Painting
and writing in
Sussex
Imagine a summer scene; in a Saxon
church, outside Lewes, an audience
is waiting for some musicians to play
Mozart. On the back of a performer’s
chair is a silk jacket, so thin you can see
through it. Outside there is birdsong.
This is what inspired Peter Kettle to
paint this picture.
‘‘Paying close attention to the music I
felt myself absorbing the place. It wasn’t
until some weeks later I began to paint
that scene. Mozart at Hamsey was the
result. It took almost a year before I
finished it,’ he said.
Pete has lived in Sussex all his life and
enjoys inventing things, whether in words
or pictures. As a writer, an essay on art
won an Anthony Burgess Award for arts
journalism earlier this year. His novel,
The Driftwood Giraffe, was shortlisted
for the Lightship International Novel
Award the year before. He has exhibited
paintings throughout Sussex and Kent,
but mostly in London, and has been
selected for several Royal Academy
Summer Exhibitions.
‘My favourite part of the coast is
Cuckmere Haven. My painting, Cuckmere,
was accepted by the Royal Academy.
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And just along from Cuckmere is Seaford
Head, where I painted Sea Pinks.’
This, too, was hung at the Royal
Academy. The intimacy of a natural
history subject, such as A Lewes
Admiral, can imply a larger subject.
A single butterfly on an apple hints at
the sometimes fragile nature of life.
As a child Pete
was fascinated by
Lewes castle
On a larger scale is The Sussex Shire.
This magnificent animal lived in a field
opposite the artist’s studio in Hellingly.
It will be in a show at Gallery North in
Hailsham this summer.
As a child Pete was fascinated by Lewes
Castle and wondered what great battle
had inflicted such damage? ‘Later I
discovered the castle had never seen a
battle. The damage was by local people,
who used the castle for building materials.
A wheelbarrow could be filled with flint
and stone for threepence. The Keep is a
painting of one of the castle