A Stop along the South Downs Way the Seven Sisters from Birling Gap

Print description

View from Birling Gap of the iconic Seven Sisters white chalk cliffs, one of the most beloved vistas in the South Downs National Park.

I began depicting the Seven Sisters in 2012, which was 12 years ago. In 2018, I created a large panorama featuring a murmuration of starlings. I enjoy the challenge of revisiting my early work. What can I do or see now that didn’t happen then? This new variation relates closer to my now extensive and expansive collection of chalk cliffs works. If you look closely, you can spot in the distance the coastguard cottages. I’ve also included a bench were you can rest along the climb towards Beachy Head.

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.

Birling Gap

The beach at Birling Gap is set at the base of the imposing, sheer chalk cliffs known as the Seven Sisters between the seaside resorts of Eastbourne and Brighton. Birling Gap and the Seven Sisters  is a National Trust site. It has a fascinating history that starts from 4000 BC Neolithic. At that time people lived in a settlement at nearby Belle Tout.

Birling Gap is a coastal hamlet within the parish of East Dean and Friston . It is situated on the Seven Sisters not far from Beachy Head and is owned by the National Trust. Coastal erosion has already removed some of the row of coastguard cottages built in 1878.  In 1973 The first cottage was demolished due to its proximity to the eroding cliff edge. Nonetheless those that remain are still inhabited.

Seaford Coastguard Cottages

At the end of the Seven sisters is the Cuckmere Valley and in the opposite bank of the Cuckmere river you can find in my print the Seaford Coastguard Cottages. Interestingly I only came to this fact while I was drawing the base drawing for this print. By location geography I knew they were somewhere along the shore. I work from my own photographs, then when I am at the studio magnifying these photographs and studying the details of the landscape that this information reveals itself.

Finally past the cottages the view ends with Seaford Head Nature Reserve

In addition across the print you can see a flock of starlings forming a murmuration with its distinctive pattern in the sky. Equally  in this print I record with emphasis other patterns from nature. For example at large scale you can appreciate the repetitive undulating cliffs formation.  Equally and at small scale the rock scattered along the shore forms a pattern that copies itself in a repetitive scribble.