Quedubon – (just good things) by Michael G. Clark @ Doubtfire Gallery: a bon vivant tour from Paris to Provence
Doubtfire Gallery was established in 2010 by design partnership Frame Creative and it’s most exciting that it has recently moved to the bustling heart of Stockbridge. With light flooding in the front window, this is a contemporary, accessible and spacious venue with high white walls and polished wood floor.
To launch the new gallery, the summer exhibition is Quedubon by Michael G. Clark. The title roughly translates as “just good things” to reflect the French sense of joie de vivre and observe the pursuit of pleasure and leisure in their daily routine.
Clark visited Paris for the first time in 1980 while studying at he Edinburgh College of Art: the city of light, culture and romance, must have been an exciting, enriching experience for a young artist. Café society, the timeless French art of living, is captured with cool, charismatic style.
There is a certain je ne sais quoi about the inimitable ankle-grazing apron, style and stature of the traditional waiter, as seen standing here on duty with military precision.
This is more than a simple sketch but a charming, impressionistic Lowry-esque figurative study. Through the window, it seems there is a shadowy glimpse of a couple sitting inside the café, all part of a hidden narrative like a paused frame in an animation movie.
If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” From A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway (memoir)
Drinking wine is the decorative theme in several artworks to take you on a virtual journey around the vineyards of the Bordeaux, Rhone, Loire and Champagne regions.
Mostly Bordeaux – the half full (or half empty) glass of wine is a bright and bold Pop Art image set against a splash of Cabernet Sauvingon/Merlot red.
From oil paintings to unframed works, here are champagne flutes, clinking glasses and a fine array of bottles of all shapes and sizes. White Wine is a most pleasing compostion like a Still life, with corkscrew, grapes and bottles within an abstract fertile green landscape of the vineyard.
With an imaginative use of media, Wine Bibbing, is sketched in ink and a splosh of red wine, with a jolly, jaunty angle of the glasses. Santé !
As well as fine wines and cuisine, France is also renowned for haute couture. Michael G. Clark has the expert eye of a leading fashion designer, specialising with such skill in drawing the most fabulous frocks and the ever fashionable LBD, of Coco Chanel fame. This unframed illustration is delicately crafted in Conté crayon and oil on a gesso panel.
The Dressmaker depicts an elegant cocktail gown – perhaps cream chiffon – and a soft pink sundress, with such subtle shading to denote a light linen texture.
Paris in the Rain, reflects the damp chill in the air, the girl in her cloche hat hunched under her parapluie, trying to keep dry and warm.
Here are many other quirky, quintessential snapshots of traditional French life and times – shopping in the market, a game of Petanque in the park, taking the dog for a walk, and the iconic, close embrace of two lovers in a city street.
Again, like an animation movie, these are delightful, romantic vignettes, ‘caricature’ figures but with a depth of painterly expression to evoke a real sense of place and atmosphere – the use of light, leafy shade and dappled sunlight is most effective.
The beauty of the natural landscape too, such as Sunflowers, (see image below), with thick brush strokes and smudges of golden yellow oil paint like a slick of mustard: one blooming flower stands tall and erect to face the sun.
Quedubon – Just Good Things by Michael G Clark is the perfect exhibition to bring sunshine into our lives this summer. Do visit the new Doubtfire Gallery soon.
Quedubon – Just Good Things, by Michael G Clark PAI, RSW
Doubtfire Gallery, 20th June to 1st August, 2020
28 North West Circus Place,, Edinburgh EH3 6TP
www.doubtfiregallery.co.uk email: art@doubtfiregallery.co.uk
Visit the new sassy, sophisticated Cocktail and Champagne Bars at Le Monde, Edinburgh – cheers!
The World came to Edinburgh thirteen years ago ..
Well to be more accurate, the quirky, cool and ultra contemporary boutique hotel, Le Monde opened on George Street.
