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

Country Home

"Country Home". An 11 x 14 Acrylic Painting by Mark Phillips

As with most of my paintings, I was driving through St. John, just pass the entrance to Bath Beach and the old Cable and Wireless earth Station site, when I saw this house looking at home, nestled at the edge of this tropical forest.

This became the latest in my Chattel House Collection. It was done earlier this year and when I first painted it I was not very happy with the results so I packed it away on a shelf in the studio with the intention of changing it some day.

However, I was looking through some older paintings to fulfil an order for a client who purchased a license to use some of my original pieces in their company promotions, and I came upon this piece again.

Surprisingly, I loved it! I could find nothing that I wanted to change about it. If I was being purely academic, I must admit that it broke some composition rules that artists are taught to follow but looking at this piece I felt a sense of calm and relaxation. This was a piece of the real Barbados. A traditional home perfectly engineered to take advantage of the cooling St. John breezes blowing in off the Atlantic Ocean. I truly green space surrounded by the indigenous vegetation the covered this island before the exploitation by its European colonisers.

The steep gable roof, constructed of corrugated iron, perfectly adapted to suit a climate where heavy rains and high winds were the norm each year. The angle of the roof deflects the wind rather than providing a platform for it to lift off. The jalousie windows, with three sets of hinges - two vertical and one horizontal - allow maximum flexibility against the wind and sun. The interior of the house is kept cool while providing security and privacy.

I will like the share this poem that I found on Barbados.org. Unfortunately, they did not share the author's name. I believe that artists should be recognised for there work, so if anyone reading this knows of the author please tell us in the comments below.

"Little Houses"

Little houses built of wood, 

Sash window and the jalousies

Fretwork filters dim the light light 

To set the shade and cool breeze free

Little houses falling down 

Rumble tumble to the ground

Patchwork, nailed and hammered fast 

Loved and cherished to the last

Skilled and crafted

in precise scale

of detail like the villa grand

with pride upon the blocks you stand

Home where Grandma Settle lived

And where all 8 brothers grew,

living in a room or two

I grew up in St. Philip but I was born in St. John. As my mother loves to remind me, "my navel string bury there". The little village of Glenburnie situated about 2 miles from this house is where I came kicking and screaming into this world. No doctors or hospitals, just my mother and the village midwife with the ever-present sound of the Atlantic Ocean providing a perfect complement to our cries. 

This piece now hangs in my studio where I can see it every day. A reminder that we sometimes need to take a step back and look at something again before we can fully appreciate it.

“There are some people who see a great deal and some who see very little in the same things.” ― Thomas Henry Huxley

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
Online Store:- PhillipsArtStore

The Bajan Chattel House

"Home Sweet Home" a 11 x 14 acrylic painting by Mark Phillips

The Bajan Chattel House is indeed a thing of beauty. Uniquely Barbadian, this icon of the Barbados landscape has endured and developed with the changing times.

Once considered the home of the poor working class, this is no longer the case as the modern chattel home contains all of the modern facilities, appliances and electronic gadgets that you would find in the most upscale homes on the island.

"Home Sweet Home" is a rendition of the home of one of my clients. A typical middle class family that has chosen to make themselves more than comfortable in a piece of Barbadian history.

The Chattel house, like "Pudding & Souse", is the result of historical circumstances and local inventiveness. After Emancipation, most of the land was still owned by the plantations. The former slaves who opted to stay and work on the plantations were encouraged by the Plantocracy to live in communities on the plantations where they worked. However, the homes had to be "chattel", which means "movable possession." For this reason they were built of timber and set on stone blocks locally known as the "Ground Sill". In construction today, the ground plate or the ground sill has another meaning but in Bajan terms, it was the collection of stones on which the chattel house stood.  They were constructed in such a manner as to allow them to be disassembled, packed on a mule or ox cart, (stones and all), and transported to another plantation and  reassembled, in the event that the worker changed jobs. This could easily be accomplished all in one day with minimal damage to the structure!

Traditional Chattel House. A 11 x 14
acrylic painting by Mark Phillips

The traditional chattel house was an example of architectural ingenuity. The steep gable roof, constructed of corrugated iron, was adapted to suit the climate of heavy rains and winds. The angle of the roof deflects the wind rather than providing a platform for it to lift off. Many chattel houses had distinctive shutters and hoods over the windows that allowed for maximum  ventilation whilst still providing privacy and protection from the elements.

The front enclosed veranda or as my grandmother called it, "the gallery" was the heart of the home. This is  where we were allowed to play as children. That was until visitors came, as this was also the area where guests were entertained. Then we were required to be somewhere else so that the grownups could talk.

In the late 1960's , when I was still attending primary school, we lived with my grandfather.

My grandfather, "worked for the Government", and was an influential man in the community. We had the only telephone and the only TV, (a little black & white Zenith), in the area. These were both kept in the "gallery" which always seemed to be, not only the heart of the house, but the heart of the village as well. People frequently came to "beg for a phone call" or to retrieve a message left for them. On evenings, the neighbourhood children came to sit on the floor with me and my little brother to watch Sesame Street on the magical TV box.

Chattel House. A 9 x 12  acrylic painting
by Mark Phillips

Today as more and more Barbadians purchase land and realize their dream to "own a piece of the rock", the need to build chattel houses is no longer there. However, the practicality and simple beauty of this distinctly part of our Bajan heritage will continue to dot our landscape for generations to come. 

The chattel house has found a new lease on life  and is serving us well as shops and other places of business. There are shopping complexes in “chattel house villages” at St. Lawrence Gap and Sunset Crest, Holetown. These are wooden structures with some of the features and ambiance of the original structures. True replicas of the finest examples have been built in the Tyrol Cot Heritage Village, to showcase this unique, creative  icon for visitors and future generations.

As always, thank you for reading. Until next time when I will again 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