Landscape 4, Lucy Marks.

Pushing boundaries at Hastings Arts Forum

HOT’s Chris Connelley looks forward to an upcoming exhibition at Hastings Art Forum which makes the bold claim that it’s time to think again about watercolours.

Pushing Boundaries is a new exhibition that seeks to challenge the perception that watercolours are simply a sketching medium for amateurs, and that watercolour works are somehow inferior to oil paint or acrylic.

Ironically, of course, it is also widely accepted that watercolour is the most unforgiving of media, and therefore possibly the hardest to work with.

Red Hot Pokers, Talking Heads, Christine Forbes.

The exhibition, which runs at Hastings Arts Forum from 13-25 July, includes works on paper and canvas that demonstrate a diverse range of creations from bold, colourful works that explore our relationship with nature, large images that reflect on our hopes and dreams in this time of uncertainty, through to smaller, more delicate works that explore human frailties.

The exhibitors are four professional watercolour painters from across Sussex, who are all passionate about the medium and wish to share their enthusiasm through their varied practice whilst also seeking to inspire the next generation of watercolourists. They are:

• Lucy Marks, an award-winning landscape artist, recently appointed an Associate of the Royal Watercolour Society
• Christine Forbes, who teaches watercolour painting at West Dean College, draws inspiration from the philosophies and drawing practices of China and Japan, and paints from nature
• Jan Irvine, who paints extensively from life models
• Susan Miller, a well-known Hastings-based artist and chair of the Sussex Watercolour Society.

All artists have work in private collections throughout the world.

Pushing Boundaries 13-25 July, Hastings Art Forum, 20 Marine Court, St Leonards-on-Sea TN38 0DX. 01424 201 636. Open 11am-5pm, Tues-Sun.

Also in: Visual Arts