WALKING enthusiasts should relish a forthcoming talk in Otley by artist Andy Beck.

Andy was inspired by the work of famed fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator Alfred Wainwright to undertake a major, decade-long project.

The result, published in 2017 as The Wainwrights in Colour, features watercolour sketches of every illustration drawn by Wainwright in his seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells.

Every single location of the illustrations was meticulously researched so that Andy’s references were taken from the exact spots where Wainwright stood to take his own black and white photographs.

The project, resulting in 1,500 sketches, took over ten years to complete and the artist describes his watercolours as a ‘homage’ to Wainwright.

He said: “It has never been my intention for the project to be seen as copying the work of Alfred Wainwright (an impossible task) - more as a matter of interest as how his sketches compare to today’s scenes.

“Standing on the exact spot where he stood every time produces not only a sense of achievement in me but also a feeling of closeness to the man and his work.”

Andy’s success in depicting all 214 fells featured in the guides resulted in local and national media attention when The Wainwrights in Colour book was published in May, 2017, as a limited edition of only 5,000 signed and numbered copies.

The book has since won the title of Outdoor Book of the Year 2017 in the TGO Readers Awards and been chosen as the BBC Countryfile Magazine Book of the Year.

Andy will talk about he undertook the work, and show examples, when he gives a presentation at Otley Courthouse on Friday, January 18.

Tickets for the talk, which starts at 7.30pm, cost £10 for adults or £8 for concessions and can be booked by visiting www.otleycourthouse.org.uk, calling (01943) 467466, or popping into the Courthouse, on Courthouse Street.