December 2009

Not long now until Christmas.

I had a brainwave of an idea for a unique Christmas present for my sister. I contacted Brian Petrie, painter, cartoonist, (http://www.tooncentre.com/) and he has come up with a fantastic caricature of her as portrait painter and cat lover. All he needed were a few good photographs of my sis. and voila, a great present. I feel pretty safe that she won't see this as she doesn't do computers.

Have a very good Christmas and Happy New Year.

Sandie

We love craft work!

When I read the blog yesterday, I realised it's been all about paintings recently.As much as we love paintings (and we do of course!), there's so much more other art in the gallery that I thought it time to mention the crafts!
So Mum and I set off on a wee tour of the gallery today to congratulate ourselves on having a brilliant range of craft work. Like these Ann Maitland glass dishes and candle bridges. Lovely! (Incidently, I'd just like to point out Mum's odd earrings! She lost one of each pair so has decided to wear them as an odd pair - whatever makes you happy, Mum!)

When Maggie Broadley arrived with her gorgeous ceramic pieces, I was surprised at how large the work was! Here, mum is doing a good job of showing their dimensions in relation to a wee Jim Galloway pot.

I hate getting my photo taken, but I managed to pose with the 'Playful Plastic' earring range.

......and this was the first attempt at a decent photo. Not good.

Mum has a wee sniff at the Maggie Broadley pots. They smell surprisingly nice!

What a great job I have!

Marsha

Winter Exhibition Open

It's been a frantic week of changing the exhibitions over, but the new exhibition is now OPEN!
Notti Lunghi Exhibition is Galleria Luti's third winter show (where has the time gone!?!), and looks like it's going to be very well received.

The show is simply bursting with colour and energy, and we have lots of lovely gorgeous craft work - ideal Christmas presents (hurrah! I love Christmas) and stocking fillers.

I'm still in the process of fully updating the website, but everything will be on there soon! Promise! www.gallerialuti.co.uk

Marsha

New Work for Winter Exhibition: Mark Fearn

The winter exhibition is currently being hung in the gallery. It's a show that bursts with colour as soon as you walk in the door, making a very dramatic impact.
Mark Fearn's striking pieces have a bold and vibrant feel to them. Here we see square segments of paintings which are rectangular in shape. The effect is obvious from the outset, and beautifully textured.
Although these paintings are more abstract than the work we usually have in the gallery, they exhibit very well in Notti Lunghi (the Winter Exhibition), both completmenting and being complemented by the other art on show.

These 2 long pieces are exceptionally endearing. Very interesting work. I had my dunce's cap on earlier this week, and in an e-mail referred to Mark as Mike. Silly mistake, sorry Mark!

Marsha

New Work for Winter Exhibition: Alastair Laing

Alastair Laing came to deliver new work this morning. I told him that his new work will be on the blog, but he has admitted that he 'can't keep up with technology' so it's doubtful that he'll see this. Never mind - I love his new pieces. There's something very endearing about his work.

It's evident that Alastair's background is in graphic design, from the intricate detailing of his foreground. But there's also a loose feeling to certain aspects of his art.... either in the dramatic sky representation or in the occassional burst of energy in the foliage.The symbolic detailing in the paintings is also highly effective. I love this sailing piece! It's simply stunning.

The entire new exhibition can be viewed on the website www.gallerialuti.co.uk by Saturday 14th Nov.
Marsha

New Work for Winter Exhibition: Peter King

Peter King just popped into the gallery and I was so taken with his paintings that I imediately had to share them in the blog. Blogging twice in one day?!? I am keen!
It is perhaps somewhat chilly today.... and if it's going to be THIS cold I think we should at least be given the pleasure of some crisp snow into the equation. Looks like I might have to make do with the snow in this piece, though. Simply beautiful!

Peter has 6 new works for this exhibition in 2 different sizes, 20" x 20" and 10" x 10". We are lucky indeed! The new work will be available to view on our website www.gallerialuti.co.uk by Saturday (which is the official opening day of the winter exhibition).
Marsha

New Work for Winter Exhibition: Nikki Monaghan

As always in the run up to a new exhibition, this week is very exciting with deliveries of new work left, right and center! Hopefully if I get enough time before the opening on Sat I can profile some of the artists' work that's coming in.
Nikki Monaghan came in yesterday with her new pieces. And they all have a lovely wintery feel to them!

They are just adorable little pieces, and a complete bargain at £120! Perfect little Christmas presents methinks.

I'm very happy at the new work we have so far... the exhibition is going to be stunning. Yippee!
Marsha

Preparing for the Winter Exhibition

It was simply lovely to log on and see that Mum (Sandie) had managed to do a blog all on her own. Well done Mum, aren't you clever! We have both just spent the morning tirelessly grafting at making up the new exhibition invitations. Pheew! It's all done now. If anyone who still wishes to be on the mailing list hasn't registered yet, you can do so at http://www.gallerialuti.co.uk/ on the 'Contact Us' page.

