WorkArt & Culture

Bostal: Nick Bodimeade's paintings that celebrate the views of the Downs

What exactly is a bostal? According to Sussex dialect, it's a "small road leading up a hill". As in Sussex Gorse: The Story of Fight (1916) by Sheila Kaye-Smith: "...it was still light, and Robert and Bessie turned inevitably along the little bostal that trickles through the fields."

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Rolling green hills with dark tree clusters flanking a winding river, painted in loose brushstrokes with soft violet and cream tones

And it's also mentioned in Before the Lamps Went Out (1965) by Geoffrey Jules Marcus: "...up the chalky bostals over the Downs from the secluded villages and hamlets."

This forms the inspiration behind Bostal, a new series of paintings by British artist Nick Bodimeade that covers the stretch of Downs from Steyning to Lewes; views that are familiar to many and much loved.

Bostal will go on show at a new exhibition at the Zimmer Stewart Gallery in Arundel, West Sussex from 6 to 27 May 2017, open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 6pm. To find out more about Nick's work, visit nickbodimeade.co.uk.

Impressionistic landscape painting of rolling downs with bright green fields, dark wooded areas and a pale sky with water reflections
Landscape painting of a winding stream through bright lime-green fields framed by dark trees and distant clay-coloured hills under a pale sky
Vibrant abstract landscape with neon green and purple tones depicting rolling hills and a winding path through the countryside
Nick Bodimeade painting of a grand house set in vibrant green grounds with a stream in the foreground under a pale sky
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