This was a really exciting concept when it launched, offering guests the choice of eighteen superior bedrooms and suites each inspired by the world’s most cultural and cosmopolitan cities, from Barcelona to Rio, Berlin to Reykjavik, Casablanca to Sydney. In 2006, my partner Ken and I stayed for a review visit, jetting off (as it were) to Los Angeles, a Junior Suite, in the process.
This really oozes Hollywood glamour, featuring dozens of portraits of famous movie stars, stunning white leather sofas, bedroom, bathroom with a round tub designed for two.
Le Monde was named Scottish Design Hotel at the Scottish Hotel Awards in that first year of of opening, as well as a runner up for its Paris Bar and as a Boutique Hotel. Its international themed décor and design lead all the way around from bedrooms to the Bars, Brasserie and Shanghai nightclub.
Fast forward to September 2019
Le Monde welcomes drinkers and diners to experience the revamped, restyled Bars and Restaurant following a major £1 million, four month renovation project. The original, traveller’s tale around Le Monde has been enhanced with great imagination to take you on a culinary and cultural journey.
Just beyond the entrance hall is the ab fab Champagne Bar with velvet draped booth seating and high backed claret-coloured stools around the half moon Bar.
Just the place to stay awhile and sip a glass or two of Laurent-Perrier, the House Champagne, served by flute, bottle and magnum, as well as other sparkling wines and champagne.
It’s not the wizard’s yellow brick, but follow the colourful zig zag, marble road through to the Cocktail Bar with an amazing Island Bar in the centre, where you can sit on tan leather stools all around. Smart and spacious, it’s rather like a First Class Airline Club Lounge and ideal choice of seating for either couples or a party of friends.
Let’s have a taste of what’s on offer …
At a sneak preview, Ken and I had an inspiring tour around to sample a few innovative cocktails and tasty tapas. Generation X & Millennials might think cocktails were invented in the 20th century, but 2019 is celebrating the centenary of the Negroni invented in 1919 Florence, named after a Count who concocted the tipple.
A book entitled “Fancy Drinks and How to Mix Them” of 1896 features a recipe for Martini, which resembles very much the classic we love to this day. The decades from World War 1 to the 1930s was the era of the cocktail, as Cole Porter would sing about in 1924 with his perfect talent for rhyming:
"Too many parties and too many beaus
They have found that the fountain of youth
Is a mixture of gin and vermouth .."
It’s departure Time at Le Monde Cocktail Bar – remember it’s 5 o’clock somewhere in the world so time for a drink. Browse the enticing menu of fancy drinks inspired by classics and cities around the world: “Saintoge Sidecar”, the classic was invented at the Ritz Paris – the version here is a blend of Tequila, VS Cognanc, Cointreau and fresh lime juice with a dash of champagne.
“S’Bigliato” is a famous drink in Milan and means The Mistake. The story goes that a barman was trying to make a Negroni with Martini rosato, Aperol, Campari and Prosecco, rose vermouth and bitters, creating a rather different pink drink.
Also try the “ Gin Gin Cosmo” a celebration of hip New York cocktails, the Cosmopolitan, Clover Club and Gin Mule, with Gordons Pink Gin, Edinburgh Rhubarb and Ginger Liqueur with fresh lime and cranberry juice. I think Carrie & the gals would love it.!
Imaginative re-mixes and shake ups of cocktails too from Casablanca, Rio, Havana and Berlin as well as Cocktail pitchers for a group. And of course, fine wines, champagnes, Prosecco, spirits, draught and bottled beers.
Around the corner from the Bar, there are comfortable banquette seats for dining. The new food menu is ideal for a romantic dinner a deux, or a night out with friends, sharing a few Tapas such as Chorizo & Cheese Croquettes, Aubergine Bruschetta, Roast Pepper and olive salad, Battered Haddock bites (like posh fish fingers), Serrano ham with broccoli, Sweet potato fries. Also a range of steak, burgers, vegetarian and vegan dishes, sides and desserts.
Appetising lite bites and seriously good food for the modern traveller – breakfast, brunch, lunch and supper.
