Savannah Gallery

Paul Elliott Thuleau will be featured in a solo show at the Oceana Gallery in St. Thomas this month – please drop by should your travels take you to the USVI.  This is the third exhibition of this artists work internationally this year (see earlier blog entries for exhibition details in Bulgaria and Paris), and is an accomplishment worth applauding. 

Thuleaus’ works are superb architectural landscapes – Savannah Gallery has a wonderful new selection of giclee prints by this artist, so drop by and have a look here, as well.

I was having one on my back-porch chats with clients this week – art, gossip, food etc., and they told me I should start blogging on great meals I’ve had on Island.  To the end, I’m just back from enjoying a wonderful lunch at Jacala, on Meads Bay.  It’s a new restaurant on Anguilla, just opened for about two weeks now.  I had the lobster club – superb!!  Instead of fries, the chef prepares a sort of uber-delicious roast potato dish, seasoned with herbes de provence.

I’ll be back for sure – their menu looked terrific.

After a couple of days of clouds and rain ( much appreciated by gardens and cisterns, less appreciated by those wanting the beach…. ), the skies cleared today.  Sunset is spectacular, and even Luther and Lucy decided to pose for my camera on our walk tonight.  Lola was trailing a little, on a ridge watching us suspiciously…..

………….and the Gallery is already full of kids!

I think I finally figured out why I, and many others, share a special affinity for the new paintings of Jo-Anne Mason..  “The Edge of the Island” series of paintings are wonderful “portraits” of restaurants which ring this Island, and combine two loves of many – food and art!  This new work, “Almost Lunch at Palm Grove, Junk’s Hole, Anguilla” can only evoke the fondest of thoughts by anyone who has enjoyed this great landmark in the East.  The painting captures the clarity of the light, and the splendor of the isolation of this Bay.

Kari Matz is a New York-based painter who I first met on Anguilla, about 2 years ago.  She is mainly self-taught, and her works are inspired by her meditation.  There’s a marvellous tranlucency in her oils, which capture both the physical and spiritual side of the Anguillian landscape.

Congratualtions to Jo-Anne Mason, and the Anguilla Post Office for the great job in publishing the series of stamps, based on Jo-Anne’s botannical drawings.  There was a lovely ceremony to launch the stamp issue on Tuesday, December 1, at the Post Office, in The Valley.  Kudos to the organizers, who did a great job to honour the artist, and these stamps.  There are two originals still available from the stamp drawings.  Please contact me for digital photos, and further information.  Photos, courtesy of Chris Mason.

Paul Elliott Thuleau will have another European exhibition of his work this year – this one in Paris.  This gallery will be exhibiting mostly the giclee prints of his works, which Savannah Gallery has been showing for about a year now.  Drop by and say hello, should your travels take you to Paris From Decemvber 19, through January 10!

Savannah Gallery first showed Jo-Anne Mason’s botannical drawings about two years ago, in the context of a solo exhibition.  The works were very well received, and we were not alone in admiring them.  The Anguilla Postal Service has published six new stamps featuring these drawings.  The stamp release date is December 1, 2009, at 10:30 in the morning.  If you’re on Island, please join us to congratulate Jo-Anne, and to purchase stamps and first-day-covers of this issue.  The philatelic bureau on Anguilla is wonderful, and is a must-stop for gifts for philatelist friends and family.

The Edge of the Island is a series of paintings by Jo-Anne Mason, which chornicle the architecture and character of buildings built on our shore.  Her most recent work of this series is “The Old Straw Hat Restaurant”,  a favourite spot for many, down in The Forest.  To me, these works have a lot of the intimacy of Jo-Anne’s prints done over a decade ago – she captures the exhuberance of our night-time sky superbly.