Christmas Is Coming!

The Countdown to Christmas begins!

And we have a real cracker of an exhibition for you!

 

Hope you can all make it in to feast your eyes on this :)

Coupled Up

Hello everyone,

This weekend and next Monday offer you a last chance to see our lovely Autumn Exhibition before it makes way for the stunning Beth Robertson Fiddes Solo Exhibition.

One of the things that you'll find if you get here over the weekend, is a number of 'couple-related' paintings - quite an unusual turn of events for UG.
For Example:

'Burton' and 'Taylor', acrylic and collage on panel, by Colin Brown.

And:

 
 

'Mr.' and 'Mrs.', oil on panel, by Dylan Lisle.

Maybe there's something in the air, or maybe it's just great, imaginative work by some great artists, but whichever, we are delighted to see such exceptional work in the gallery.  After all, who can resist the wonderfully sensitive and delicate charms of Joyce Gunn Cairns MBE's works, such as:

 
 

 













'Mutual Regard', oil and pencil on card.

Don't miss the chance to see all this talent yourselves - Monday is the deadline.

Here Comes Autumn!

Hello everyone,

It might be a bit more Indian Summer than a typical Autumn, but hey, who's complaining?

All the more reason to get out and about and enjoy the fine weather!

Join us for a glass of something lovely and enjoy some cracking artworks:

and.......

Meet Joyce Gunn Cairns' 'Hello Dolly' painting. It's just a bit special :)

See you soon.....

Up The Garden Path with Joyce Gunn Cairns MBE

Hello everyone

Last time we took a closer look at artist Ruth Addinall's work, this time it's the turn of Joyce Gunn Cairns MBE. In particular this lovely piece:

'Up The Garden Path', oil and pencil on card by Joyce Gunn Cairns MBE.

This slinky looking feline is Nannie, a former companion to Joyce Gunn Cairns.
Those who know her well, know that Joyce is an animal lover and has a particular fondness for cats. She admires there intelligence and loyalty, but at the same time their independent spirit. Put it like that and I see why they tick a lot of Joyce's boxes!
Many years ago, Joyce took her sons to the cat and dog home with aspirations to pick out a really striking looking cat......but came home with Nannie.
Poor Nannie was no great beauty, indeed she was a sorry looking wee thing, but her talents laid elsewhere. In sensing that she had just come across 3 good natured humans, she endeared herself to Joyce's boys by circling round and round their feet. Being youngsters at the time, the boys instantly feel in love with wee Nannie and of course she went home with them. Joyce, slightly disappointed with the choice, soon grew to love her too and believing it was meant to be never looked back. And so it was that Nannie came to be a loyal and loving companion to Joyce and her sons for many happy years.

I really love this painting of Nannie and the story that goes with it. It's a fitting tribute to the old cat to see her immortalised so sensitively. For me the work has a familiar feel to it, almost like a memory.

I think this is the reason why:

This is my good self many, many years ago cuddling my own kitty at the time, 'Birdie'.
Similarly, I remember my mum being a little disappointed in our new puss at the time. She'd come from a litter that were born in a haulage/truck garage which was also home to 2 huge guard dogs. On a visit there my dad took pity on this tiny kitten squeaking from the jaws of one of the hounds. That little kitten miraculously disappeared from that garage....making her way to our home.
She was a poor thing too, filthy, fleas-ridden, underweight and somewhat 'mismatched' in her markings, but I loved her to bits and she was my best friend for many years.
She also turned out to be a first class hunter. Indeed, 2 minutes after that photo was taken I stood, bare foot (it was a gorgeous summers day) on one of her victims. I still remember the horrible sensation of standing on the tiny mouse!
On further inspection, there turned out to be close to 10 little corpses in that part of our garden.
I never went bare foot in Birdie's graveyard again!

Hurry back to see who we're going Up The Garden Path with next.....

Up The Garden Path

The month of June sees us tending to our gardens:

What will you fine up the garden path?

Join us for a summery evening to celebrate the wonders of the flora and fauna (and much more) that inhabit our gardens.

See you tomorrow!

God's Grandeur

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 'God's Grandeur', oil and pencil on card by Joyce Gunn Cairns.

 

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

God's Grandeur, Gerard Manley Hopkins.

In The Company of Birds

This month at UG sees us doing a spot of bird watching:

and.....

This is a must see for everyone who enjoys the company of birds!
See you all Thursday x x

Spread the Love

Hello everyone,

Well I'm afraid it's that time of year again folks.  There's no escaping Valentines Day!

Here at UG we believe that it's no more than a tasteless commercial frenzy, from which the likes of Tesco do very well indeed.
So, to counteract the tat we thought we'd highlight a couple of gems from our current exhibition, Poetic Licence, that are truly heartfelt, classic, and that will certainly stand the test of time:

'Shakespeare's Sonnet, oil and pencil on board, by Joyce Gunn Cairns MBE.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds

William Shakespeare, Sonnet No. 116

Sensitive and regal, Joyce Gunn Cairns captures the intimacy of a genuine couple in love - beautiful.