Travel the World
Thirteen years since it first opened, this major design facelift has transformed Le Monde into a glamorous getaway in the city, perfect for any occasion. The refurbishment was created by RYE Design, an Architecture and Interior Design Studio. The original classic Georgian features are juxtaposed beside the new cool, contemporary plush, luxe décor.
And of course you can stay overnight. Each styled bedroom and suite, whatever the standard, has a 42” plasma TV screen, air conditioning, minibar, bathrooms with rainfall showers, Scottish toiletries, bathrobe & slippers, a safe, refreshment facilities and complimentary WiFi. Select your favourite city to enjoy a themed experience with well selected photography, art, fabrics, books, lighting and cultural style.
The Dirty Martini, upstairs is a Bar and Salon for private parties, festive celebrations and corporate receptions, and downstairs, is the popular Shanghai Night Club. Le Monde certainly is an all singing, all dancing international venue for drinking, eating, sleeping, leisure and lifestyle
Commenting on the re-opening, Darren Scott, the General Manager, said:
‘Le Monde has been a favourite venue in the heart of Edinburgh for many years now, and we’ve taken that wonderful idea of a trip to glamorous and exciting places and reinvented it. The newly refurbished bar and restaurant exude the warm cosmopolitan glamour and relaxed luxury that make you want to while away the day or evening.
Our food and drink menus delve into the culture, customs and cocktails of cities around the world to create a very special selection. Every dish and drink has been devised, blending global inspiration with ingredients in Scotland.
Celebrate a new era of Le Monde with us.’
Reviews from happy drinkers and diners who have visited in September 2019 :
A girls’ weekend in Edinburgh and came here for cocktails – so good we came back a second night! Highly recommended.
Luxurious setting. Love the idea of small plates allowing to try many dishes. Not a vegan but the decorative beetroot dish was to die for. Cocktails from around the world were fab.
The new cocktail menu is impressive, themed on different cities around the world. Looking forward to trying out the new champagne bar! Ching ching.
Take a trip to Le Monde soon to discover a world of possibilities in its new era with a sassy new look, classy, classic cocktails, delicious dining and luxurious interior – a place to eat, drink, sleep and party the night away.
Le Monde – Bar, Brasserie, Hotel, Nightclub
16 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PF – https://lemondehotel.co.uk/
“Taking Shape” – a bright, colourful show for Springtime at Lennon Art, Edinburgh
Lennon-Art is a most welcoming gallery in the cultural (and culinary) hub of Stockbridge, Edinburgh, founded by the artist Alan Lennon. The current collection Taking Shape very much celebrates the birth of Spring with a refreshing cocktail of colourful paintings and prints by Stephen Holmes, Alan Martin and Alan Lennon, interlinking a theme of abstract artwork with both lighthearted humour and thoughtful insight.
“The world doesn’t make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?” Pablo Picasso
Stephen Holmes studied Graphic design and has been influenced by surrealism, wildlife and children’s book illustrations for his cool quirky images of animals, people and places which primarily focus “on the relationship between free-form shapes and colours.”
With sharp edged red, blue and orange cubes and triangles like a traditional Harlequin’s suit. his painterly style echoes the modern masters – Mondrian, Picasso and Miro – but which is in no way a blatant duplication.
In his own refreshing manner, Holmes captures the naivety and innocence in childlike images of cats, houses, city park and caricatures of people which will make you smile.
A vivacious “Red-haired girl does a drunken dance” evokes rhythm and energy while his rather sombre “ Self Portrait” is, of course, most revealing, akin to Joyce’s literary version, “Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.”
Whatever the subject matter, there is pure inventiveness in each picture depicting an enchanting landscape with a wild and wondrous imagination.
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Pablo Picasso
Moving down the route of abstraction, Alan Martin presents a patchwork of geometric shapes around curving lines described as Doodles using mixed media, mainly acrylic with pen and coloured pencils on card or canvas.
