Horton-in-Ribblesdale artist exhibits work at Dales museum

Scotsmen driving cattle through the Yorkshire Dales always carried onions, said Horton-in-Ribblesdale artist Penny Hunt at the opening of an exhibition of her work at the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes.

They drew blood from the neck of a beast using a fleam (a knife) and, mixing it with the onions and oats, made black pudding.

Such details of drovers’ practices seep into the more than 50 paintings in oil and wax exhibited in “Storyland: Pathways through time”.

Detail of The Stance, a painting by Penny Hunt, three Scots pines with onions in the sky (Image: UGC)

Ancient tartan cloth provides the palette, meaning that landscapes are shown in the colours of the plaid the men wore, while in several works, such as “The Stance”, which has three Scots pines denoting a drovers’ resting place, the artist sees onions in the sky.

The paintings are about the character of the fell side green lanes, or drove roads, of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

“Towards Moughton”, “Ribblesdale Morning” and “Mastiles Lane” are among the titles, while “Shower Over The Tarn” depicts Malham Tarn, once a fattening ground where tens of thousands of the drovers’ cattle would graze.

Penny Hunt, who attended the exhibition opening with grandson Bodhi, said: “My work is about atmosphere. It is about the feeling of being outside and of being on the high ground, and when the Scotting drovers were passing through they had to keep to the high ground to keep the cattle away from the farms.

“In all the paintings there is a feeling of being high up. I like the feeling of space. I need that space around me. I love the clouds and the shafts of light that come through the clouds.”

Penny, who taught art for 25 years in schools in the Greater Manchester area and moved to Horton-in-Ribblesdale in 2012, said she used natural materials to make sketches, often while hunkered behind a wall.

“I collect rocks that you can draw with, and I collect wood to make charcoal, so I’m using the land that I’m walking through to make the sketches.

“When the wind blows is when I feel I want to get out and do something. Autumn is my favourite time because you’ve still got enough light and colour – and a lot of wind.”

Storyland: Pathways through time opened on September 13 and will run until January 5, 2025, at the Dales Countryside Museum.

The exhibition is open every day except Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Tickets are £5 for adults, which includes access to the whole museum, with under-16s free.