Pixel portraits of Alfred Wainwright and Shauna Coxsey in Kendal Library for Kendal Mountain Festival.

For the 2021 Kendal Mountain Festival we were invited by Kendal Library to create two Big Adventure pixel portraits.

Olympic climber Shauna Coxsey was an obvious choice as a star visitor to the event, and was painted in autumnal colours. Alongside Shauna we created a portrait of the late great Alfred Wainwright from bracken-green mountain stickers - our thanks to Derry Brabbs and Chris Butterfield for allowing us to use this iconic shot of Westmorland’s most-beloved walking guide, complete with his pipe.

They were created over six hours, square by little square, by regular library visitors and visiting festival goers, including cavers, wild swimmers & adventurers from Spain to the Hebrides.

Mixing the colours for the Shauna painting.

Laying out Alfred’s stickers.

Great info boards from the Library

Let the painting and stickering begin.

Tea, biscuits and paint!

Alfred is coming together.

Biscuit-fuelled painters crack on one square at a time.

Alfred is peeping out from the board!

Shauna is coming together now too!

The card is a team effort - one peels, one sticks.

Alfred’s famous pipe comes into focus.

Shauna’s really coming together now.

The final few sheets go on!

Six hours later our mass-participation portraits are done!