While he has a strong interest in archaeology, astronomy and the seashore, he says, “ I find it hard to talk and explain about individual paintings … I simply enjoy playing with line, colour and shape … manipulating the randomness that can result from using collage.”
There’s a two-dimensional flatness over the canvas and the bold compositions would also be ideal for cushions, rugs and Fashion design too – the swirling patterns and bright prints by Emilio Pucci and Jonathan Saunders are perfect for flowing silk and soft fabrics from floaty summer dresses to swimwear.
The diverse range of Martin’s work also covers a porfolio of birds, fish, people and still life with a darkly, dramatic, Dali-esque narrative.
“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterwards, you can remove all traces of reality.” Pablo Picasso
Alan Lennon’s oil paintings specialise in figurative work with a recurring theme of a thoughtful, philosophical mood. Through a series entitled Essence, Substance and Silence, he has gradually developed a less representative dimension along the lines of Picasso’s manner of fragmentation.
These reflect a hidden depth of emotion and spirituality handled through facial expression and subtle gesture of crossed hands and feet such as in “Reflection” and “Aspiration”.
Lennon admits his figures are not based on people he knows. Instead through his own imagination (and perhaps subconsciously adding an aspect of himself), presents a quiet, joyous Zen-like beauty of the world. He is also a fine sculptor especially constructing a face, eyes and furrowed brows depicting sadness or love with extraordinary poignancy.
“Taking Shape” is a well curated showcase of three artists who complement each other with their individual approach to reconfiguring the notion of the everyday, life and humanity with imaginative vision.
“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place, from the sky, from the earth, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web” Picasso
Catch this exhibition if you can before it ends on 10 May … but whenever you visit there is always a varied collection of paintings, prints and sculpture throughout the year.
Taking Shape: 13 April – 10 May, 2018
Lennon-Art, 83 Henderson Row, Edinburgh EH 3 5BE
Open Mon-Sat, 12pm – 6pm.
Tel. 0131 556 6888
Charity Chic 2017: the annual Fashion Catwalk Showcase for Cancer Research (Stockbridge)
In the grand, baroque St Stephen’s Centre @ Saint Stephen’s Church, (designed in 1827 by William Playfair), this year’s Charity Chic Fashion Show in aid of Cancer Research UK (Stockbridge), will be another glitzy, glamorous and inspirational evening. When? Friday 6th October, 2017 – 7pm to 9.30pm
Where? St Stephen’s Centre, 105 St. Stephen Street, Edinburgh EH3 5AB.
Charity Chic offers a fabulous night out featuring a colourfully creative Fashion Show, live music, a Bar and stalls to buy quality clothes, raffle tickets, cakes and much much more.
Organised once again by Elaine Lennon, the assistant manager of Cancer Research, Stockbridge, the highlight of the evening is a Catwalk Extraordinaire: members of staff, customers and friends of the shop will showcase the best of Charity Chic from High Street fashion to Designer couture, for men and women.
From Top Shop to Top Brands, (e.g. Prada, Versace, Westwood), gorgeous clothes are donated year round to the Stockbridge branch by the public. After a fine collection is shown off in style and swagger along the Catwalk, these clothes and accessories will then be available to purchase – if you are quick off the mark! – after the show.
This is the perfect opportunity to jazz up your Autumn-Winter wardrobe with a ‘nearly new’ coat, cosy sweater, smart trousers, shoes, handbag, hat, scarf, jewellery and perhaps a little black dress or dinner suit for festive parties.
The POP-UP Shop opens from 7pm, bringing the Cancer Research Boutique along to St. Stephen’s Centre with some amazing fashion bargains, gifts, treasures and gems, to be snapped up for one night only.
This is the eighth time Cancer Research Stockbridge has staged an annual Charity Chic fashion show, raising an estimated thirty thousand pounds at these fun, sociable evenings. Proceeds go towards funding clinical research, medical trials and specialist nurses, all of which are vital in the fight against cancer.
