Paint or Draw " The Crown "

[Richard]

I nearly fell asleep watching TTSS on TV the other night.
There was an interview with JLC immediately beforehand.
The film was subdued /low-key, and rather dated but it was enjoyable somehow to be lulled into a near-comatose mental state of mind, but it dragged on far too long late at night for me to endure more than half-way through.
When I was 11 or 12 my father took me to see 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'.
I was too young and it left me feeling 'cold' also, it seemed to be drab and unpleasant enough, perhaps in black and white, which made it even more dreary.
I was glad enough when it ended.
I would like to see that one again (over 50 years later!) and perhaps form a different view.
The only other film or book I may like to read is 'The Constant Gardner'.

[seahermit]

You should have stayed with it, Richard. The film was "dated" inevitably - times move on, but it was also absolutely of it's time, with all the paranoia, mistrust and fears about foreign subversion.

"The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" left me disappointed, I felt the book was flawed, fine writing but over-long court scenes and the somewhat depressing and downbeat ending. But these things strike everybody differently! Maybe I will re-assess it on another reading sometime and in a different mood ..

[seahermit]

Painting/drawing is not what I am good at, but perhaps I will wander up to the Crown and see if it inspires a photograph. I'm not expecting much, the pub is quite ordinary I think! But it's an excuse to get my camera out again.

How about a few shots of Hastings around the theme of "Life in the time of Corona" ? Do you think the Observer might help to bring me a bit of fame?!

I suppose I should have tried to write something about the pandemic, but the whole thing has of course been so dispiriting. Last night, I watched a fantastic film of Bob Dylan's life by Martin Scorcese - hours long but suffused with wonderful poetry and music. That's nudging me to pick up my notebook again ..

[seahermit]

Well, I did walk up to the Old Town on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The Stade area had the usual romantic jumble of paraphernalia amongst the fishing boats, later a beautiful sunset over the shore.

But whoever suggested that artists might want to paint or draw the Crown pub was very much indulging in a prank! A drab, boring, red-brick building, looks a bit like a warehouse, no pub sign nor ANY signs/nameboards to indicate it is a pub. A jaded crown does hang over one doorway - but unlit and too high up to be immediately noticeable. Three or four trestle tables are upturned edgeways, leaning against the building's front wall. There is a long wooden trough on the pavement containing some unhappy-looking scrubby plants!

The whole atmosphere was one of dreariness and abandonment, nothing attractive at all. If someone had made an effort to smarten up the outside appearance, a coat of paint maybe or some nice bulbs in the trough, the building would atleast have looked presentable - but still very far from an architectural gem!

[Richard]

Dylan, arrogant, mostly drunk or on drugs all his life, with his scrawny don't give a shit twangy voice.
The greatest cultural con artist of all time, without emotion, empathy or connection, he simply was a genius of telling us what we wanted to hear.

[number9]

Well, we seem to have drifted a bit from the original topic and credit to seahermit for steering the topic back to how the Crown looks now.

If we must mention Dylan then I find him overrated ( I can think of only 8 really big songs including of course " Blowin in the Wind,Like a Rolling Stone & Mr Tambourine Man ). before him they should have given to Nobel Prize posthumously to Woody Guthrie.
That's not to say I dislike his songs, there are many I like listening to.

Prize given for " new poetic expression " that's a matter of opinion.....
maybe Eminem should get one.

[number9]

Getting back to the topic of Paint or draw the Crown, how about maybe painting it in a more creative way so that the basics are there but you could paint or draw it in perhaps a futuristic way or even paint/draw using outrageous colour. Or maybe using as your background a wall make it into a Banksy.

[seahermit]

I was a bit disparaging of the Crown, but take a look, the building does look very depressed! There were a couple of small notices in the windows about the competition but the words "silk purse" and "sow's ear" kept crossing my mind.

I am not artist enough to get any brilliant ideas about painting the pub in a surreal or imaginative way. I just couldn't find anything remarkable about the building which would make a good photo.

I can well see people's criticisms of Dylan, certainly his first few years were his best work. But few successful artists did not have a measure of arrogance and "take it or leave it" and few managed to completely avoid the temptations of drink/drugs. But I am not interested in his personal life, only in his musical achievements - all I know is that he somehow put his finger on the pulse of what was happening around him and, throughout that film, many of his wonderful lyrics (and quotes from his poems) sent shivers up my spine

[Richard]

'The Crown'.

The beer and wine are good and the owners and staff very accommodating.
The food is 'dainty morsels' for want of a better word, but unique, with a menu that make a point of using locally-sourced and fresh ingredients.
They seem to try hard to tempt the appetite.

I can imagine a cubist version of a horse emerging from the side wall and customers or bar-staff seen from various angles-merged.
A waiter carrying food, with a bubble showing the farm or field where the ingredients were sourced perhaps.
The building can be chopped around too, reverse-coloured, anything is possible.
But unless the artwork is for a good cause??

[seahermit]

Ain't no beer, wine or food currently. Just an empty, locked-up building.

The competition related to the building itself, not the food. The inescapable fact remains that the structure is drab and ordinary. I think I would give a prize myself to any artist who could create an imaginative and interesting image out of that subject-matter.