Dragon's Back Race Day 6 - Cardiff

Cardiff Castle - where the stories will be told

How amazing it is to have a hot shower in Cardiff. Washing away the blood, sweat and tears from six days out on the Welsh mountains. Feeling a bit less feral and bit more civilised, I also treat myself to some Welsh cakes and all is good in the world once again.

Clean and well fed at the final camp in Cardiff

That being said, I was never the starving artist in camp, because the food prepared by the team every day was so good and I want to once again thank them and Ourea for the opportunity to join them this week. It has been amazing, inspiring and exhausting.

So today was about setting up and showing off what I had done over the week. There was less to inspire my paintings as we moved into Cardiff, so my focus was on giving everyone a chance to see what I'd been up to and that I'd not just been escaping to run in the mountains just for the fun of it (ok, maybe a little bit!)

I set up in the tent with a table displaying my art below the information and tracking screens. I had some great chats with runners and event team members and I was pretty happy with the display. I feel that these expressive paintings reflect the landscapes and conditions and the mood of the runner through those really tough days on the route.

My main difficulty was that I had produced so many paintings and didn't have enough space to show them as I would like. I had created some display 'shelves' which I think worked but as you see below, could only accommodate five of the paintings. My previous Dragon's Back Race paintings were displayed as limited edition A3 prints in the display rack at the front of the photo here. Other A3 canvas boards from this event are in the centre of the table with protective covers. I also brought some sample tray/floating frames that I use for the original paintings in a selection of finishes.

There's a lot going on at the finish and those that finish here are absolutely exhausted, totally spent. They don't need art to feed their souls so much as just need food to feed their depleted bodies. So, I appreciate that the art is a luxury element rather than a necessity. Despite this, I was glad to see so many runners having a look and a chat about the views and the race.

The night before, I stayed up working on two more pieces. I loved being on Drygarn Fawr so much that I wanted to capture this again (below)

This second painting (below) was the view of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) from the Pyg Track

Overall, in relation to my art, I think it went really well. From a mountain-loving ultrarunner perspective, it was awesome and I had a great time. It was tough running and working in those conditions of the first few days but that's why we do it, to overcome the challenges and come out stronger.

Next year? Will I race it or paint it?

Later today or tomorrow, I'll follow this up with a blog showing all of the work completed during this past week.

Keep an eye out for all of my Dragon's Back Race paintings as they are added to the gallery to view and for sale over the next couple of weeks.

If you are a runner or member of the event team, enjoy the well deserved rest this week.

Thank you for supporting my madness!

Elaine.