LITTLE ARTY JOURNEYS: Hastings (for a change)

On Tuesday I went to Hastings with my friends Lucy and Jodi. Lucy and her husband Graham's artwork can be seen on the Holly Blue Arts and Crafts Facebook Page and some of Jodi's artwork is on her blog

I love the shapes of the tall dark net huts and that strange upended half-boat hut on the right

The brightly coloured quirky boats remind me of a set of boat bath toys I had when I was a child.

We went to the Jerwood Gallery particularly to see Prunella Clough's exhibition "Unknown Countries" and we also saw "Coast" - an exhibition of works from the Jerwood collection which explore the coastal theme.

There's a very short film about Prunella Clough's exhibition on the Jerwood Gallery website in the What's on section.

I've seen Prunella Clough's artwork in books and online before but never in real life. It always seems a much richer experience to be able to see all the colours and textures of artwork up close rather than in books. Some of the writing next to each piece was particularly helpful. I thought it was brilliant to be looking at the painting "Fisherman with sprats" in a venue where you could actually hear the cry of seagulls in the background.

Itis reported that Prunella Clough said that her artwork is about "memory, experience, real and imagined places remembered and half remembered". She has been described as "a painter of trace and evidence of human presence".

The view from the Jerwood Gallery windows is stunning - looking out over the busy harbour with a working fishing fleet in one direction and the higgledy-piggledy assortment of houses and mossy rooftops in the other direction.

We sat on the cafe balcony for a while enjoying the view of the boats and the sea

Man working on a boat, wearing spaceman-like protection

Gulls swooping around the boats

Bright yellow and blue

Gulls circling hopefully

We met our friend Collette outside the gallery at 1 o'clock. Collette lives in Hastings but was unable to join us earlier because she had to work during the morning. We bought fish and chips for lunch and took them back to Collette's house right on the front and enjoyed chatting and eating, with a brilliant sea view and surrounded by paintings and etchings etc. by Collette's partner Colin Bailey artist and printmaker. After lunch we had a look at some of Collette's unique artwork which you can see on the Trippet Castle Dolls website and on her Trippet Castle Dolls Facebook Page

Later in the afternoon we popped into Hare and Hawthorn Press (Bindery and Bookshop) in West Street - run by Neal Neofitou. (Neal and I were at college together.) The shop is absolutely fabulous. It is so lovely and light and it's stocked with really well chosen items, plus it has the added bonus of bespoke bindings and artwork by Neal. There is also a Hare & Hawthorn Facebook Page This is Neal's photo - I forgot to take one myself.

We also had a brief visit to see Colin in "S. Forrest" - a shop full of interesting smells - herbs, spices, teas, baskets, willow, dried flowers, prints by local artists etc. run by Sarah who we didn't meet that day, where Colin has some of his lovely prints and cards on sale.

We had a very quick visit into Butlers Famed Emporium which sells a wide variety of unique items. It's worth going in there just to see how the stock is displayed. I liked this treasure trove of items. Butlers has a Facebook page

The four of us headed back along towards the Jerwood gallery together, hoping to find another gallery nearby which we had been told about but unfortunately it was closed. The pale blue building with lilac door is right in the middle of all the dark wooden buildings

Peeping into a net hut

We wandered among strange collections of items on the beach - rust and shadows

Bright well cared for boats and wrecks

These two reminded me of Prunella Clough colours - browns and blues with a splash of red

Top of the Fernicular railway

Lucy, Collette and I were overheating so we went back up to the Jerwood Cafe to get out of the sun (yes it was actually very hot on Tuesday) and enjoyed a drink while Jodi stayed outside drawing. After a while Collette left us to go home. Lucy and I went outside to enjoy the fabulous view again when the direct sun had moved around a bit and I took more photos while Lucy drew and Jodi joined us later.

A seagull stalked up and down the ledge of the cafe balcony eyeing a lady's flapjack through the clear barrier

The seagull made an attempt to grab the flapjack so the lady covered it with her serviette and guarded it carefully between bites - watched very closely by the beady-eyed seagull with a punk hairdo.