Latest news with #JackVettriano
The Herald Scotland
28-06-2025
- The Herald Scotland
Scotland's best seaside picnic spots with incredible views
While beach dining isn't for everyone, I certainly have a real fondness for it. If you do too, then this list will be just the ticket. Here, we round up five of Scotland's most scenic seaside picnic spots, all with incredible views to gaze at as you eat. Culzean Castle, Ayrshire There is a majestic stretch of towering cliffs, rocky shores and sandy bays around Culzean Castle that is perfect for picnicking and has plenty of scope for adventure. Not least when it comes to guddling in rock pools – or scouring the beach for other magical treasures. Read More: At low tide, the volcanic rock formations and lava platforms are brilliant for glimpsing pockets of marine life. Keep your eyes peeled for ghost prawns, sea urchins and starfish. Geology buffs, meanwhile, can enjoy looking for semi-precious stones, such as agate, jasper and amethyst. Tuck into a leisurely feast with vistas of Arran, Kintyre and Ailsa Craig. Afterwards, head back up into the castle grounds to grab dessert at the Aviary Ice Cream Parlour beside the Swan Pond. Seacliff, East Lothian This private and unspoilt beach, around five miles from North Berwick, offers spellbinding views of the Bass Rock and the ruins of Tantallon Castle. The tiny sandstone harbour, dating from the 1890s, is widely credited as the smallest in the UK. Popular among surfers, dog walkers and, yep, picnic lovers, Seacliff has graced the screen in a clutch of star-studded TV shows and films in recent times, including Outlaw King, Mary Queen of Scots and The Buccaneers. Car entry is controlled by a coin-operated barrier. If you fancy topping up your beach banquet with some coffee and cake, you are less than a 10-minute drive from Drift, a gorgeous cliff top cafe that operates out of converted shipping containers and a former horse trailer. Kingsbarns, Fife Fife is packed with coastal gems, from the family-friendly Burntisland and Aberdour Silver Sands to low-key beauties such as Leven Beach, which is believed to have inspired Jack Vettriano's famed painting The Singing Butler. Leven beach (Image: Alamy Stock Photo) There are the unmistakable golden panoramas of St Andrews West Sands, as captured on celluloid in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, and the classic East Neuk charm of Elie, Crail Roome Bay, Lower Largo and Kingsbarns. The latter beach, also known as Cambo Sands, has something for everyone, proffering soul-salving solitude and sheltered dunes, with ample opportunities for wildlife spotting, fossil hunting and rockpooling. In addition to being heavenly for hosting a picnic, Kingsbarns is a great place to tap into the growing outdoorsy wellness trend for 'wild saunas', aka 'hot boxes'. Wild Seaside Sauna has a location here – as well as at St Andrews West Sands and Elie – if you fancy giving it a whirl. Balmedie Country Park, Aberdeenshire This corner of north-east Scotland has the best of both worlds, with a beach and sand dunes, alongside heathland and wooded areas – all connected by a network of boardwalks and paths. These include the mile-long (1.7km) Ice House Route, which gives a window into a bygone era when fish caught along the coast would be stored in a series of underground, stone-vaulted structures deep within the dunes – an early form of refrigeration. Read More: If you hanker after a post-picnic ice cream, the Sand Bothy kiosk is open on weekends. Another excellent facility is Balmedie Beach Wheelchairs, a free, volunteer-run service, which is staffed on Sundays from noon until 3pm and bookable in advance at other times. Westport Beach, Kintyre, Argyll Picking a picnic beach on the Kintyre peninsula is no easy task, simply because you are spoiled for choice. Westport Beach, with its six miles of golden sand, rarely feels overcrowded. It is set against a backdrop of the mighty Machrihanish Dunes which, the largest of their kind in mainland Argyll, are designated as a Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI). Don't be surprised if you see folk with binoculars and fancy cameras: the area is renowned for myriad bird species – Leach's petrel, Balearic shearwater, grey phalarope and Sabine's gull – with Machrihanish Seabird and Wildlife Observatory only a short jaunt down the coast. Susan Swarbrick is a columnist and freelance writer who loves history and the outdoors. Follow her on X @SusanSwarbrick and Bluesky @
Edinburgh Reporter
30-05-2025
- Automotive
- Edinburgh Reporter
Vettriano studies sold at auction
