Latest news with #TheSingingButler
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 @
Dubai Eye
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Dubai Eye
Banksy artwork sells for AED 20 million at auction
Banksy's re-imagining of the 1992 painting "The Singing Butler" by Scottish artist Jack Vettriano, whose death was announced last week, has sold at auction for $5.4 million (AED 20 million). The artwork was sold to a private collector at Sotherby's in London, just days after Vettriano was found dead aged 73 in France. The painting depicts Vettriano's butler serenading a dancing couple on a beach, with Banksy' addition of a sinking oil liner and two figures in hazmat suits moving a barrel of toxic waste in the background. The painting, bought by the co-founder of pop-punk band blink-182 Mark Hoppus and his wife Skye in 2011, was offered at Sotheby's London "Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction", with an estimate of $3.81 million - $6.35 million (AED 14 million - AED 23 million). "It was first exhibited in (Banksy's) landmark exhibition in Notting Hill in 2005, which really propelled him into the public sphere," Mackie Hayden-Cook, specialist, contemporary art at Sotheby's, told Reuters. Speaking before news of Vettriano's death, she linked Banksy's decision to re-imagine his work to the parallels between the two artists at the time. "Like Banksy, you have a really, really popular artist that is loved by the masses and appreciated by many. But for whatever reason, he was snubbed by the art world," Hayden-Cook said. Hoppus said part of the sale proceeds would go to medical charities and the California Fire Foundation, following the Los Angeles wildfires. He and his wife also intend to buy new art. 'Coming up in punk rock, it was always the ethos that if your band got any success, you brought your friends up with you," he told Reuters on Sunday. "So with this art sale, I hope to take some of the money and put it back into the art community with up-and-coming artists that we're inspired by and just continue that. I want to be a punk rock Medici.'
ARN News Center
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- ARN News Center
Banksy artwork sells for AED 20 million at auction
Banksy's re-imagining of the 1992 painting "The Singing Butler" by Scottish artist Jack Vettriano, whose death was announced last week, has sold at auction for $5.4 million (AED 20 million). The artwork was sold to a private collector at Sotherby's in London, just days after Vettriano was found dead aged 73 in France. The painting depicts Vettriano's butler serenading a dancing couple on a beach, with Banksy' addition of a sinking oil liner and two figures in hazmat suits moving a barrel of toxic waste in the background. The painting, bought by the co-founder of pop-punk band blink-182 Mark Hoppus and his wife Skye in 2011, was offered at Sotheby's London "Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction", with an estimate of $3.81 million - $6.35 million (AED 14 million - AED 23 million). "It was first exhibited in (Banksy's) landmark exhibition in Notting Hill in 2005, which really propelled him into the public sphere," Mackie Hayden-Cook, specialist, contemporary art at Sotheby's, told Reuters. Speaking before news of Vettriano's death, she linked Banksy's decision to re-imagine his work to the parallels between the two artists at the time. "Like Banksy, you have a really, really popular artist that is loved by the masses and appreciated by many. But for whatever reason, he was snubbed by the art world," Hayden-Cook said. Hoppus said part of the sale proceeds would go to medical charities and the California Fire Foundation, following the Los Angeles wildfires. He and his wife also intend to buy new art. 'Coming up in punk rock, it was always the ethos that if your band got any success, you brought your friends up with you," he told Reuters on Sunday. "So with this art sale, I hope to take some of the money and put it back into the art community with up-and-coming artists that we're inspired by and just continue that. I want to be a punk rock Medici.'
