Make Me An Offer I Can't Refuse!

"Rooster" 8 x 10 acrylic painting by
Mark Phillips

I had so many plans last week. I was going to spend some time in my studio and finish some work for the upcoming exhibition at the Caribbean Gallery of Art as well as put some finishing touches on some pieces for the Little Gem Show at the Barbados Arts Council Gallery.

I am only about half way there! Oh for the day when I can spend all day, every day in my studio!

I had a conversation with an accountant this week with regards to another of my business ventures and the conversation got around to my Art and the "unscientific" way that I arrived at my pricing.

Now, before I go on let me tell you what I think about accountants and running a small business. 

They shouldn't!

In the early nineties, I incorporated my first business, an alarm company, with a friend of mine from high school. I was the alarm technician, had trained with Ademco in New York and had completed a number of other technical courses across the USA. Tony was a Certified Public Accountant and the Financial Controller at a well recognised financial institution in Barbados. I was good at what I did and he was good with the numbers but it was not long before I realised that being good with numbers is absolutely useless if the only major numbers that you are generating is debt! I was aware that I knew next to nothing about running a business but I had wrongfully assumed that an accountant would!

Fast forward 15 years. I was approached by, you guessed it, an accountant and another entrepreneur to form yet another security company. To make a not so long story short, this company was incorporated in 2010 with what I thought should have been adequate funding, but within 2 years it was bankrupt. Again, despite my better judgement, I left financial decisions to the accountant. In 2012, I salvaged what customers remained, formed a new company, (alone), and for the last 6 years, the business is growing, has no debt and is making a profit.

In my opinion, if a business is not grossing over 7 figures a year it does not need the regular input of an accountant. A decent accounts clerk and reputable software will get the job done.

So you can see the reason that I was sceptical when an accountant sought to give me advice on running a small business.

However, there was some merit to what he said. He pointed out that my prices should reflect the time and the skill that was used in producing the piece. I had explained to him that this piece of Leacock's Variety in Speightown has taken over 60hrs work already and yet it was not completely finished. I also told him that I would sell it for around $900.00.

His argument was that I was charging $15.00 per hour for my work. About the same as an inexperienced tradesman on a construction site. The skills required to transform a flat 2-dimensional canvas into a scene that creates the illusion of solidity and depth to the extent that the viewer feels that they are standing in person across the street looking up the road must be worth more than $15.00 per hour.

I, of course, argued that there is no way that the market in Barbados would be able to support art prices that reflect the true value of an artist's skill. However, as I was saying it I realised that I was not truly believing what I was saying. I charge $80.00 an hour as a security technician and no one complains. As a locksmith, I once charged what equated to over $1000.00 an hour to open a safe with a damaged combination for a business and they thanked me for it. Why should the skill and experience of an artist be so devalued?

So, I am going to carry out a little experiment. The painting of the rooster above is a unique piece of original art. It is painted in acrylic paint on an 8 x 10 stretched canvas. The materials used cost about $20.00 and it took me about 12 hours to complete.

What do you think I should charge for it?

No, I think the better question is...

What would you offer me for it? And why do you think it is worth that amount?

The person, in my opinion, with the most compelling reason for the offered price, will be allowed to purchase the piece at that price. You may make your offer in the comments section below or on my facebook page. 

I really look forward to hearing your opinions.

As always, thank you for reading. I appreciate the comments and the kind words of encouragement. Until next time when I will share some more of my work and a little about what makes me tick, please leave a comment. And, I will really appreciate if you share this post with your friends. To make sure that you don't miss any future posts, Please enter your email address in the subscribe by email box on the right.


Mark Phillips

Artist
Email:- mark@phillipsbajanart.com
Website:-www.phillipsbajanart.com

The Village Shop

The Village Shop, St. Peter. A 16 x 20 acrylic painting by
Mark Phillips

I was afforded the opportunity to visit this tiny section of Church Street, Speightstown a few weeks ago. I was delivering a prize to the winner of one of my Facebook promotions.

Thank you, Joan!

As soon as I got out of the car, I was struck by the beauty of this scene. I could not put my finger on why this composition seemed so perfect. Maybe it was the mid-morning sunlight on the buildings or the contrasting colours against the sky. I just knew that I wanted to paint this.

One of my weaknesses as a painter is that I find it difficult to compose paintings without detailed reference photos. I do not easily visualize the finished piece unless I had seen it or something very similar, in person. I admire the artist that can compose a painting completely from imagination. Fortunately for me, Barbados is filled with these perfect compositions just waiting for me to discover!

This scene brought back memories of my visits to the village shop as a child in St. Philip. My grandfather would place me in the bar of his very large Raliegh 3-speed bicycle and take me to Mrs Hunte's shop in Marley Vale. Apparently, this was a weekly ritual that was going on for many years. He would give her a list of all the grocery items he needed and she would transfer the items into an exercise book. She would then proceed to weigh the sugar, flour, potatoes, etc. on her old balance scale with the lead weights. Each item would be packed in brown paper bags and Pa Pa would pack them in his large leather bag that fitted perfectly over the front handlebars. Reusable shopping bags and environmentally friendly packaging is nothing new! 

I don't recall seeing any money passed. I assume that there was some kind of running account. Even after Pa Pa retired and we moved to Merricks, about a mile away from where we were living, Pa Pa still made his weekly bicycle trip to Mrs Hunte shop even though there were 2 similar shops closer. 