Here's a wee sneak preview of the type of work we'll have on offer. What a joy! Also, dad's been hard at work painting away for the new exhibition. This one's a particular favourite of mine. Loving the boats, dad!

One of these days I think I'll talk mum through putting photos onto the blog!
The new work will be up on the website when the exhibition opens on Sat the 14th Nov.
www.gallerialuti.co.uk

All By Myself

Marsha doesn't know that I am blogging without her guidance. She tells me just to "chat" so ..... by heck, it's cold in the gallery today. Just had Paul Luti in. He's not been too well - suspected swine flu - but it wasn't. There are lots of Lutis in Callander and Pete Luti was in a moment ago before going to see his Mum, Lea Luti.

Until another day, Ciao

Sandie (Luti)

Brevity is the soul of something

A week after Marsha got back from Italy, Pete and I flew to Pisa for our break - much needed after all the prep for the autumn exhibition. Great to see Nikki Monaghan paintings at Edinburgh Airport.

Ciao

Sandie

Tempo di Autunno (Autumn Exhibition)

Well, I've got to say, that I've been pretty rubbish at keeping the blog up to date recently. Note to self: must do better. So, since the last post (a thousand years ago) there's been much going on in the Luti camp. It's not really much of an excuse, but just after the last blog post, I jetted off to Italy to the folks' apartment in Tuscany for a wee break. It was absolutely lovely! Unfortunately, for Mum and Dad, however, my trip away coincided with the change-over and opening of the new exhibition (whooops!), so they had to slave away day in day out to get it all done themselves while I basked in the Italian sun (meh heh heh).

It was certainly a joy to come home and have the new exhibition up and running. Such a breadth of Colour and vibrancy greeted me in the gallery that I didn't even mind about the cold climate I had returned to. The folks managed to do a great job. I think I'll go away again for the next exhibition.

Mum is desperado to write about her trip now, so I'll sign off and let her on.
Marsha
(photos coming soon!)

Peter Luti Fame on Location, Location, Location (well, nearly)

Dad got an e-mail last night from my Uncle Ray who said that his son, Matthew had spotted this on Channel 4's Location, Location, Location programme which was being filmed in Edinburgh.

We both got rather excited as the paintings definitely looked like a couple of dad's. Especially since the frames are the same as dad uses. The paintings themselves are similar colour schemes and compositions. We decided to watch the programme on 4oD available at http://www.channel4.com/

On closer inspection (and a lot of squinting at the computer screen), however, we have concluded that they are not Peter Luti paintings. Still... it provided us with an evening's entertainment.

New Peter Luti Paintings

Dad came down to the gallery yesterday with about 6 new painintgs. This one is a particular favourite called 'Calm Mooring'. I like the detailed boats in the harbour, but also the wee sailing boats out in the distance. It's unusual for dad to put both boaty aspects in one painting, so this one's a real joy. I think dad's been wishing he was out on one of his boats and so his paintings a fairly natical at the moment. These three are little stunners too. All of the new paintings are either 6inches squared or 9 inches squared. I've been trying to coax dad into making some larger pieces for the new exhibition (starting in 2 weeks!), and I hope it's been working. I have definitely seen a larger piece on the easel in the studio. Will have to just keep you posted on the progress though.

See all of Peter Luti's new painitngs at www.gallerialuti.co.uk

Sandie's First Blog

This is my first contribution to the blog.
Marsha usually runs the gallery from Monday to Saturday lunchtime, leaving Saturday and Sunday afternoons for me to hold the fort. People come in to the gallery for various reasons. Day trippers and tourists who see the gallery A-board sign when they stroll up and down the Main Street of Callander pop in for a browse. Some exit empty-handed, others find bits and pieces for taking home as gifts, often cards, mats, coasters, mugs and jewellery. Regular visitors drop in on the gallery to see new exhibits or to purchase a specific item. Increasingly we are aware that first time people visit us because of a gallery search on Google, or by recommendation. This is particularly gratifying. Word is getting around.

John Wetten Brown - Artist

John Wetten Brown popped into the gallery recently to deliver some new work for the summer exhibition.
John has had a life long interest in drawing and painting and has followed his love of Scottish landscape and architecture seeing them with informed and fresh eyes. Here is a broad spectrum of subjects, from wild mountain scenery to quaint fishing harbours, and, from the the title of a recent solo exhibition, 'From Crow Steps to Highland Coos'.

The style of the paintings is bright and perspectively challenged. This may be a reaction against drawing straight lines on a drawing board, judge for yourself. This image is typical of the artist's highly personal style of painting scenes of his native land.

