Brighton’s West Pier and Rampion Wind Farm Song

Print description

This art print depicts the remains of Brighton’s West Pier. It was the first leisure pier to be built in Brighton in 1886. Cormorants have made the West Pier their home, hence you can spot some in my print. And in the horizon the Rampion Wind Farm makes its appearance as the newest addition to this seascape.

Print details

I created this print from my original ink drawings to which I apply colour digitally and then print on fine art paper using archival inks. I issue the formats A0, A1, A2, A3  & A4  as limited editions of 100 where I individually sign and number each print.

Brighton’s West Pier

The industrial revolution brought social and technological advances. Among these, the Victorian championed the promotion of well being. For this reason many seaside towns built leisure piers across the United Kingdom inviting all segments of society to enjoy the benefits of clean air and gentle exercise. The West Pier, possibly the most beautiful in Britain,  stands today, sadly, as a bare and weathered wrought iron structure.

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.

Rampion Wind Farm

In April 2018 E.ON developed the offshore Rampion Wind Farm off the Sussex coast.  The naming of it happened through an open competition, and local schools voted the name ‘Rampion’ suggested by a pupil as the chosen name for the wind farm. Significantly this name relates to the plant named round-headed rampion (Phyteuma orbiculare), also known as the Pride of Sussex, the county flower of Sussex. Ultimately I found this piece of information so moving that I created a panoramic print with the subject of these flowers in the South Downs landscape. ‘Devils Dike Round Headed Rampion, Pride of Sussex’

Rampion Wind Farm, like the West Pier at the time, will become our legacy for the future and will be remembered as the technological advance from our times in regards to the production of energy with renewable natural sources.

Cormorants at Brighton’s West Pier

If you are observant of wildlife you might have spotted cormorants drying their wings on the ruins of the Brighton’s West Pier. These birds are rather elegant with their slender figure, long necks and anthracite iridescent feathers. To my mind comes a poem attributed to Christopher Isherwood that goes like this : “The Common Cormorant or Shag, lays eggs inside a paper bag. The reason you will see no doubt it is to keep the lightning out….” This poem, not short of humour, was composed at a dinner party. Guests set each other the challenge of writing a poem containing a given word. The cormorants are resting on what was previously a beautiful Victorian leisure pier. The West Pier sadly was destroyed by a series of fires and all that remains is its bent structure of rusted wrought iron.