A group of six studies by the late Scottish artist Jack Vettriano fetched nearly £132,000 at auction in Edinburgh amid a peak in interest in his work following his recent unexpected death. The oil paintings were completed by Vettriano over a period of more than 20 years and included subjects ranging from a poignant self portrait to one of his iconic racing car scenes. The works, which led Bonhams' Scottish Art Sale in Edinburgh, were among the first by Vettriano to appear at auction since the artist died in March, aged 73, at his home in Nice in the south of France. The highlight was Pendine Beach (Study), painted in 1996, which made £44,800. The picture was part of a series by Vettriano featuring racing driver Malcolm Campbell in his land speed record-breaking car Bluebird. It was commissioned by the late designer and restaurateur Sir Terance Conran and hung in his Bluebird Restaurant in London, Vettriano's study for 'Self Portrait – Lost Soul', which fetched £11,500, showed the late artist dressed all in black standing with hands in his pockets under a Biblical quote reading: 'For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?' Meanwhile, the artist's 'Daytona Diner', painted in 1995 as a study for his famous larger work, 'Diner', fetched £14,100, and 'A Letter of Consequence', showing a man examining a note, was sold for £19,200. Another study titled 'The White Basque' was sold for £28,200 and Vettriano's 1996 painting 'Girls will be Boys' doubled its estimate by making £14,100. Bonhams, who had worked closely with Vettriano in the past, paid tribute to the 'people's painter' and led the sale with his work. May Matthews, Managing Director of Bonhams Scotland, said: 'Jack Vettriano's death is a great loss to Scottish art. 'His paintings are distinctive and original and what's more, they are familiar to the person in the street with little or no knowledge of Scottish art. In this he is perhaps unique, and why he has been given the title of 'the people's painter'. 'We've seen a lot of interest in Vettriano's work since his death, and it was no surprise that all six studies sold well.' Vettriano was born Jack Hoggan, in 1951, and raised in Methil, Fife. He famously took up painting as a hobby after a girlfriend bought him a set of watercolours for his 21st birthday in November 1972. By the time he came to prominence in 1988, he had adopted his mother's maiden name, Vettriano. Scotland's most commercially successful artist, his most famous painting, The Singing Butler, with figures dancing on a beach under a cloudy sky, was sold at auction in 2004 for £744,800. Like this: Like Related
Glasgow Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Scottish Colourist painting sells for more than £381,000 at auction
Roses In A Green Jug went under the hammer in the Scottish art sale at Bonhams in Edinburgh on Wednesday. It sold for £381,400 including buyer's premium, above the estimate of £250,000-£350,000. Paintings by fellow Scottish Colourist Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell and by the late Jack Vettriano also featured in the sale. Pendine Beach (Study) by Jack Vettriano sold for £44,800 (Bonhams/PA) Peploe once characterised his career as a search for the perfect still life, and was influenced by his time in Paris from 1910-12 where he studied the work of Post-Impressionist masters. Major Ion R Harrison, a Scottish shipping magnate, first encountered Peploe's work at an exhibition in Glasgow in the 1920s and soon became a close friend and patron of the painter and the Scottish Colourists. May Matthews, managing director of Bonhams Scotland, said: 'Peploe's Roses In A Green Jug is a masterful execution of composition and colour, taking inspiration from Paul Cezanne and French Post-Impressionism, while maintaining the artist's distinctive individual style. 'Peploe's still lifes were meticulously planned and executed, creating the dialogue between object and space for which he and his fellow Colourists were renowned. 'The work has a remarkable provenance, having once hung in the drawing room of Croft House owned by Ion R Harrison, a notable patron of the Scottish Colourists.' Roses In A Green Jug can be seen hanging in the background of Cadell's Portrait Of Mrs Ion R Harrison of 1932. The White Strand by Scottish Colourist Samuel John Peploe fetched £74,060 (Bonhams/PA) Six works by Vettriano, who died earlier this year, also went under the hammer. Pendine Beach (Study), which was painted in 1996, sold for £44,800, including buyer's premium, above the estimate of £20,000-£30,000. The painting once hung in the late Sir Terence Conran's Bluebird restaurant in London, after he bought the picture in 1996, Bonhams said. A selection of landscapes of the island of Iona were also sold. They included Peploe's paintings of The White Strand, Iona, which went for £74,060. All prices included buyer's premium.
