Lakeland Posters

You've got to be either a really successful artist or a financially sound individual to be able to follow your own dreams and inspiration while not being concerned about the issue of earning a living. Since I am neither of those, I have to think about the commercial side of my work. As such, I have been working on producing more "tourist based" posters for the Lake District, not just in style but also in price.

Over the years I have loved visiting the Alps, particularly Switzerland. Visit any typical Swiss souvenir shop and amongst the postcard section will be numerous cards of retro vintage posters from the 30s to 50s. I always find myself captivated by the designs and deco styles of these cards and have always wanted to do the same for British places. Unfortunately, several artists have beaten me to that idea and there are a few different versions available. However, I've come up with first designs that are distinctly my own and still inspired by those Swiss ones.

Below are the first four based on lakes around the Lake District: Derwent Water, Buttermere, Windermere and Grasmere. I've tried to include the essence of each lake and the memories that visitors may have from their visit so, for instance, Windermere has the famous pier at Boness, the train at Pier Head, yachts berthed in a still misty morning. Grasmere has clues to Wordsworth's famous Daffodil poem. I've tried to incorporate the lake's name in the image rather than just pasted on top.

So the idea is ( depending how well these are received over the summer) that I will produce more based on lakes, then mountains, villages and any other particular visiting points.