Last year Stuart Storey the ‘Official Artist of the Fred Whitton Challenge’ & ‘Friend of the Fred’ created the first limited edition print for the Wheelbase Fred Whitton Challenge – all 50 sold and with 10% of all sales going to the Fred charities – some good money was raised.
This year Stuart has been developing the new picture and we caught up with him to understand the process and get the big reveal:
Tell us about your inspiration for this years print?
Most of my works starts with personal inspiration – I rode the Fred in September 2020, so all it’s key climbs and descents are indelibly burned into my memory!
Hardknott is the iconic climb of the event, the 2022 print was based on the lower Hardknott hairpin looking west, this time I wanted to use the top Hairpin looking to the summit of Hardknott Pass – the bit that feels like it will never end!
Can you tell us more about developing the painting
It all starts with some sketches…
When I am happy with the composition I then set about creating the painting. In this case I worked on A3 acrylic paper.
I start with a base design marked in pen which ensures the proportions are right. I then build some colour washes in acrylics, taking care to paint in the direction of the contours of the land.
When the landscape is shaped out, I then develop the riders – it’s easy to get this wrong and they really do make or break the piece.
From here it is a case of building layer after layer to build depth, light & shadows until the picture really sings.
When happy with the picture, I then added the route profile – another ‘make or break’ moment! The peaks are all annotated – so it’s important to get the spelling right!
The finished painting is then professionally photographed and the image is optimised for printing on high quality 350GSM card. Each print is then inspected, hand signed and numbered and mounted and framed in a white frame.
Great! So how does someone go about getting one?
You can buy through my website www.stuartstoreyart.com or at the event weekend in May 2023 (subject to availability – I sold out by mid-afternoon on the event day).
Naturally there is only one original, it’s mounted and framed in a 42cm x 52cm white frame – and that is available to buy for £295, follow the link below:
The framed A4 print is a limited edition run of 100, and they are each available to buy for £85 each, find it by following the link below:
https://www.stuartstoreyart.com/product-page/the-fred-whitton-challenge-hardknott-hairpins-le-print
10% of all sales go to the Fred Whitton charities – so whilst marking your achievement, you are also helping the charities that the event supports.