There was a community spirit that existed in these villages quite unlike what we see today in the heights and terraces on the island. In Momma's shop in Merricks, St. Philip, it was not unusual to hear neighbours leaving messages "by de shop", for other villagers, knowing with full confidence that the message will be passed on. Momma's shop was the hub of the village. It was located on the main road by the bus stops and everyone leaving and returning to the village shouted Momma. Most of the village children played some form of sports until dark on the pasture by Momma's shop. All of us usually made the shop our last stop before going home. This was to purchase an Orchard juice box or a Pine Ju-C to quench our thirst after hours of play. Sometimes 3 or 4 of us would share one drink.  It was not unusual for Momma or her daughter who worked in the shop to tell me, "Stop by your Gran Gran for your tea. Your mother working late tonight". Such was the community spirit. I was indeed raised by a village!

We children knew which shops had the best treats and we were thought nothing of walking long distances to get them. Soda Biscuits, 4 for a cent at Mr Critchlow's shop, 10 cent ice lollies or "suck-a- bubbies" from Mrs Batson down Sealy Hill and my favourite, DG Ole Jamaican Ginger Beer sold only at Ms Clarke shop in East Point. There is nothing like an ice-cold gingerbeer after you walked a mile to get it!

A few of you has commented on the fact that I am not posting as often as I used to. Let me assure you that it is not that I don't want to. I have just been very busy with non-art related work and I was using all of my spare time to actually finish some of the many pieces that I have in varying stages of completion. I have 3 pieces in my Flamboyant Collection that need only a couple of hours work each and the "Long Bay Blue" shown in my last post and this piece are all to be completed this week. This piece will need about 8 to 12 hours work to complete because of the many, many straight lines that require immense concentration. As soon as things settle down I will again start with the promotions and giveaways!

As always, thank you for reading. I appreciate the comments and the kind words of encouragement. Until next time when I will share some more of my work and a little about what makes me tick, please leave a comment. And, I will really appreciate if you share this post with your friends. To make sure that you don't miss any future posts, Please enter your email address in the subscribe by email box on the right.


Mark Phillips

Artist
Email:- mark@phillipsbajanart.com
Website:-www.phillipsbajanart.com

"Quietude"

St. Peter's Parish Church, Barbados.
 An original 16 x 20 acrylic painting by Mark Phillips

I hope everyone, had a peaceful Easter weekend. I tried to get some rest but was only partially successful. In an ideal world, I would have spent most of the time in my studio but this was not to be. The responsibilities of being a father, a husband and the general fix-it man around the house got in the way.

This piece was painted in January 2018. I was in Speightstown an early morning sometime late last year when I noticed for the first time this scene you see here. It was a holiday, and Church Street  was all but deserted. I was sitting in my vehicle waiting to meet a client and something caught my eye. 

Maybe it was the way the light was reflecting off of the building or the way the guard walls allowed for an almost perfect study of 2-point perspective. Whatever it was, I knew that I was going to paint it. I was not driving my vehicle so I did not have my camera. I therefore turned to my trusty cell phone and shot a few reference images.

To be honest, the photos were ugly. I exercised my poetic, (or is it artistic), licence and did not paint the mess of  utility wires and poles that threatened to spoil this serene scene. I was originally going to name this piece "Tranquility" or "Serenity" but as fate would have it I came across the word "Quietude". Up until that point, I did not know that word even existed! But it was a perfect fit. It sounded more religious, perfectly befitting one of the oldest churches in Barbados.

St. Peter was one of the six original parishes and its first church was built in 1629. The second church was built 36 years later and a third church followed in 1837. This church was built in an essentially Georgian style with its square bell tower. St. Peter’s Parish Church was one of the three churches in Barbados which survived the hurricane of 1780, along with St. Andrew's Parish Church and All Saint's Chapel. This parish church however, was not so lucky when the hurricane of 1831 struck the island. The church was destroyed and by 1837 it was again rebuilt and consecrated.

This third church survived well into the twentieth century but then on April 21^st, 1980 tragedy struck and the church was largely destroyed by fire. The church building sustained damage primarily to the interior with the exterior walls and the tower escaping much of the damage. The church was rebuilt and subsequently restored to its former glory with one marked exception. The large bell that was previously housed in the church's clock tower could not be returned to its former location and so the bell is now housed on the outside of the church building, under a gazebo-like structure. 

Although St. Peter's Parish Church is one of the oldest churches in Barbados, because of the many tragedies faced by this church no early records have managed to survive. Despite this lack of a traditional written history however, one only has to take a stroll through the grounds of the church and even the interior of the church itself to be able to witness first-hand the history on which this church is grounded. 

On entering this edifice, the first thing that catches the eye, is the inscription which is positioned directly above the altar, "This is none other than the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven Alleluia" this quote, carved in stone as it were, lends to the sacred feel of the church and coupled with the many elaborately carved plaques that date back to the seventeen hundreds, proclaim St. Peter’s Parish Church in Barbados as a treasure trove of historical finds. 

Some other examples can be found in the ornately carved pulpit inscribed with the words "Given to the Glory of God by Little John in memory of his mother" while the baptismal font at the back of the church bears the inscription "The Gift of John Sober Esq. to the Parish of Saint Peter 1767", even the bell which is now mounted outside in the churchyard bears the inscription "St. Peter's 1827".

It was my honour to paint this remarkable Barbadian Parish Church, this true piece of Barbadian history.

As always, thank you for reading. Until next time when I will share some more of my work and a little of the history of this blessed place that I am privileged to call home,  please leave a comment.  And, I will really appreciate if you share this post with your friends. And to make sure that you don't miss any future posts, Please enter your email address in the subscribe by email box on the right. 


Mark Phillips
Artist
Email:- mark@phillipsbajanart.com
Website:- www.phillipsbajanart.com
Online Store:- PhillipsArtStore