Beth Tidmarsh's Shades of Home Lake District artwork

Shades of Home is the title of my large-scale grid drawing of the Lake District, consisting of 247 Lake District views and landmarks.

Having grown up in the Lake District, this piece of work has been my passion project (and biggest lesson in patience!) for over a year now. I am so pleased to be able to share the finished drawing with you.

Taking inspiration from a digital print of all 214 Wainwrights by The Northern Line, I was motivated to make something of similar scale, but wanted to include a wider range of places that represent the Lake District; places special to both me and other people and equally, largely staying within my ‘safe-zone’ of drawing building commissions. I wanted to see if I could apply the same techniques to more landscape-style images.

Consequently, the completed drawing includes a variety of iconic buildings, lakes, waterfalls, viewpoints, and walking routes in addition to Alfred Wainwright’s beloved peaks. While I don’t think I can rival the famous Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, I like to think I have paid homage to Wainwright’s original pen and ink sketches with some of my own monochrome versions.

Starting the grid (Image: Beth Tidmarsh)

14 months ago, I stepped into Youdells art shop in Kendal and asked for the biggest piece of paper they had – which was far more daunting when I got home and sat staring at it taped to the wall of my spare room, wondering where on earth to start. Having spent most of 2025 drawing standalone parts of the Lake District for my series of cards (and more importantly, the puns that came with them!) I was keen to challenge myself with a much bigger project. So, after a lot of measuring out and some terrible maths, my A1 piece of paper was split into a 13 by 19 grid of 4cm-by-4cm squares.

Slowly but surely, juggling drawing alongside my NHS career, I began adding locations to the grid in March 2025. The first square was Derwentwater Jetty (78) and the last square was the Helvellyn ‘hole in the wall’ stile (127). All 247 drawings are made from a photo reference – either my own photos, those people sent in on social media or from the many hours I spent scouring Google for the perfect image. I kept a record of each location as I went and accumulated a full list or ‘key’ of grid squares so I could keep track – which has proved very useful for when people come to see the drawing and I can’t remember them all!

In terms of the actual drawing process, I would sketch out rough outlines for each square with pencil, before adding pen and ink. Each individual drawing took approximately one to two hours to complete, depending on the level of detail – Warnscale Bothy in miniature is a lot more challenging than you’d think! The completed drawing took roughly 300 hours to finish, but many more hours researching, plotting locations and endlessly messaging family and friends when I got stuck – choosing the last 10 squares is almost entirely thanks to my parents!

Shades of Home locations list (Image: Beth Tidmarsh)

Shades of Home locations list (Image: Beth Tidmarsh)

What has made Shades of Home so enjoyable for me is that it became such an interactive process over time – all the suggestions and encouragement I received certainly kept me motivated when I was at only 12/247 squares and questioning my sanity. Some examples of the locations sent to me include favourite dog walks, the church where friends were married, places people remember loved ones, a New Year’s Eve bothy celebration and trig points where people got engaged. While Shades of Home very much started as a personal project, I like to think that it became so much more than that as it progressed – and represents all the tiny pockets of the Lake District that make up the beautiful place so many of us call home.

Since finishing this project, I have begun working on a limited-edition series of prints. Keen to work with local businesses, I have consulted Cumbrian photographers, designers, and printers to help me scan the drawing, which took a lot longer than expected given the size and very tiny details.

A big thank you to Chris Holmes photography, SID designs in Staveley and the brilliant Ben Dodge for his giclée expertise and enduring my many test prints last thing on a Friday. Shades of Home truly is a Cumbrian piece of work from start to finish and I am very grateful for the help I have had along the way. As I type, my very first large-scale fine art print is also being framed by Peter at Signature Framing in Kendal – and I implore you to head his way if you decide to order your own copy! All prints will come with a certificate of authenticity and my full list of all 247 locations, so you can identify each square and find all your favourites.

Drawing Buttermere and Skiddaw (Image: Beth Tidmarsh)

In addition, I will also be doing an artist in residence at Another Place hotel this summer, which is both exciting and terrifying in equal measures – for someone who has spent years drawing for fun alongside my NHS career, I never would have dreamed of people actually coming to see my art in person.

During the weekend of June 19 to 21, Shades of Home will be on display at Another Place and I will be drawing parts of the hotel and discussing my work and sketchbooks with guests and visitors.

I’m so excited for people to see the finished drawing and to release prints and I hope this artwork acts as a reminder of favourite places wherever you may be and that you enjoy Shades of Home as much as I have enjoyed drawing it. In the meantime, I am looking forward to projects with local businesses this year. If you have any ideas or suggestions that you would like to collaborate on, please get in touch via @bethdrawsbuilings or bethdrawsbuildings@gmail.com – I would love to hear from you!

‘During the weekend of June 19 to 21, Shades of Home will be on display at Another Place and I will be drawing parts of the hotel and discussing my work and sketchbooks with guests and visitors’

Shades of Home (Image: Beth Tidmarsh)