Summer Exhibition and Alastair Laing Artist

We're just about gearing up for the new exhibition, Sentimenti di Estate (opening on the 11th July) and have the opportunity to give you a wee sneaky peak at one of our favourite artists, Alastair Laing's paintings.
Alastair was born in Edinburgh in 1944. He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1962 – 66, thereafter at Moray House College of Education and the University of Edinburgh.
After teaching in primary and secondary schools and thirty years in teacher education, latterly in the Faculty of Education at the University of Glasgow, he is spending more time at the easel, working mainly in mixed media.

Drawing heavily on his early work as a calligrapher and graphic designer, and inspired by the Vienna Secession and Paul Klee, the paintings are external manifestations of a substantial part of his life and environment which he carries around inside him.

More preview work will be posted on the blog before the exhibition opens - so keep checking the blog for the latest.

Pieces in the gallery can always be seen on the website too www.gallerialuti.co.uk

Peter Luti - 'The BIG One'

I am very excited about the imminent arrival of the biggest Peter Luti painting yet. It is currently up North for the Nairn Festival, but is due to come to us fairly soon.
The stunning use of colour, form and texture create a dramatic impact that is truly a spectacle to behold. Traditionally dad's paintings have peaked at 20" x 20", so this whopper's stats at 30 x 30 are indeed something a bit different. We have already had a lot of interest in this piece, even though it's yet to make it's premier in the gallery and as a result dad has promised to tackle some more paintings of larger dimensions.

As of yet, the painting has either still to be named, or dad has still to tell me what it's title is, but as soon as possible I'll have all the details on the website http://www.gallerialuti.co.uk/.

Trust me - this one's a corker!

Dugald MacInnes - Slate Mosaicist

Dugald MacInnes' uniquely intreguing work, is an amalgamation of his three passions in life - fine art, geology and archaeology.
Dugald's work combines his three passions into a final work. Having studied for degrees in Fine art (Mural Design - Glasgow School of Art), geology and archaeology, it was inevitable that his finished pieces would have a distinctly earthy, bold and linear structure, with a deep empathy for Scottish history. His use of Scottish Slate, and Venetian gold leaf Smalti provides a stunning and deeply dramatic impact

Dugald States : My work, I hope, communicates a personal, emotional response to the Scottish landscape, its geology and prehistory. Often the titles I give the works employ academic terminology in an effort to draw a deeper contextual response from the viewer. The mosaics however are never purely didactic or decorative; they are essentially deeply felt, expressive artworks.

More information on Duglad can be found on his website http://www.dugladmacinnes.com/ and his pieces in the gallery at http://www.gallerialuti.co.uk/

Dugald MacInnes is a regular exhibitor with Galleria Luti, and we almost always have his work.

Nikki Monaghan - Artist

Nikki Monaghan is a relatively new-comer to Galleria Luti. Her quirky and individual style of painting is inspired by Scottish landscape scenery and coastal areas.


The simple forms and use of texture illustrate an image of a memory of a particular place rather than a representation creating, naïve and often humerous landscapes. Images are simplified and shapes and colors develop into pattern. Nikki's use of mixed media includes oil pastels, gouache, acrylics and pencil often layered on top of each other and scratched beneath the surface to uncover hidden color.

More details about Nikki and her work are on the website www.gallerialuti.co.uk

Nikki's pieces are in exhibition in the gallery until 8th July.

Gill Harrison - Glass Artist

We are very lucky to have some extremely talented artists living locally in Callander.

This beauty is the masterpiece creation of Gill Harrison.

Gill has always loved creating things and has been working as a contemporary glass artist now for about 2 years. Beginning with lampwork glass beads, she shortly afterwards discovered the joys of fusing glass and now enjoys both, often incorporating lampworked items into fused projects. There are photos of Gill's studio and a bit more about her on the website at Hollingdaledesigns.com .

I'm hoping to get photos of all of Gill's work that is in the gallery on the website sometime this week.

http://www.gallerialuti.co.uk/

Dronma - Artist

I'm delighted that we are showing one of my favourite contemporary colourists for the first time in the gallery. What a joy!

In recent years Dronma has built up an impressive reputation in Scotland as a modern colourist depicting the character of Scotland's mountains and shores in a bold and vibrant fashion. She has been a Tibetan Buddhist since 1976, and is a fantasitc and spiritual person.

Dronma's fluid and energetic painting style conveys the powerful force behind the Scottish coastline, and in particular the dramatic scenery of the west coast and Western Isles.

