A CREATIVE young artist has found inspiration in every corner of Barrow during Inktober.

Matthew Culley, 17, from Roose, has taken part in a Inktober this year, a movement started by Jake Parker in 2009 as a challenge to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. The movement has since grown into a worldwide endeavour with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year.

The former Dowdales student said: “While I have always drawn, it was only last years Inktober that got me back into drawing on a regular basis after the grueling slog that is GCSE art. Since then I’ve spent the last year refining my skill, especially over the long months of lockdown. This years Inktober has really allowed me to take a step back and look at how far I’ve come as well as depart from my usual style of drawing, and do something more freehand and laidback.

“Initially my ideas for Inktober were a lot different, but when I started looking to it, I found that I could link many of the prompts to places around the area. When you look beyond that layer of stigma you find that Barrow is an incredibly diverse place from an environmental and architectural point of view. There are very few towns in England where you have vast beige sheds housing world-class engineering directly next to some of the most sought after views and landscapes in the country.

“With this project I really wanted to capture how things are now as well as hopefully start the journey of changing perceptions. The area has changed a lot in recent years and with the huge sums of money being promised by the government for regeneration, that change is only going to get faster. This is something I want to continue to chart with my work. Going forward I will be continuing to hone my skills and hope to start selling prints of my other work shortly. I will certainly be doing this again next year and I’m excited to what new challenges it brings.”