The Guardian
09-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Jack Vettriano's ‘cheeseburger' art and the matter of taste
Eddy Frankel's article on Jack Vettriano ('His paintings are like a double cheeseburger in a greasy wrapper', 3 March) is full of the sort of backhanded compliments, grudging recognition and snobbish disdain that followed the Scottish painter throughout his career. For many art critics, Vettriano committed the ultimate sin of being popular with the sort of people who don't usually 'get' art. Or, as Frankel puts it, the sort of people who enjoy the occasional McDonald's cheeseburger. I've always been wary of the notion that art is better if you have to perform mental acrobatics in order to 'get' it. I have been shown 'good' modern art many times, and have been told why it is good – but I would not necessarily want it hanging in my home. Vettriano's best paintings, on the other hand, elicit feelings in people that many apparently 'good' modern artworks are simply unable to provoke. Regardless of the 'conceptual edge' that Frankel finds lacking in The Singing Butler, few people would deny that it is a beautiful painting. And would you rather hang a beautiful painting on your wall, or a painting whose 'conceptual edge' means absolutely nothing to anybody except the artist and a handful of critics? I imagine people will still appreciate Vettriano's paintings in 50 years' time – long after all memory of the 'conceptually edgy' modern art that the critics would prefer we liked has faded. With the poised beauty of his paintings, Vettriano democratised art, taking it out away from the critics and placing it into the hands of everyday people. It is a sin for which many in the art world still cannot forgive him. But then maybe I just don't 'get it' like the critics McQueenBrussels, Belgium It is 2025, yet the Guardian's main comment on the death of Jack Vettriano appears to be that his work is 'sexy'. Are we really still only appraising art through the male heterosexual gaze? Eddy Frankel concedes that Vettriano's work is 'pretty sexist', a dismissive understatement if ever there was one. Vettriano's work is retrograde and objectified women (women of a very narrow age bracket) in a way that is no longer acceptable. It is no defence to claim that something is 'popular'; Donald Trump can be said to be 'popular'. The distasteful aesthetic of Vettriano's work, its ability to give you a sense of unease, which Frankel does manage to allude to by describing it as 'a double cheeseburger wrapped in greasy paper', is embedded in the obvious untruths his images peddle; the scenarios in the paintings masquerade as sexy and romantic while serving up a polished turd of thinly veiled misogyny. Tamar Payne MA painting student, Royal College of Art I am perhaps one of the great unwashed. I always liked Jack Vettriano's paintings and I have a room of his prints. I also have prints of Van Gogh's and of Munch's pictures, and a few originals I could afford by 'undiscovered' artists. What the art world seems to forget is that it is possible to like all these at the same time. In the same way, I like Schubert and I like Boney M, albeit one is better for dancing Heydon-DumbletonPathhead, Midlothian Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Euronews
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Blink-182 frontman sells Banksy at auction for €5.2 million
In 2005, the unknown British graffiti artist Banksy created 'Crude Oil (Vettriano)'. Unlike his typical street art, this addition to his Crude Oil series was a work based on the iconic 1992 painting 'The Singing Butler' by Scottish artist Jack Vettriano. Vettriano's original was incredibly popular in the UK and it became the best-selling print in the country. Thanks to its popularity, it broke a record for Scottish paintings in 2004 when 'The Singing Butler' sold at auction for £744,500 (around €1.6 million adjusted for inflation). Inspired by the Vettriano work, Banksy took the image and replaced a maid with two men in yellow hazmat suits dragging a barrel of toxic waste as the sea in the background is laden with a slick of crude oil. 'The real damage done to our environment is not done by graffiti writers and drunken teenagers, but by big business… exactly the people who put gold-framed pictures of landscapes on their walls and try to tell the rest of us how to behave,' Banksy said in a 2005 statement. Mark Hoppus, co-founder, singer and bassist of Blink-182 bought 'Crude Oil (Vettriano)' in 2011. This week, he put the work up for sale at Sotheby's Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction. 'Crude Oil (Vettriano)' was expected to sell for between £3 million to £5 million (€3.6 million to €6 million). A final price of £4.3 million (€5.2 million) was reached for the pop-punk musician. 'We loved this painting since the moment we saw it,' Hoppus said. 'This painting has meant so much to us and been such an amazing part of our lives, and now I'm excited for it to be out there in the world, seen by as many as possible.' The record for a Banksy sale still stands at £18.6 million in 2021 (€27 million adjusted for inflation) for 'Love is in the Bin'. After Banksy installed a shredder into the frame of his 2006 painting 'Girl with Balloon' and programmed it to self-destruct after an auction in 2018, the half shredded painting was renamed and sold for the astronomical sum.
