The sights, smells and sounds of the Cleveland Way are brought to life in a new exhibition by North Yorkshire artist Debbie Loane. MAXINE GORDON reports

LUNAR landscapes and cliff edges, the smell of wild garlic and hawthorn blossom, and the sound of bees humming and fish bubbling in a stream all filter through into the latest works of celebrated Yorkshire landscape artist Debbie Loane.

Debbie, who runs the Lund Gallery at her former family farm near Easingwold, will be displaying all these influences in an exhibition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Cleveland Way at the North York Moors National Park’s Inspired by... gallery at Danby, near Whitby, until June 9.

A keen rambler and runner, Debbie has walked many stretches of the 109-mile route from Helmsley to Filey Brigg over the years – but during the past 12 months she has done so in the role of artist in residence for the Cleveland Way.

Her first challenge was to work out how to physically do the painting. "How do you do an artist's residency on a walk? Normally, you are static, in one location, or based in a studio. I had to figure out how it was going to work," she says.

What she decided was to pick six locations – each different, reflecting the diverse nature of the 109-mile trail – and create sketches and paintings from that. She would do the walk first, then return with artist materials, often finishing off the works in her studio. Regularly, she would use items she found on the walk in her artworks, making paint from soil and brushes from pheasant feathers.

Her first stop was at Nettledale, near Rievaulx where she found a peaceful wooded area with trout ponds that had been dug by the monks centuries ago.

Next, came some of the area's more popular sites: Sutton Bank, the iconic landmark of the White Horse at Kilburn, and Garbutt Woods, with Whitestone Cliff towering above and visible for miles.

In contrast, her third location was more secluded. "Urra Moor up Clay Bank, near Stokesley, which is the highest point on the route and the most remote. It can be bleak and featureless in bad weather, with cloud down to your knees. But is has a special atmosphere and you can feel properly alone and isolated." Debbie liked this part of the Way too because of its industrial past. "There is a lot of industrial archaeology and you can see the root of an old railway line too."

It's for this reason too that she headed to Skinningrove, between Staithes and Saltburn, a seaside village, but so unlike its neighbours. This was a community built around the local ironstone works. Today, there is a wooden hut used by local pigeon fanciers. This in itself inspired Debbie to make a montage piece featuring wooden huts on the Cleveland Way.

"It's an intriguing place," says Debbie, of Skinningrove. "It's not picturesque like Staithes. But I am drawn to the parts that aren't so touristy. Everyone knows Roseberry Topping and the White Horse and I wondered: what could I do that was a little bit off the beaten track?"

She found just what she was looking for at Boulby Cliff. "It's one of the highest cliffs in the area and has lots of alum spoil heaps. You can go up, walk along the tops, drop down underneath the cliffs and it's like a lunar landscape – it's like walking on the surface of the moon. It's a weird and wonderful place to be, especially when the mist comes in."

Like the best environmental artists, Debbie likes to physically incorporate what she discovers into her artwork. At Boulby, she took samples of the soil and mixed it with an acrylic resin it create her own paint. She did the same with sand from the beach at Loftus and used squished berries to add colour to art works too. She even used charcoal from spent barbecues to make drawings. At Nettledale she picked up some pheasant feathers to use as brushes. She said they made the "most amazing" drawings, adding that using what she found in a location really helped her connect with her work. "It's a way of centring myself in that place and making work of that place, both physically and mentally. I've been working this way for years."

Her year walking and working the Cleveland Way has been productive. She has made a large collection of abstract pieces for the 50th anniversary exhibition, including 50 small paintings depicting different parts of the route – all 13cm by 30cm.

There are some large pieces too: 1.5m by 80cm, which she worked on at her studio at the Lund Gallery.

The works are an attempt to bring Debbie's many hours out on the Cleveland Way to life for the viewer.

"Artists are naturally mindful people. We don't look at things as if looking through a lens. We experience all the senses, the time of year – that all feeds into our total experience of a place.

"The weather reflects what you do too. If it is blowing a hooley you will make aggressive lines so you can get out of there more quickly!"

Read Debbie's blog about her artist in residency on the Cleveland Way at: lundstudios.co.uk/debbie-loane

Visit Debbie's exhibition, 109 Miles, at the Inspired by...gallery, The Moors National Park Centre, Lodge Lane, Danby, Whitby, YO21 2NB, until Sunday, June 9, 2019. Open daily, 10am-5pm, free entry.

W: northyorkmoors.org.uk/visiting/see-and-do/inspired-by-gallery/future/2019/109-miles