About Attention All Shipping – my award-winning painting of the shipping forecast

My painted map of the shipping forecast – Attention All Shipping – combines my interest (some might say obsession) with maps, typography, nature and history. I had the idea suddenly. I would make a rhapsody in blue and green, that celebrates the factual beauty and stark poetry of the forecast.

Award winning! In 2016 this painting won a prestigious award from the British Cartographic Society. Read more…

What is the shipping forecast?

This painting won the BCS Thematic Mapping Award in 2016.

The shipping forecast is etched into the very DNA of everyone in Britain. It has been broadcast daily to British audiences since 1861, initially by telegraph and then by BBC radio. Issued by the UK’s Met Office, it is a short marine weather forecast, but to British ears is so much more than that. The more I talked to people about it as I researched and painted, the more I discovered that everyone (under a certain age) is a fan.

Its staccato delivery, the magical names of the sea areas, and the concise lyrical descriptions of the weather conditions have a poetic appeal that reminds listeners of who we British are: islanders with a proud seafaring legacy. It has an appeal way beyond what it is broadcast for, which is to save lives at sea. It was the brainchild of Captain Robert FitzRoy, whose signature appears bottom left.

What’s in the shipping forecast picture?

In Attention All Shipping, I have included all the shipping areas except Trafalgar (apologies to purists!). It’s just is too far south to sensibly appear on a sheet of A1 paper. Do not misconstrue the great swathes of rolling typography on the ‘land’ as value judgements of the areas they appear on. Although in places you may spot a little touch of humour. The Beaufort scale, which appears bottom right, is a measure of the intensity of wind speed and it’s quoted daily on the forecast.

The green swirl which rises north from Malin is a phytoplanktonic bloom. Google it and be amazed! I’ve also put in whales and seabirds, fish and ships. Read more about how I made this painting.

“As a long time insomniac, I have listened to the Shipping Forecast many nights! Your painting will have pride of place in my bedroom.” – Pauline K, Lancashire

Why we love the shipping forecast

The shipping forecast is a daily prayer to remind us of our precarious position living on a small archipelago in the North Atlantic, and that we have no choice but to prepare for whatever the Great Meteorological Forces throw at us. I think it’s humbling and wonderful.  I salute you Captain Robert FitzRoy! And I applaud the Met Office in their unfailing duty to compile this most important and most British of institutions!

Posters and more! As well as a poster sized print – available on this page – I also have greetings cards, coasters, and tea towels of this award-winning painting! Read more about my shipping forecast gifts.

Watch Jane talking about her painting of the Shipping Forecast