picture, it bled.  Thankfully, I took a picture of the spices on the reverse before they were ruined.  But, that's another lesson learned.  Yesterday I learned not to use coloured pencils in my Moleskine. Today I learned no dip pen.  Ah well, the Micron and Pitt Pens seem to be performing well.  The right hand page was drawn with Micron 05 and the coloured parts use Pitt brush pens - which don't bleed!  Yeay!

     

The right hand page has sections illustrating the different aspects of the mountain.  You will see all of these on your way up - the tufty grass, Lake Buttermere, the resident sheep and of course the rain.  Then there is a section of text from The North Western Fells where Wainwright describes the fell.  If you haven't read any of Wainwrights books on the fells, then I can wholly recommend them.  Even if you never visit the Lake District, they are a masterclass in landscape illustration and each one is a book to treasure.  

Wainwright's beautiful illustrations and text