Or, if you'd like something more intimate in scale:

'Home Is when I'm Alone With You', mixed media, by Imogen Alabaster.
With a title taken from the lovely song 'Home', by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros', this is a beautiful little painting that gets its message across without submitting us to dreadful commercial sentimentalism.

You have until February 27th to come in and have a look at this wonderful exhibition.

Speak soon. 

Horsepower

HORSEPOWER

The horses look
at all that power
the classic car club
in strict formation
like men o’ war
painted and polished
good enough
to meet the Queen. 
'Horsepower' by Iain Finlay MacLeod.

'Horsepower', oil on canvas by James Newton Adams.

Ahab

AHAB

He’s not looking my way.
I know why!
Look at this beauty
and his creels are empty
And the village is watching
I knew it, I said
I’ve hooked this monster before
But people never believe
a man with his feet on the ground
will amount to much.
Get the chips on, darling
I’m king of the world.



'Ahab' by Iain Finlay Macleod.

'Ahab', oil on canvas by James Newton Adams.

Some Of These Things

'Golden Chain', oil and egg tempera on canvas by Olivia Irvine. 

Some of These Things

Imagine some of these things

Not just the glint of a hard, blue glacier

Nor the curl of wrought iron on a bench by the Seine

Not even the haunting music from a pink house,

Chanced upon on a midnight walk

But old, blotched walls

A carpet, faded and worn

A diving platform, a broken parasol, a creaky hinge

And a heart drawn hastily on a greasy window

Imagine and be there

Where the bright leaves dance in the tangled dell

And the rose trellises carve out spaces in the sky

Stay a while and touch the smooth, orange beacons

Left by lopped off branches on the crumbly trunks

Open the cupboard where the imaginary thing lives

Hit that soaring, plastic shuttlecock

Maybe you once had the shell I put in my pocket for a while

Sat on that same lonely, stony shore

And swung on that same peeling gate

Even so

I want to show you the actual tent poles and the signposts

The spotted dresses, the lampposts, the trodden path

I want you to see for yourself

The exact spot we hid the treasure

Feel for yourself the curl of the fine chain on your hand

The drag of a bag on the floor

The soft folds of that curtain drawn aside

Hear the ringing ankle bells

The buffeting whip of a kite

And the crisp turning of another page

Olivia Irvine               January 2012

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Hello everyone

So as the 'Head To Head' exhibition comes to a close I'd like to finish up with a nod to this special painting:

'Mirror Mirror On The Wall', acrylic & screenprint on canvas by Sophie McKay Knight.

Yes, I think it's fair to say that 'Mirror Mirror' is one of the fairest paintings on the wall, and in an exhibition that has proved to be another high point for Union Gallery.

A huge thank you to artists Sophie McKay Knight, Norrie Harman, Joyce Gunn Cairns MBE and David Hosie.

Joyce Gunn Cairns 'Chrysalis'

Hello everyone

I hope you are well and enjoying the Scottish summer time....better late than never!
Speaking of which, the current exhibition, 'Head to Head', is now in the final week, so you still have time to come in and see these remarkable artworks.
I've noticed something about this exhibition that I haven't really considered before - it requires an element of silence to experience the work fully.
Perhaps this is due to much of the work being so 'emotionally charged', artists Norrie Harman and Joyce Gunn Cairns being brilliant examples.
Lets have a look at this:

'Chrysalis, Self Portrait' oil and pencil on card by Joyce Gunn Cairns.

Now this work has received a lot of attention and perhaps doesn't require me to say that much about it. It's a strong and confident , yet hugely sensitive and revealing painting which I believe holds it's own.
However, I've been looking at 'Chrysalis' everyday now for nearly a month . It's 'got me', and I'd be loathed to say farewell without giving it the salute it deserves.
There is much to admire in this work and indeed in the artist herself. As an exercise in drawing and painting, I really don't think it gets better than this. For me, everything is bang on - the composition, gently dominated by a dignified and noble pose, mark making at it's finest and an informed and subtle palette....there is no need for over-intrusive colour here.
Then of course there's the title, 'Chrysalis'. I wonder if perhaps I feel such an affinity for this painting because it's a self portrait by a female artist looking honestly and reflecting on herself. Constantly growing, ever evolving, whilst embracing age and wisdom with grace and perhaps a little uncertain of the journey. Having got to know Joyce as a person, I think of her as a solo warrior, committed to producing work of the highest integrity and true to herself: driven, but always willing to support, share and educate her fellow artists and the wider community. It is not by chance that Joyce Gunn Cairns has an MBE....an accolade awarded from Buckingham Palace does not happen all that often and is reserved for only the best of the best.
So I'm going to end, having thought about it a little more, by saying that surely a painting like 'Chrysalis' does not appeal just to women?
Don't both men and women often feel the urge to stop, take an honest look at themselves and consider both their past and future?

'I suffer from the wilderness

I suffer in silence

A loss of identity

Adience'   

''Identity Of The Self" Anon 2009.

Speak soon.....