Wittering away...

Currant bun came back! Mr.Lane declared an away day...and so it was we found ourselves wending along the South Downs this past weekend. To my mind the South Downs look like a succession of partially buried tennis balls, all in different phases of sun~bleached greens and yellows stretching away into the distance....it pleases me, this thought.

All those repeating green waves of hills and valleys, flowing and undulating, sweeping, epic, rising and falling, makes you want to grab a brush and paint with the entire arc of your arm.Ah tricky when you're driving of course and so many brilliant depictions of the Downs already exist...

South Downs Poster c.1946 by Walter E Spardbery for Southern Railway

A luminous woodcut of the South Downs by Edward Loxton Knight

The Long Man at Wilmington by Alan Tyers

an earlier version of The Long Man at Wilmington by the great Eric Ravilious, painted as we approached the  Second World War.

Your Britain (South Downs) Frank Newbould...
...such an iconic swathe of English Countryside, I bathe in it's familiarity and timelessness, Downs to my right and glimpses of sparkling sea to my left...ah, yes the seaside.

There is something about seaside places...kitsch becomes appropriate, colour takes on another dimension in short all is saturated...especially the catch of the day...where would we be without "Fish & Chips" and the King...cottage gardens bursting with old fashioned blooms, gaudy perfection. Seaside pubs, endless horizons, driftwood sculptural, hinting at an imagined form, wet dog, sandy dog, happy dog. Boat motifs and best of all these things?
 Mr.Lane! Step forward the true, the real, Mr.Lane. I saw happiness and contentment in his face...I had almost forgotten it, that look. Standing in the footprints of his Dad and his Dad before him, I could picture them, all three, standing alongside one another, shoulder to shoulder in this much favoured place. There is history here for us and that line of continuity is strengthening and nourishing in the face of great turmoil. Tears fell, so great my relief at this glimpse of my beautiful boy...

We were visiting Pagham (check out the life boat station!), West Wittering and Itchenor in East Sussex.

 Hope you are enjoying the return of  "the bun!"

Sarah -x-

...oh and a note from the wettest, sandiest, happiest hound in all of Sussex...

"Olympic training is going well, aiming to equal Micheal Phelps 8 gold medals, so far I have managed channel swims on four beaches and counting, must dash as I find myself with a rather sandy tongue and I have just spotted an exotic looking piece of seaweed..."