Tactile Terrains: Re-interpreting the Cumbrian Landscape through Hybrid Digital-Analogue Illustration Practice.

Tactile Terrains is an on-going practice-led research project that explores the visual and psychological resonance of rural environments, focusing specifically on the topography and cultural heritage of the Cumbrian landscape. Drawing historical and aesthetic inspiration from the Cumbrian art movement; notably its synthesis of atmospheric landscape painting and mid-century commercial printmaking, this project investigates how regional landscape traditions can be recontextualised through contemporary illustration.

A central methodology of the project is the development of a hybrid digital-analogue workflow. By capturing traditional tactile textures (such as stone rubbings, drypoint etching, and raw graphite washes) from the rural environment itself, the project explores how these physical materiality markers can be seamlessly integrated into digital illustration spaces. The resulting body of work seeks to move beyond passive landscape documentation, creating an immersive visual narrative that questions how digital tools can preserve, augment, and communicate the rugged, tactile essence of rural Britain.