Five day artcast: Cumbria for Oct 31 – Nov 4

Monday 31 October and Tues 1 November: Sunny with showers. Chance of rain 88% and 63%. The dangerous route across the wet sands at Morecambe bay was one often taken by travellers going to or returning from market in Lancaster or Ulverston. Cox's representation of the impending squall in the distance suggests the threat of heavy rain upon the exposed figures and evokes the changeability and vagaries of the British weather. Wednesday 2 November: Cloudy with sunny spells. Chance of rain 81%. Ackroyd's expressive prints rarely include figures, portraying instead the unique and dramatic quality of the British Isles. His use of aquatint gives an inky darkness to skies, seas and landscapes which evokes the power of nature and the visual effects of rain and sunlight. It is unusual to see colour in Ackroyd's prints, but here, the limited use of colour is particularly effective as the rainbow pierces through the dark setting of Coniston Water. Thursday 3 November and Friday 4 November: Rain. Chance of rain 86% and 84%. Cheshire-born Frank Brookhouse Dunkerley was best known as an architect who was based in Manchester. This watercolour sketch is particularly evocative of a rainy day in the Lake District. The artist has applied the watercolour in wet, broad strokes, allowing the colours to bleed into each other to create a soft, hazy scene. In the distance, the heavy clouds and rain-soaked hills are enhanced by the artist tipping the paper vertically to enable the wash to run through the skies. * Helen Stalker also talks about this project on her blog www.whitworthprintsanddrawings.wordpress.com and to The Northerner here . The full data set from this project will also be made available to the Culture Hack North in Leeds on November 12/13.