Scottish artist at the crossroads of his life, ditches successful career running a University Fine Art degree course. He needs to paint so he sells all is belongings, moves to Hastings, UK and paints and paints and paints…. Now he needs somewhere to show it and some people to like it and some to buy it….

Live the work at www.robbiebushe.co.uk

This is my first blog. Go easy on me. I am not a writer. As you can see. Been in Hastings over 6 months now. My life back in Chichester seems a stranger’s life. I was heading up a small provincial fine art department at University College Chichester. I did it for four and a half years. I had to stop. I really had to stop. There was nothing for me there and I had to be a grown up too much of the time. To be an artist, you need time not to be a grown up. I will no doubt reveal more of my time in Chichester as this blog progresses but I could write pages of bitter resentment about my time in Chichester. So I wont. Not now.

Except for one thing. I am currently painting a picture about Chichester. 6 months after I left. It has been gurgling away in my head as an idea for over a year. It is a very naff idea so I have kept putting it off. It is provisionally titled ‘ Battle for Chichester Cross’ and it is 5′ wide and 4 ‘high. I have been painting it now for ten days. I will post an image of it here once I have taken a picture of it. But it is still a long way off being completed.

What is it like? Let me know how naff this sounds: All that remains of Chichester in the picture is the monument at Chichester Cross, where North, East, South and West streets meet. There are many people riding (driving?) those state of the art mobility buggies as if they were riding into a great battle. The rest of the painting is peopled with the good middle classes not sure how to react to this impending onslaught of the buggies. All this lit by a dramatic orange sky. What is it about – well I am trying to work it out. All I know is that I want it to be a fantastic epic of cinematic proportions…. more of this some other time.

Last night I was dressed as a pink flamingo. Honest.

It was Hastings Old Town Festival pram race and I was called in as a last-minute recruit to Hastings’ pub ‘First Inn Last Out’ (Filo) entry. Andy and Anna (who were organising this) decided to go as pink flamingos with a wheelbarrow instead of a pram with someone (jay) dressed up as an egg riding in the barrow. So myself, Andy , Anna, Rachel, Jo, Tara and Jay entered the race. The objective was to visit 20 Hastings Old Town pubs and ask for a question. If we got the question wrong we would take a forfeit (chilli vodka, dunk for apples in horrible goo…etc.). Well we did it, but we didn’t win any of the large range of prizes on offer. I staggered home over the east hill at about 1.00am.

Today I painted a little version of us all dressed up in our pink flamingo outfits as Andy had lost his disposable camera on route and I thought we should have some sort of record of how we looked. So I did a wee painting from memory.

I am alone this evening as my sister Claire and her two kids Harper and Mae are off to Leeds to meet up with Claire’s partner David who is directing No Angels for Channel 4. Which is why I am finally starting my blog as I need to keep busy lest I fall in front of the television.

I think that is enough for now. I will see how I go over the next week and whether I can maintain a blog which is useful and interesting.