Prima Estate Exhibition

Prima Estate (Early Summer), our third summer exhibition, is promising to be one of the most vibrant and exciting exhibitions that we've hosted to date. The exhibition celebrates bold contemporary Scottish art from over 30 artists. There is a strong emphasis on colour throughout the exhibition, not only found in the original paintings, but also conveyed through a variety of ceramic works, and by many of the designer jewellers who are exhibiting. With dynamic denotation on colour and form the exhibiting artists including Peter Luti.

Also showing in the exhibition are dynamic artists including Dronma, Sharon Mitchell, Douglas Matheson, Gavin McEvinney, Charlotte Brayley, Fiona MacLeod, Nikki Monaghan and others, with unique slate mosaics from Dugald MacInnes, slate clocks from Caroline Stewart, sculpture by Walter Awlson and designer hand-crafted jewellery from Nicola Morrison, Sarah Perry, Anne Finlay and many others.

Nicola Morrison and Marsha's green jewellery

We're absolutely delighted to have Nicola Morrison's fabulous jewellery in exhibition again.Nicola Morrison's designs are based on research into the work of Japanese textile artists and the textile company Nuno Corporation.

Through these inspirations she has produced jewellery which consists of subtly textured components made from precious metals.

I've gone all green with my jewellery.....

... which is proving to be the colour of choice at the moment. Hurrah! Stick pin brooches are particularly popular just now - so I'll be making up lots more soon.

In gallery-unrelated news, the weekend saw a trip through to Glasgow to compete in the West Regional Finals of the Young Farmer Talent Spot competition.We (Callander & District Young Farmers Club) were absolutely delighted with our 6th place position and even more so to win 'Best Reserve Act' for the Stomp. Well done everyone!

It feels so much better coming home with a bit of silver! Yaaay.

Alexander MacKay - Glass Dishes

Glass artist Alexander MacKay popped in to the gallery this morning with some of his work.

These Square glass dishes are now on display in the gallery, and are absolutely beautiful.

There's something fascinating about handmade glass pieces. I'm especially fond of the black piece in the center here. The strikingly pleasing geometric design is enticing and the almost sky-like pattern in the middle intriguing.. at first look it is mearly black and white, but on closer inspection is a deep burgandy colour - it reminds me of a full bodied red wine. Mmmmm, red wine.

Anyway... I went to the Callander Amateur Operatic Society (CAOS) production of Fiddler on the Roof last night. It was a great show... with stand out performances by Peter MacDonald, Angela Dickinson, Emma Milligan and Vivien Pope in the roles of Tevye, Golde, Hodel and Yente respectively. Brought me right back to the days when I was in CAOS and we performed Fiddler. Can it really be 15 years ago? How fast time flies!

La Primavera Colora

The new exhibition 'La Primavera Colora' (literally translated as 'Spring Colours') opened on Saturday. It is such a warm and colourful show that I can't help but feel cheery whilst I'm in the gallery.

Peter Luti - Warm Sunset

This is on of my favourite paintings in the gallery just now. The heavy texture that Dad uses really draws you straight into the piece, and the bold applicaton of colour gives off that special warmth that is only trully felt watching a gorgeous sunset.

Sharon Mitchell Paintings

Sharon Mitchell's work has been receiving quite a bit of attention.

And, displayed alongside Dugald MacInnes' Mosaic work in Scottish Slate and Venetian Gold-leaf Smalti, give a fantastic and striking contrast and compliment each other work.

To see the exhibition in full visit
http://www.gallerialuti.co.uk/newwebiste/painting.htm

Earrings and Paintings

I've been busy beavering away making lots of lovely jewellery for the new exhibition. I totally love swarovski crystals at the moment..... it's always good to have something that gives a wee bit of bling! These little darlings catch the light very well indeed and a spray effect elongates the neck.

Dad's been a busy little bee too.

Clients in the gallery are always on the lookout for Peter Luti originals and as a result by the end of exhibitions they are scarce to come across to say the least. So he's been working away for a new supply... and what a collection he's got for Spring! They are looking amazing. Well done Dad!

Had another delivery in preparation for the new exhibition this morning.

David Hay popped in with his work for 'La Primavera Colora' our Spring exhibition. The exhibition is opening next Saturday so From Monday it'll be all stations go with rehanging. This gorgeous atmospheric number by Hay is such a moving little piece. It's one of the smallest paintings we have had in exhibition, and yet has the ability to make such a dramatic impact... really quite stunning!

Looking forward to Spring

It feels like winter has been really quite long again this year. I've been back at the gallery full time 2 weeks early. Now that's keen! I think I'm just looking forward to Spring and the new exhibition...... ..... the colourful and vibrant pieces which are seen here and on the exhibition invitation are by Peter Luti, Ian Elliot, Alastair Laing, Deborah Phillips and Sharon Mitchell respectively.

Dad said that the beach bums are inspired by mum and me.

WE ARE NOT AMUSED!