Lionel's current work is an exploration of the contemporary landscapes of the North Pennines and the northern Lake District with its jets, delivery vans, ruins of long closed mines and struggling sheep farms. This is a managed landscape like most of Britain as a look at Google Earth quickly demonstrates, with a history going back to the Romans and beyond, but when you are up in the Access Lands it feels closer to the wild than most.

Currently, Lionel is exhibiting at The Village Bakery, Melmerby, Cumbria in the Vale of Eden alongside artist-in-residence Christina Mingard.

In addition to drawing and painting, Lionel teaches fine art with Sunderland University, Higham Hall College in the Lake District and with a variety of organisations including schools, art clubs, youth groups and Killhope Mining Museum in Weardale.

More details at http://lionel.playford.net