Mid Sussex artist’s attic sale to help the homeless

The Mid Sussex painter is holding an attic sale and half the proceeds will go toward boosting the coffers of Brighton and Hove charity Knight Support.

Best known for his impressionistic landscapes of the South Downs, Grant’s work adorns the walls of many a stately home across the Sussex counties and beyond.

“The housing crisis has left so many people destitute.” says Grant, 51, who lives in Plumpton with his wife Jackie and their two children Alex, 14, and Lauren, 12.

“We’re lucky to have a roof over our heads,” he says.

“Imagine how it must feel to be out on the streets in the kind of weather we’ve been having recently, it’s heartbreaking.”

Touched by the efforts of the Knight Support volunteers, Grant and Jackie decided to hold a joint sale at their exhibition centre adjacent to the Half Moon pub in Plumpton, on Saturday (March 14).

Jackie is one of the UK’s leading fashion illustrators and she will be offering customers a chance to have their portraits digitally drawn on the day. Many of her works for the major fashion houses, Givenchy, Chanel, Gaultier will also be on display.

Grant will be exhibiting a cache of sketches, drawings, paintings and sculptures which have been gathering dust under the rafters of the family home.

The artist, renowned for his “high end” landscapes and expansive Sussex skyscapes, has a history when it comes to supporting the homeless.

One of his three metre high murals can still be seen in the centre of Brighton near the city’s library. The painting, called Lost, depicts a child sleeping on a park bench under lamplight. The hard-hitting image won a national street art competition commissioned by artrepublic.com back in 2010.

“We wanted to do something for those people still suffering on the streets,” says Grant. “Little has change since the days of the artrepublic challenge some 10 years ago and we wanted to help make a difference today, which is what the Knight Support volunteers are trying to do.

Lynne Knight, 42, from Brighton, is the inspiration behind the local charity https://www.knightsupport.co.uk .

“It’s so good of Grant and Jackie,” says Lynne, “we’re very grateful. In these days of austerity every donation is a big help. Caring and being kind to each other is so important and so often sadly lacking it seems in this day and age.”

The community support group runs an out-reach programme which actively seeks out homeless people to provide them with essentials donated by the public.

The volunteers run mobile soup kitchens and distribute hot and cold food as well as tents and sleeping bags to the needy sleeping rough on the streets of Brighton and Hove.