Western Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Western Telegraph
Scottish Colourist painting sells for more than £381,000 at auction
Roses In A Green Jug went under the hammer in the Scottish art sale at Bonhams in Edinburgh on Wednesday. It sold for £381,400 including buyer's premium, above the estimate of £250,000-£350,000. Paintings by fellow Scottish Colourist Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell and by the late Jack Vettriano also featured in the sale. Pendine Beach (Study) by Jack Vettriano sold for £44,800 (Bonhams/PA) Peploe once characterised his career as a search for the perfect still life, and was influenced by his time in Paris from 1910-12 where he studied the work of Post-Impressionist masters. Major Ion R Harrison, a Scottish shipping magnate, first encountered Peploe's work at an exhibition in Glasgow in the 1920s and soon became a close friend and patron of the painter and the Scottish Colourists. May Matthews, managing director of Bonhams Scotland, said: 'Peploe's Roses In A Green Jug is a masterful execution of composition and colour, taking inspiration from Paul Cezanne and French Post-Impressionism, while maintaining the artist's distinctive individual style. 'Peploe's still lifes were meticulously planned and executed, creating the dialogue between object and space for which he and his fellow Colourists were renowned. 'The work has a remarkable provenance, having once hung in the drawing room of Croft House owned by Ion R Harrison, a notable patron of the Scottish Colourists.' Roses In A Green Jug can be seen hanging in the background of Cadell's Portrait Of Mrs Ion R Harrison of 1932. The White Strand by Scottish Colourist Samuel John Peploe fetched £74,060 (Bonhams/PA) Six works by Vettriano, who died earlier this year, also went under the hammer. Pendine Beach (Study), which was painted in 1996, sold for £44,800, including buyer's premium, above the estimate of £20,000-£30,000. The painting once hung in the late Sir Terence Conran's Bluebird restaurant in London, after he bought the picture in 1996, Bonhams said. A selection of landscapes of the island of Iona were also sold. They included Peploe's paintings of The White Strand, Iona, which went for £74,060. All prices included buyer's premium.
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
If civil servants have to make the grade, MPs should too
I see that the government is planning a cull of civil servants and will be aiming to incentivise underperformers to leave (9 March). I wonder whether a similar plan is envisaged to deal with politicians of a likewise disposition. If so, we had better prepare for general elections on a much more frequent basis – provided of course that they can be arranged by civil servants of an acceptable JordanCrowthorne, Berkshire Reading the letters expressing different points of view on Jack Vettriano (Letters, 9 March) I was reminded of an old cartoon that shows two people in a gallery looking at John Constable's The Hay Wain, with one asking the other: 'It's a lovely picture, but what does it mean?'Peter PhilpottPatrick Brompton, North Yorkshire Re Jack Vettriano's work, I recalled my 1950s physicist headmaster quoting Claude Bernard's 'Art is I; science is we' after trying to explain Boyle's law to fledgling sixth Roger MerryBath 'Laura has a pleasing voice' (Letters, 9 March) reminds me of my brief stint in the school choir. I lasted until they worked out where that 'bloody row' was coming GarnerOxenhope, West Yorkshire I felt a tinge of sadness that King Charles chose a cover of Little Eva's song, The Loco-Motion, rather than the original (King Charles pays tribute to 'marvellous' Bob Marley as he shares favourite songs, 10 March).Linda RheadHampton, London Do you have a photograph you'd like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers' best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
