West Pier Starling Murmuration Belt of Venus

Print description

The remains of the iconic Brighton West Pier and the Rampion Wind Farm rest on a perfect, still sea, bathed in evening light. A murmuration of starlings gathers to dance in the sky before roosting among the rusted irons

Print details

Panoramic format. Print size 124 x 30.5 cm approx. Signed print from a limited edition of 100. From original ink drawing to which I apply colour digitally. Printed on fine art paper using archival inks.

Brighton’s West Pier

Brighton’s West Pier

Brighton West Pier begins out over the water in 1866, a thin line between land and sea. It was designed by Eugenius Birch, who trusted iron, tides, and a certain quiet elegance. Its screw-piles drill down into the seabed, a simple but radical idea, while the open lattice frame lets the sea pass through without resistance.

At first it was a place for promenading, all footsteps, parasols, and slow seaside rituals. Gradually it grew. Bandstands, kiosks, and small structures appeared along its length, leading to a pavilion at the far end. Later, a concert hall brought music and crowds, turning the pier into a lively destination stretching out over the water.

The design mixes engineering and ornament, strength and lightness, function and display. It feels both practical and theatrical, a structure built to endure but also to delight.

It closed in 1975, and time took over. Storms, fire, and decay stripped it back to its frame. What remains is not just a ruin but a kind of drawing in space, an unfinished line that still holds the memory of movement, people, and the long reach out into the sea.

In 2019 I held an exhibition at the West Pier Centre where I showed my work. My interest in this charismatic structure is well documented in numerous prints where I have featured the remains of the West Pier.

The Rampion Wind Farm

On the horizon stands the Rampion Wind Farm. In April 2018, E.ON developed this offshore wind farm off the Sussex coast, with a capacity of 400 MW. In a competition, local schools voted for the name ‘Rampion’, suggested by a pupil, as the chosen name for the wind farm. The name relates to the plant known as round-headed rampion (Phyteuma orbiculare), also called the Pride of Sussex, the county flower of Sussex.

The wind farm, like the West Pier in its time, has become part of our legacy for the future and will be remembered as a technological advance of our era in the production of energy from renewable natural sources.

Print series: The Belt of Venus

The Belt of Venus. The Belt of Venus is a soft pink glow that appears just before sunrise or after sunset, hovering above the horizon opposite the sun. It’s caused by sunlight scattering through the atmosphere, often separated from the horizon by the darker band of Earth’s shadow. In winter, the colour can feel sharper and more vivid.

I’m often looking up—through windows at night, cycling along the seafront, or walking home past Brunswick Square in Hove. Those skies, along with childhood evenings spent studying constellations with a torch and a sky map, have led to a new series of prints.