Sunshade

My friend Marie and I drove to Hastings to see a couple of exhibitions. The first was the wonderful Seaside Modern at Hastings Contemporary which is all about the seaside in prints and travel posters from the 1930s onwards. 

I was surprised at the emotional overwhelm to be in a favourite gallery after so long away, surrounded by beautiful works by the familiar Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden, Paul Nash, Laura Knight and the unfamiliar - Dorothea Sharp and Roderick Bisson. On the way out we discovered an unexpected treat (see extra)- an exhibition of Quentin Blake's We Live In Worrying Times. It's his interpretation of 2020/21 and is not easy viewing, especially the refugee series, but it's important, timely work, I think. 

Afterwards we walked in the brilliant sun along the promenade, then sat on the beach looking at the incredible changing blues and greens in the sea and quite quickly coming to the conclusion that the second exhibition could go to hell - we were staying on that beach for a swim and a picnic. So the afternoon was spent doing exactly that: no books opened (me), no knitting done (Marie), but instead enjoying much chatting and the best ever people watching. We were captivated by the mix of generations, lots of extended family groups from great-grans to babies, everyone relaxed and happy. Almost as if there was no pandemic... 

The water was chillier than we expected, much colder than my Dorset swims in June, but still heavenly.