The spacious theatre-style venue at St. Stephen’s Centre will create a party atmosphere to meet friends, enjoy the Catwalk, have a drink, browse around the stalls and dress up in some lovely new fashionable clothes.
Volunteers are most welcome – do get in touch if you’d like to try your hand at modelling, run one of the stalls or help to organise the event.
Tickets are priced at £10. And of course, this show is for a very good cause.
Pick up your tickets at the Cancer Research Shop, 30 Raeburn Place, Edinburgh. Tel. 0131 343 6343
Or purchase on line:
Generation 3 – Christmas exhibition of arts and crafts at Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh
Christmas is the time of year when families gather together – the annual pilgrimage most of us will make soon, as captured in song from Sinatra’s “I’ll be home for Christmas” to “Driving home for Christmas” from Chris Rea.
For the Rollinson family they have planned a different kind of reunion for us all to share and enjoy. Generation 3 is a collective exhibition to showcase the arts and crafts representing three generations.
Starting a few decades ago with Peter and Rosemary’s Scottish saddlery business, their children and grandchildren have inherited the creative gene and developed their own distinctive artistic talent from glassware and jewellery to pottery and photography.
After retirement, Peter Rollinson has developed his passion for cine, video and still photography in which to observe the natural world, flowers, trees and landscape, through the camera lens. As he explains the background to his art: “We tend to overlook something that is small, or that is a small part of a larger image. We may pass a dry stone wall every day and not see the different coloured stones used, or the fern growing from it. Or really see an old letterbox, a lone lobster pot or a tree stump. ”
Aged just 16, Natasha Rollinson began working with silver at a Summer course at Edinburgh College of Art which led to studying jewellery at the University of Ulster, and then training as a goldsmith. Her fine jewellery is based on traditional techniques matched by modern design.
Angelika Rollinson trained as a dressmaker in an atelier in southern Germany, later making costumes for the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Just like Vivienne Westwood who loves using Scottish textiles, she has designed a range of Harris Tweed ladies’ capes for this exhibition.
And then we move from wool to leather: William Rollinson worked in his family’s business and trained as a saddler. Today he makes and repairs saddles as well as creating quality leather products, dog collars, bags and gun cases. He also built his own Tipi Tent for camping on canoeing and fishing trips around Scotland.
Sue Jack trained in architectural glass at University of Wales and now divides her time between Edinburgh and Sutherland where she has an eco friendly house and glass design studio overlooking the sea towards Harris and the mountains of Assynt and Coicach. Inspired by the rugged wild landscape, Sue creates sculptural pieces and art works from kiln formed glass.
The new BBC series, The Great British Pottery Throw Down may encourage viewers to try their hand with throwing some clay … just as the ever popular Great British Bake Off show did with all those tempting cakes, buns and tarts.
Vicky Ware is the archetypal artisan potter, working and teaching in a studio at her home, a converted barn in rural Wales. Her handmade earthenware pots range from colourfully decorative glazed ceramics to functional plates, bowls and kitchenware.
And her rustic Terracotta Bread Pots sell like hot cakes!
As Vicky describes the creative design process … “ Hand thrown using grogged earthenware clay and fired to a rich toasted terracotta, each one is slightly different and has a spiral inside which gives the traditional crescia pattern to the loaf. The handles, as well as being part of the design, are a practical way of holding the pot to remove the bread.
“My pots are good for all types of bread and especially for sourdough, as you can prove and bake the loaf in the mould, retaining the texture and lightness of your dough”.
These beautiful moulds have revolutionised the way I bake! I have never had such a light and fluffy sourdough – the best loaf I have made.” Kelli DiCapri – Artisan Baker
Generation 3 is a fantastic, diverse collection of exquisitely hand made and beautifully crafted artwork made with love and care – perfect gifts for your family and friends this Christmas.
Dundas Street Gallery, Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH2 6HZ
28th November to 5th December, 2015 – 11am – 6pm daily.
For more information, contact: generation.3artsists@gmail.com