Savannah Gallery

I was blown away on Monday when the marquetry master Jean-Pierre Straub came over to Anguilla from St. Martin, where he’s lived for twenty years now.  As well as three new small pieces for the gallery, he has recently done a marquetry interpretation of Savannah Gallery.  The gallery’s been in this location for almost 16 years and I adore these old buildings, and I can always appreciate it when artists choose to create works based on them.  This, and all of Straub’s works can be viewed by clicking on the artists tab on the top of this page, then clicking again on the Jean-Pierre Straub section.

The artists Francis Eck and Jean-Pierre Straub both came over to Anguilla yesterday, along with Sylviane, Francis’s lovely wife.  We landed up having a (terrific) lunch at Dolce Vita,  after unwrapping superb new works by both artists at the gallery.  I’ve installed a small exibition of Eck in the front room of the gallery, and think it looks very strong.  His palette is SO evocative of the seas around both our Islands, and his compositions seems to absolutely sing.

I know, I know, I have to start getting some art up on my blog, and I promise that tomorrow should herald that event, but in the meanwhile, I headed west to Mango’s today for a simply lovely lunch.  Mangos in on Barnes Bay, and I’ve only dined there in the evenings.  The setting is absolutely gorgeous during the day, and lunch was very good.  A great club (my standard, it would seem) and a couple of first-rate mojitos made my afternoon.  T’was a big gang for lunch, and I believe all enjoyed themselves.

The view out to Meads Bay was spectacular today from Jacala.  The sun was brilliant and the sea was luridly blue – couple of nice looking yachts bobbing in the bay made for a lovely sight.  Things only got better when lunch arrived……  One of the specials today for lunch was “Musells Risotto”, and was as good as anything I’ve eaten at this wonderful restaurant.  Bravo, Alain!

I was rehanging the gallery today, and thought the front room looked particlarly strong.  The conbination of the Bresil, the Schlieffer and the Henpel sculpture work together in a beautiful way – I found myself quite moved……..

Continuing on her theme of “The Edge of the Island”, Jo-Anne Mason brought into the gallery her newest paintiug today.  It’s a wonderful work titled “Early Gwen’s at Shoal Bay East, Anguilla”, and captures the vitality of Gwen’s at the restaurant’s liveliest.  I love it, and look forward to seeing more works from this series.  Tell me through the “comments” tab at the top of this article where Jo-Anne should paint next, and we’ll see if she takes us up on the challenge.

I think I was as taken aback as anyone when Bob Blanchard told me this summer that they were opening a beach shack restaurant beside their fabulous Blanchard’s Restaurant on Mead’s Bay.  How could I have doubted that “A Trip to the Beach” authors Bob and Melinda Blanchard would open anything less than a fab fab fabulous beach shack?  Just back from lunch – the vibe is cool and ultra-casual, with shaded picnic tables for dining under seagrape and umbrellas.  I could have eaten up most of the menu, but landed up having “Blackened Mahi Bites”, served with a cilantro-lime dipping sauce.  Uber-delicious.  The menu is HUGE, with a large array of salads, sandwiches, seafood, burgers, hot dogs, and tacos.  Very kid-friendly from what I could see.   One places an order, then the wonderful little vibrator thingy pictured goes off when your food is ready to be picked up – it only adds to the relaxed and lovely atmosphere……..  I’ll be back!

I grabbed the camera before heading out with the dogs this fine Tuesday morning – the light was beautiful, and I was rewarded with some lovely sky scenes looking both east to the sun, and west to the moon.  Lucy was more intrigued by something else……….

If you go back to my post of July 10 of this year, you’ll see two very fine paintings by the late great Haitian master, Henri Robert Bresil.  The third painting of that series arrived in the gallery this week, and I think it’s superb.  I hope you share my sentiment,,,,,,,,,,,,

I can’t seem to keep away from Half Shell Restaurant, at Viceroy.  It’s a great little spot, tucked into the shade on Barnes Bay.  Charles Voudouris is the executive sous-chef at Viceroy, and these purely delicious Greek recipes are his.  Today, I had a new salad, recommended to me by him.  It’s got grilled halloumi cheese and Greek sausage, along with lots of great greens, grilled peppers and grilled orange slices.  SO amazingly good.  We didn’t think we could eat any dessert till Charles brought out these astounding Greek doughnuts…..