River runs through it: Capturing the Esk

Some of the 60 watercolours to be found in A Meander Down the Esk by Whitby artist John Freeman capturing different seasons of the year.Some of the 60 watercolours to be found in A Meander Down the Esk by Whitby artist John Freeman capturing different seasons of the year.
Some of the 60 watercolours to be found in A Meander Down the Esk by Whitby artist John Freeman capturing different seasons of the year.
When artist John Freeman decided that he would quite like to publish a book, the easy option would have been a retrospective. He has after all been painting for more than a half a century, so there was no shortage of material. In fact he could have filled more than a dozen volumes with his sketches and watercolours of his home town of Whitby alone.

“I didn’t want to do that. If I was going to publish a book I wanted it to be a brand new collection,” says John, who in part inspired Ron Thornton’s book on the River Tyne, decided to seek inspiration from a waterway on his own doorstep. The Esk had featured in some of John’s previous work, but when he set out three years ago it was to capture the different character of the river, following it for 28 miles as it wends its way through Glaisdale and Egton Bridge and finally into Whitby itself.

“My plan was always to stick as close to the river as I could and I perhaps foolishly assumed that at least would be easy. However, it quickly became apparent that very little of the Esk is accessible as a public right of way, so it became quite an adventure.”

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While the river’s inaccessibility made John’s project more difficult than he had initially hoped, it also meant that he was rewarded with some rare sights.

Some of the 60 watercolours to be found in A Meander Down the Esk by Whitby artist John Freeman capturing different seasons of the year.Some of the 60 watercolours to be found in A Meander Down the Esk by Whitby artist John Freeman capturing different seasons of the year.
Some of the 60 watercolours to be found in A Meander Down the Esk by Whitby artist John Freeman capturing different seasons of the year.

“There were a few hairy moments. One day I slipped on a rock at Beck Hole and as I landed on all fours in icy water I could only watch on as bubbles began to emerge from the camera. I was Mayor of Whitby at the time and as I drove home wearing only my underpants I could only pray that I wasn’t pulled over. However, for every day like that there were a dozen other happier memories.