Beside the sea
The Sunshine Coast exceeded all expectations in terms of blue skies and sunshine!
A 90 degree turn in front of the hotel gave the game away though - to say it was windy is a slight understatement!
Though Eastbourne is a popular place to visit at any time of the year, we had a clear reason for being here. Our dear friends have moved here a couple of months ago and as we hadn’t seen them in several months, we thought we’d like to catch up. On a beautiful morning like this, of course we chose to walk to their place “It’s not far” said my Hero, ”Google says thirty minutes”.
Wrapped up warm in my “sleeping bag” duvet of a coat, it felt good to be out in the fresh air and finding points of interest along the way added to the fun. Eastbourne is a “new town”, developed largely in the 19th century by the 7th Duke of Devonshire, who now sits in pride of place on the seafront, keeping a watchful eye on the place, for he set quite a few restrictions on what could and could not be built here.
His infuence and patronage lives on in many of the names we saw on our walk along the front: the Chatsworth Hotel and Cavendish Place for example.
As we came closer to the pier, we noted how much smarter Eastbourne is than many other seaside towns of similar size, most notably Brighton, just along the coast from here. But we didn’t get that much closer to the pier, because we came upon a barrier.
In November last year, probably when we were in Pittsburgh, the Claremont Hotel was destroyed by a huge fire. The remaining part of the hotel suffered further collapse a few days later and as a result, the area around the site was closed to traffic and pedestrians. Storm Ciara that powered along the coast on Tuesday delivered more damage and another section collapsed meaning that a huge section of the seafront was closed off. We had to take a detour through the town then and forego any closer look at the pier.
“We’re about half way there” said my Hero, recognising that the blustery winds were taking their toll on my energy levels!
Hah! Rejoining the Marine Drive on “the other side” suggested we were anything but half way! Never mind, we carried on in the face of the storm, knowing there’d be a warm welcome and the essential cup of tea when we got there. There was indeed… a bowl of soup and homemade cake for lunch too, together with the kind of non-stop conversation that stems from a lengthy shared history. That continued into the evening as well, back at The Grand, where a dinner of “Grand Classics” hit the spot with all four of us.
As if we hadn’t been blessed with an elegant sufficiency of fine weather, Wednesday dawned bright and sunny too (and the wind had dropped a little, which was a bonus). Before we set off home then, we headed for a quick look around the Towner Art Gallery which happened to be just behind the hotel.
Free admission, too, so what’s not to like?
Sadly, we were a day or two early for the much heralded exhibition of Alan Davie and David Hockney’s early work, but the room filled with Caroline Lucas’ curated choices from the Towner collection with the title BRINK proved to be very enjoyable indeed. First of all, I loved how the exhibition was hung. In the same way as the exhibitions at Compton Verney create interesting juxtapositions by not always sticking to a strict chronological order, or placing the work of widely varied artists side by side, here there really was something for everyone.
My favourite was possibly the first picture to be seen on entering the gallery. First impression was of a conventional “old master”, for the palette and subject matter was very conventional. A closer look showed the work was anything but, however, for the painting by Charles Knight, completed in 1930 was quite modern in execution with flat sweeps of colour and clever brushwork throughout.
My other favourite as this collection of tiny landscapes, each one exquisite in detail and measuring no more than an inch or two, worked on what looked like small scraps of watercolour paper. There were a couple of dozen of them in two glass cabinets - fiendishly difficult to photograph as a result of the lighting (not to mention the smudge on my camera lens…)
All of this put the “main event” so to speak, in the shade. The Ravilious Room containing a large collection of Eric Ravilious work had been the one thing I knew about before our visit and I had looked forward to seeing it. We had seen an exhibition of his work previously, in Bristol (I think) and as soon as we stepped inside the room I recalled my reaction to seeing his work en masse. It’s all a bit samey! In isolation, each picture is fascinating. The graphical characteristics and the mark making which contributes to the overall effect is incredible. But seeing a whole wall filled with these images….hmmm.
But there was treasure to be found in the large chests of drawers begging to be opened! This drawer contained paint samples, tests of brushstrokes and the kinds of investigations I find so fascinating.
There was also the one item I would choose to “borrow” if invited: This tiny metal engraving on a woodblock, no more than two inches square.
Can you imagine the satsifaction of creating such an exquisite piece of work? (Note the scale in relation to the photo corner)
Having spent the morning in the gallery, our minds were filled with the landscapes of East Sussex. As we set off to drive home, my Hero remarked how it felt like we were driving through a Ravilious painting.
A shame about the traffic though!
