First stop was appropriately the home of another Open House virgin, Claudia Rivers-Bland, on what I understand is a debut trail, Seven Dials Artists. (There’s an article dedicated to this group here) The address is described disconcertingly as back entrance Dyke Road, but the Walled Garden Flat beautifully lives up to its description. Claudia was very welcoming and I really liked her contemporary, colourful, India-inspired mixed-media prints. Her colleague Sue Haseltine displays big, bold flower pictures with an almost photographic quality. Claudia’s partner Adam Gower and his father Michael show their own ceramics and watercolours.
Off to Hove next, to Glass House, where Kim Glass welcomes visitors with cream teas in the garden. Her etchings of Brighton are joined by Robert Chevalier’s small, French-journey pictures and the work of at least four other artists. Nearby, at Chanctonbury Road, Artists Live Here take over every floor of the house, which isn’t surprising given that there are no fewer than twelve artists on display, in media from mosaics to wallpaper and embroidery to glass. (And the kitchen is practically a café.) With so much too choose from, I particularly noted Ali Hastilow’s very attractive floral paper-cut pictures and prints and Wendy Jung’s delicate, pierced ceramics. I even succumbed to the temptation offered by Katrina Beattie’s subtle glass designs and bought an ashtray with a cunningly-embedded matrix of bubbles, while The Outsider’s bodyguard went for an item of Jan Irvine’s colourful shell jewellery.

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