Autumn Art Scene
It’s not often that I take time out at the weekend but when the opportunity presented itself to me this morning I thought why not? Yes, I had a hundred things planned, and yes I had made a 6am start to work on my current projects but, that said, I thought some time out with my other half might be good for the both of us.
Jumping in the car we headed for the great British seaside at Hastings. This is one of my favourite seaside destinations as I can recall happy memories of family holidays and days out.
Today we bypassed the hustle and bustle and instead wound our away along the coast through St. Leonards and onto Bexhill-on-Sea.
Here we pulled into the car park of the De La Warr Pavilion and promptly paid our dues to stay for no more than two hours.
We immediately headed towards the beach and enjoyed the warm autumn sunshine diluted by the crisp sea breeze. We huddled together in the shelter of a waterside café and ordered hot chocolate and warm cheese scones.
With our appetites sated we wandered along the prom engaging in the atmosphere provided by the independent traders selling their wares from their concrete kiosks.
Needless to say I was drawn to MHRetroFurntiure where we found Martin Hendry purveyor of funky mid-century miscellany. Specialising in brightly coloured cabinets decorated with sassy posters he was a definite favourite.
Our next stop was the pavilion itself where we unwittingly walked into an exhibition of works by Alison Wilding. Entitled “Right Here and Out There” her monolithic creations mimic the container ships on the horizon.
The sunlight streaming in through the gallery windows lit up the sculptures and bounced off their high gloss surfaces and through their translucent shapes.
After a brief tour of the gift shop we walked towards the town centre where a continental market was in full swing. Topped and tailed by the Bexhill motoring club an array of vintage and classic cars caught the eye of inquisitive passers by.
Concluding our brief encounter with Bexhill-on-Sea I have to admit that I had not expected it to have such a prominent autumn art scene nor to embrace such a variety of individual artisans.
Driving home I felt that our visit underlined the importance of getting out and about to see how the rest of the world is performing and to ensure that my work remains fluid and fresh.
