An item of "Breaking News". Will appear on the Breaking News page and the front page.
RHYS FULLERTON ON CLAUDE MONET'S HAYSTACKS: SNOW EFFECT
I admit that this painting is not Monet’s greatest, writes Rhys Fullerton. I agree that it’s not one of the best works in the National Gallery of Scotland’s collection.
I’ll concede that even within the Impressionism section, where this painting sits, there are other works that are more skilfully executed and more attractive in colour.
So why is this one my favourite?
The keenly awaited results of the Council’s much anticipated ballot on the widely loathed gull-proof waste sacks on London Street have been announced.
There I am taking a quiet stroll on Calton Hill one lukewarm spring day, when I am interrupted by some confused-looking tourists.
‘Excuse me,' asks one of the them. 'Where is the Castle?’
I seem to be the go-to person in Edinburgh for directing tourists. Perhaps they think I’m approachable and reliable. Contrary to popular belief, I actually don’t mind being asked for directions. However, terms and conditions do apply:
Today is World Autism Awareness Day, as part of which important buildings and structures around the globe are being lit up blue.
There are events to mark the occasion across Edinburgh. Details are available on the Council website here.
In April's Spurtle, John Ross Maclean describes the Ruskin pencil drawing of 1838 (now in Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery), which was long held to depict Lady Glenorchy’s Church (see Issue 238).
Urban planning experts say there's a strong case for flattening the space outside Drummond Community High School. But they face an uphill task convincing some locals that their plans are well grounded.
The publicly accessible hard surface recreation area currently drops by as much as 28 feet between the bus stop on Mansfield Place and the bike sheds at the bottom of Bellevue Place.
'It's a hazard and always has been,' says Community Outreach Manager Iona Downes of Dutch-based civic forum consultancy Eerste van de Vierde UK (EvdV).
DAVID HILL VOYAGES UPRIVER
In Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow suggests that we live as we dream – alone. Others' innermost thoughts and feelings will always remain out of reach.
I've long felt that our streets also possess inner lives. In contrast, however, to our own perennially concealed psyches, the essential identities of our streets can be grasped.
Imagine an enormous black and white Easter bunny lolloping out of its burrow and blinking nonchalantly in the bright sunlight of a new dawn.
In some ways, that is exactly what the Spurtle is like at the moment as Issue 239 is readied for release upon an unsuspecting April.
In most ways, however, it is a completely useless analogy which says much more about author desperation than it does about the contents of the forthcoming issue of Broughton’s free, independent stirrer.
Love a duck. Who doesn't? We do.
And so were delighted to encounter this one in the window of Concrete Wardrobe on Broughton Street this afternoon.
It is an Eider, of which there is a comfortable nesting abundance wintering in the quieter bits of Granton and Leith each year.
The artist responsible is Portobello-based Claire Macdonald, whose limited-edition prints of a hundred come in two sizes and also include delightful studies of tits and kingfishers. Prices range from £20–£80.
Brentford-based JCDecaux UK Limited have applied for permission to erect a freestanding steel and aluminium ‘Forum Display Structure’ on George Street for one year (Ref. 15/00669/ADV).
If approved, the horrible great lump would stand outside No. 71 (the Nationwide Building Society on the north-west corner with Frederick Street).