- Work Hard
- 8th Jan 2025
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Lucy Pittaway on building an art empire that showcases the beauty of the North East and Yorkshire
I never run out of ideas. If I ever feel like I need inspiration, then I just take a walk outside because I'm not too far from that quiet space, a nice little woodland, or Richmond Castle.
Lucy Pittaway
When prominent North East artist Lucy Pittaway first embarked on her journey of artistic pursuit, she was just a one-man-band. Several years later, she now has seven galleries in the region, over 60 staff and an art style that has become a huge commercial success.
The artist has always had a deep love of painting and drawing that started in childhood, sowing the seeds for a lifelong obsession with art and design.
Her childhood fascination quickly developed into a career as Lucy studied Graphic Design at Northumbria University and subsequently embarked on a career as a designer before lecturing at Darlington Technical College of Art and Design.
Early in her career, Lucy originally painted photo-realistic landscapes. However, after having children, her style dramatically shifted as she incorporated a child-like innocence into her landscapes. Her style is now instantly recognisable, and one element that encapsulates this, is the sheep.
Growing up around farm animals, sheep in particular captured her imagination as she watched their quirky characters, and realised there’s much more to sheep than people think.
Born and raised in Stockton-on-Tees, Lucy keeps the North East and Yorkshire at the heart of everything she does.
“I never run out of ideas. If I ever feel like I need inspiration, then I just take a walk outside because I’m not too far from a nice little woodland, Richmond Castle or the ruins at Easby Abbey,” said Lucy. “Equally, I could take half an hour’s drive and end up in Teesside at the old ICI Works or Transporter Bridge. There’s so much inspiration.”
After huge commercial success in recent years, it is not enough for Lucy to simply be just an artist. She juggles the responsibilities of being an artist, businesswoman, marketing guru and team leader, all on top of being a mother.
It is a lot to handle but Lucy has a strict regime in which she spends every morning in her studio without excuse as she can’t waste precious painting time, especially with business constantly growing.
“It can be difficult for me to switch from one thing to another. Any artist will tell you that there are days when you might not be feeling particularly creative, and you might think, “Oh, I’ll wait until I feel more like it.” But I have to get into that vein, whether I like it or not because that is key focus time in the morning every day,” said Lucy.
Lucy gained mainstream attention in 2023 with her painting created in memory of the fallen Sycamore Gap tree in Hadrian’s Wall.
She was inundated with requests to immortalise the landscape in one of her paintings. However, despite being deeply moved by the tragic event, she did not want to “jump on the bandwagon to make a quick buck.”
After a long discussion with her team, the artist agreed to paint the landscape on the condition that it would contribute positively to the environment and the wider community.
Her team came up with the idea that for every copy of the painting sold, they would plant a tree at the Swinton Estate, near Masham, where diseased trees recently faced felling.
“I would have never expected in my wildest dreams to have sold over 3,500 copies and be planting a woodland in a well-known estate in the North East of England,” said Lucy. “These little things started as a seed in my mind, and it has grown to a woodland area.”
From graphic design to fine art, Lucy is a well-trained and versatile artist. At this stage in her career, she would define herself as a “commercial artist” as she continues to grow her brand across the country with exciting collaborations.
One of the artist’s most recent collaborations was with Tesco for a new addition to its Finest Wine Range.
“There are other facets to what I can do, but you would categorise the main element as commercial,” she said. “But I love to branch out and go off on tangents and down different rabbit holes just to explore what can be achieved with art.”
Lucy has established herself as one of the most renowned artists to come from the North East in recent years. However, this is only just the beginning, as she plans to expand her art empire and showcase the beauty of the region across the country.
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