Gordon Rushmer

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I’ve decided to use this feature written by my great friend Malinka van der Gaauw as my website introduction this year. Malinka runs ‘Rural Strides’ from her base in Petersfield and guides walks throughout the Western Weald of Hampshire and Sussex. Find her at www.ruralstrides.co.uk

A Brush With The Downs

“If you are looking for a thoughtful gift or a worthy addition to your own bookshelf, I have a recommendation for you. A Celebration of the South Downs National Park is a beautifully curated book of art in which local artist Gordon Rushmer draws together decades of close observation to honour the South Downs National Park in its full breadth. However, his accompanying writing carries equal weight.

One passage in particular stopped me in my tracks: “Where would the South Downs be without the Weald? Within the park the western Weald is an equal partner with the chalk hills to its south.”

I found myself smiling as I read these words. Not because they are poetic, but because I recognised they had been written by a kindred soul. Too often, the National Park is presented as a sweep of white chalk and open downland, yet the woodlands, pasture and clay soils of the Western Weald shape its character just as profoundly.”

Written by Malinka van der Gaauw

Please read in full at Rural Strides, A Brush With The Downs.

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Works in Collections

Rowland Hilder Award, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours

Exhibited in ‘Watercolour’ at the Tate Gallery, London