The third in a trilogy of same-sized paintings again uses the grid pattern appropriated from floor tiles found in the Hastings Observer building (see previous work, Gaza and Observed). Spills and Spin took a long time to make, it kept changing as I'd set myself a difficult task!

I wanted to combine a William Morris wallpaper pattern called Seaweed with visual data I got from the Riverstrust.com on the number of spills there are and where, the latest info being 2023. (However, they do display live spills based on water company info and their own monitoring, as do Surfers Against Sewage). 

I also wanted to use the colours of the water company logos, which really spoiled Morris's subtle colour design (and he did four lovely different colourways).

It also amused me how most of the water company logos are almost the same colour blue and a similar green. That rather changed how my painting would look.

Surfers Against Sewage provided the number of sewage spills and their duration in the UK caused by water companies in England and Wales. Many stories are reported by the Guardian, the BBC, Sky, We Own It and other sources. Figures vary, stories do not. 

In Hastings, we not only get hit with regular sewage dumps into the sea by Southern Water, but also got hit with water being cut off in May 2024 as a result of a burst pipe that hadn't been maintained in a forest.

To date, April 2025, not everyone has yet received the compensation agreed by our local MP and Councillors. Southern Water seem to specialise in obfuscation, or perhaps they are merely shambolic. In April 2025, customer bills have gone up 26% if you have a water meter, or 52% if you don't.