The Bob Graham Round, The Lake District
' Into Deep Gill, it was dry underfoot and the wind howled through the gullies. We made good progress until a shout of 'rock' heralded a huge fall of stones and boulders. We were pleased to leave the Rake and ascend to Mickledore. It was a relatively quick rocky clamber to Scafell Pike. '
Lake District Mountain Landscape Paintings
from
The Bob Graham Round & 13 Valleys Ultra
The Inspiration
Elaine's Lake District & Bob Graham Round Story
After falling in love with the Lake District as a child, Elaine returned as a fell-walker and then discovered fell and ultra running. She started disappearing frequently to the Lakes doing recces and supporting others on their Bob Graham Round attempts, eventually successfully completing her own attempt in 2018 with the support of her new fellrunning family.
The Bob Graham Round is a classic challenge for fell runners. It consists of running 42 summits covering 66 miles within 24 hours. It starts and finishes at Moot Hall, Keswick. It is usually run supported by a team of like-minded individuals and it is a very tough but rewarding initiation into the world of fellrunning and off-road ultrarunning.
Why? The joy of running over the fells, the amazing views, seeing the changing weather and seasons, struggling in difficult conditions overhead and underfoot and feeling alive and connected to the landscape. Elaine captures all of this on canvas, with expressive brushstrokes, strong colours and a feeling of change and movement.
This collection of Lake District paintings, has evolved and grown since those early days on the fells. It includes some of Elaine's favourite places to escape to, such as Helvellyn, Blencathra, Great Gable and Scafell Pike. Every day and every run in the Lake District brings new vistas, different skies and varying emotions. This inspires the creation of alternate versions of the same fell, peak and summit but with altered perspective and perception. For example, the two paintings of Scafell Pike, 'Bloody Boulders, Ruddy Rocks' has the passion, fire and movement of the day when Elaine took on this challenge and battled against rocky terrain to get to the top. The piece entitled 'With Purpose and Intent' captures a recce on a wintery day with snow kissing the peaks and ridgelines and a feeling of peace and calm determination. This is the joy and beauty in both running on these mountains and capturing them on canvas at that moment in time.
All of these paintings have been inspired by her real life experiences, challenges and struggles in the mountains and valleys. All of them are drawn from witnessing first hand, these beautifully brutal and wonderfully wild places. They are created from her own photographs and memories of those moments.
These paintings are available to buy as original artworks with bespoke framing or as limited edition fine art prints with a choice of sizes and frames. Gallery Shop