I’m the child of an Army Colonel. We moved a lot. But throughout my childhood there was a constant. There was my grandparents house.
We visited every summer, easter and christmas and I have some of my best memories there and some of my worst.
Their house was on the beach in a place called Greatstone, which is literally along the road from Dungeness.
My Grandpa worked at Dungeness power station. We ate fish and chips from the chip shop next to the power station (and we probably still glow in the dark because of it). I used to sit on the beach stones and watch the lighthouse light appear and disappear.
On the first night of every visit I would lie in bed and listen to the waves and the gulls.
We were told off for walking sand in to the house. There was a bucket of water by the back door, so we could wash our feet. And we had ongoing battles about slaming the front door.
Every summer from the age of 3 I helped a woman called Joan unload her donkeys from a van that she parked opposite the house. And we walked the donkeys up and down the beach giving the older children donkey rides.
We walked to the shops and bought rainbow sherbet and fishing nets. And we hurled ourselves down the enormous (sadly disappearing) sand dunes. And we collected stones that had tiny purple crystals in.
But it was also a dark place. There is a particular light in Dungeness. It’s grey and blue, even in the summer. It has an effect on almost everyone that visits and it draws in artists of all kinds. It’s a barren, lonely place and yet it has a beauty all of it’s own.
The beach front is lined with old fishermans huts with gardens of stones. The lighthouse is dwarfed by the power station and the wind blows. And blows.
I haven’t been back since I was 17 years old. And when I started cutting the fabrics for my new pillows I purposefully didn’t look at photo’s of Dungeness. I have a specific memory and it’s not of a particular place, it’s of a particular grouping of colours.
My memory is of greys and yellows and blues. It’s the colour of the stones that lead down to the beach. It’s the colour of the grass that pushes up through the sand and tickles your legs when you sit to watch the oyster catchers. It’s the colour of the clouds and the sea.
And they’re beautiful, dark colours that are still summery and fresh. Fish and chips and sand and wind and rain and rays of bright yellow sunshine.
These colours are Dungeness to me.
And this range is special to me. It's a turning point. It's the first time that I've made something that truly reflects a part of me. And it's inspired by nothing more than a memory.
It will be in the SHOP some time tonight now.
*the top photo is me and my mom, sitting on the bench outside my grandparents back door. It's my favourite photo ever *
