Fred Ingrams is an artist who after working for many years in London as a painter, graphic designer & art director moved to Norfolk in the late 90s, where he recently became obsessed with painting an area known as The Fens – a marshy, flat region in the east of England. all descriptions of the area sound boring and dreary, but Ingram’s paintings are vibrant and interesting. see his Fens series at his blog and the rest of his work at his website.
The Fens are perhaps the least loved landscape in Britain. For some reason the flatness of this huge area of Eastern England does not capture the heart. It is a landscape that does not fit into the ideal of a rolling “green and pleasant land”. They are, on the other hand as flat as a billiard table and to most people, featureless and grim. The wind blows from from the east and is cold and nagging. The people who live there appear, like the wind, cold and unfriendly. It is for all these reasons I feel so at home painting in the Fens. As I sit and paint here, I am always struck by how few people inhabit this place. I am nearly always alone.
