The Brass Monkeys Studio was particularly busy when I arrived, with people deferring to each other at the door and laughing as they escaped the gusts of wind up St John’s Road . This venue specialises in contemporary silversmithing and jewellery, with around a dozen artists showing. My eye was caught by a close fitting, baroque necklace by Rebecca Keast, and a delicate feathery choker by Annie Weedon. But jewellery somehow wasn’t in my mindset for the day and I was drawn more to Andrew Morris’s realist, almost photographic acrylics of American subjects: groups of people, skyscrapers, posters.

On to the Regency grandeur of Lansdowne Place , for the jolliest encounter of the day, at number 119. I loved Ian Hodgson’s delicate graphite images in which architectural details of Brighton ’s landmarks emerge as if from a fog. As he explains his technique, my critical shortcomings are exposed when I call it “scribble”, but he doesn’t bat an eyelid. Jackie Raybone is equally down to earth as she says she likes to “push the oil around” her richly coloured abstracts. Liz Spencer Clare’s semi-abstract landscapes are beautiful, too. And Emily Walker’s jewellery is both attractive and very good value – a pair of earrings is boxed and wrapped at the sort of price you’d pay for the box alone in London .

I’m surprised to find that the final venue of the day – Naked Eye Gallery – is actually a commercial gallery, which for some reason strikes me as out of keeping with what I imagined was the ethos of the Artists Open Houses. Even so, it’s nice to see the gallery supports the work of Ian Hodgson. It shows paintings, prints and ceramics by the established artists Simon Dixon (pop art) and Dan Baldwin, whose current trademarks include skulls and Mickey Mouse.

It’s just as well Hove was bracing. I get home in time to watch the freak show that is now the Eurovision Song Contest. Oh Lordi…
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