Small forests have been felled over the last few years on columns and news stories bemoaning the deterioration of Aberdeen’s once-proud Union Street.
If it’s not people complaining that it’s all betting shops, vaping outlets and empty premises, it’s others moaning about the dingy state of the city’s main thoroughfare.
Yet, not everybody views it as a lost cause. Just consider artist, Gabrielle Reith, who began illustrating the buildings of Aberdeen during lockdown and sharing them on social media, to create a virtual tour for those who couldn’t explore.
Her striking work drew attention to the often long-overlooked architectural details, carved into granite by the skilled craftsmen who gradually created a magical place.
And she recently painted some of the buildings of Union Street onto an empty shop unit in Union Square and is about to publish her first book of architectural illustrations, exploring a part of Scotland which she regards with tremendous affection.
Gabrielle, a former graduate of Gray’s School of Art, where she studied drawing and painting, has enjoyed a successful career in her vocation and her work appears in a string of galleries and private collections around Britain.
In 2005, she undertook a screen-printing course at the London Print Studios, which changed the direction of her journey and, following her return to Aberdeen, her creative business Small Stories was born at the same time as her first child.
She is inspired by Aberdeen
As she said: “Much of my work is inspired by my two children, the stories told, the books read, the ways of explaining the world to them and the way we interact and play.
“My work finds inspiration in my hometown of Aberdeen, the people, the place, the history, the architecture and the Doric words we use.”
Gabrielle has one of her Fit Like brooches in Aberdeen Art Galleries permanent collection and her work is always represented in the Aberdeen Gallery Shop.
When she isn’t making illustrations for her business, she’s collaborating with husband Philip Thompson, under the name Oor Monsters, devising “playful work, poking fun at and ‘monsterising’ the establishment” with recycled and reclaimed materials.
The duo were recently commissioned by Aberdeen Performing Arts to make a series of interactive work exploring issues of climate change in a fun and engaging way.
And their efforts led to them appearing at The Barn in Banchory recently; just one of a number of events which Gabrielle is relishing in the months ahead.
Book is a labour of love
Her book, a genuine labour of love, will soon be available from her website and from other retailers. And she will be in attendance at the Tea Green makers festive fair at Aberdeen Art Gallery on November 4 and 5.
The Granite City can be a dreich place in the winter, as the chill wind blows in from the North Sea and dusk occasionally seems to arrive almost immediately after dawn.
But Gabrielle is the sort of imaginative individual who can transcend the shortest of days and bring light into the darkness.
Further information about her work is available at gra-small-stories.co.uk