Forgiveness Part 2 - The Letter Killeth

Yesterday, I received an email from St. Thomas Parish Church. It read...

"Thank you for sharing part of the history of this church. Hope to see more.

The Reverent was correct in his reason for not marrying you and your then wife to be, take note that the Queen will not be going to the wedding of her grandson next month, as his wife to be is a divorcee, but she will go to the reception."

Ironically, at the time that I received this email, I was hosting the Choir of the St. Thomas Church to a luncheon at my home!

I tried to respond but as is often the case with some Outlook accounts, my mail was undelivered. I wanted to engage the writer in a discussion as to why the Queen's actions are to be considered as a vindication of the correctness of this stance by the church. 

I understand that the Church of England, (Anglicans), does not encourage divorce, but, should it not as a "Christian", forgiving organisation, be able to treat with empathy to those who find themselves in such a situation?

Until the 16th century CE, the Church in England recognised the Roman Catholic Pope's authority. However, when Catherine of Aragon failed to produce a male heir for Henry VIII and was considered too old to give birth to any more children, Henry wanted to divorce her. The Pope refused permission and so the only way for Henry to get what he wanted was to break away from the Vatican and make divorce legal. The Archbishop of Canterbury granted Henry a divorce in 1533 (under pressure) and Henry made himself head of the Church of England.

So… Fact. The Church of England is founded on adultery. But, we will not hold that against them.

By allowing himself to remarry, Henry made the same thing possible for his subjects. However, I understand that couples do not have an automatic right to remarry in church. Apparently, remarriage is always allowed if the couple's former spouses are dead. The matter becomes more complicated if one or both of the exes is still living.

I was married in 1996 when the Anglican Church was still a little confused as to the official stance on the treatment of divorcees and their right to be remarried in the church. However, the Church has had a clear stance on the subject of a Christian remarriage since the General Synod meeting of 2002. In a vote concerning marriage after divorce, the outcome was 269 votes to 83 in support of a change. The Church of England teaches that marriage is for life. It also recognizes that some marriages sadly do fail and, if this should happen, it wants to be available for all involved. The Church accepts that, in exceptional circumstances, a divorced person may marry again in church during the lifetime of a former spouse.

Under civil law, the clergy has the capacity to marry any two people (as long as the couple can legally marry). The Church advises clergy to think carefully before remarrying couples and to ask them questions to find out how committed they are. The final decision that can easily determine the course of people's lives, rests with the clergy member.

The Church's suggested questions concentrate on the intentions of the couple and whether allowing the remarriage would be harmful to anybody involved. For example:

• ·       Does the couple understand that divorce is a breach of God's will for marriage? 
•          Do they have a determination for the new marriage to be a life-long faithful partnership? 
•          Do they seem willing to explore and grow in the Christian faith? 
•          Has enough time passed since the divorce for everyone to have recovered, and are there complicating factors from previous marriages (court proceedings or child support payments, for example)? 
•          Has either of the parties been divorced more than once? 
•          Was their relationship a direct cause of the breakdown of a previous marriage? 

I believe that there is an almighty being that controls life in this universe. I also believe that mankind does not have the mental capacity to understand where this entity resides in the construct of time and space as we perceive it. Our universe is a strange place brimming with lovely paradox. Our limited minds cannot hope to comprehend the scope of a creator that can be responsible for such complexity. Even on this tiny dot that we call Earth, that is no more than a speck on a grain of sand in the centre of the ocean, man is not the fastest, the strongest or even the most resilient but we would like to think we are the most intelligent. We definitely are the most arrogant! We create rules and laws in an effort to control the ignorant and then try to justify them by claiming that they are the will of the creator!

This is what rubs me the wrong way about all religions and their hundreds of denominations and sects. Many years ago, I promised my wife that I will stop writing about religion and I will not break that promise. I will leave you with this concept of the Almighty that I find most appealing.

"I am that I am", is a common English translation of the Hebrew phrase, "’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh ".  Also "I am who I am" or "I will be what I will be". Its context is the encounter of the burning bush (Exodus 3:14): Moses asks what he is to say to the Israelites when they ask what God has sent him to them, and Yahweh replies, "I am who I am." ’Ehyeh is the first person form of hayah, "to be", and owing to the peculiarities of Hebrew grammar means both "I am", "I was", and "I will be". That nicely sums up my creator. I AM, I WAS, and I WILL BE.

I hope that you forgive my rant today. This is not exactly Art related but my beliefs are a large part of what makes me the person that I am. I could not create the work that I do if I did not see the world as I do. My perception of life is what makes me an artist.

Until next time when I will definitely share some more of my work with you, 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

Forgive, Never Forget.

St. Thomas Parish Church. An 11 x 14 acrylic painting
by Mark Phillips

St. Thomas Parish Church sits in the district of Arch Hall in St. Thomas and dates back to 1629.  That first building was destroyed by the hurricane that hit the island in 1675. The parish church was rebuilt but this structure too was demolished by the great hurricane that struck the island in 1780.  It was some six years before the church was rebuilt and by 1831 it was again destroyed by the hurricane that reduced most of the churches on the island of Barbados to ruins.

In appearance, this church is quite similar to the St. Peter's Parish Church. Their design is rather less Gothic in design than some of the other Parish Churches around the island of Barbados. The appearance of these two churches is less imposing when compared to that of St. John’s Parish Church for instance.  None-the-less, the St. Thomas Parish Church still manages to evoke a quiet, understated elegance and charm.

On a personal level, St Thomas Parish church represents a not very pleasant chapter in my life.  When I was a child, I remember my grandfather saying that he will never step foot in St. Catherine’s Church as long as he lived. I never asked him the reason why he had taken that stand but true to his word, the only time I say him in that church was on the day of his funeral. Ironically, he is buried in the graveyard of St. Catherine’s Church.  I mentioned that because I lived to hear myself making the exact same statement about St. Thomas Parish Church!

When my then betrothed and I was planning our wedding, St. Thomas Parish Church was the church of choice. My fiancé was born in Arch Hall and she was a member of the church for almost 30 years. She was a member of the church choir and almost every other women’s organisation in the church. We approached the Reverent in charge and submitted to the mandatory interviews and counselling only to be told by the goodly Reverent that he would not perform the ceremony. My fiancé was divorced twice before and he made me think that it was church policy that divorcees could not be married in the Anglican Church because the Church considered the matrimonial vows of, “till death do us part”, as a sacrament that could not be broken.

Of course, this pissed me off and after some research, I discovered that it was at the discretion of the Reverent as to if he was going to perform the ceremony and, that he had refused because, in his opinion, the marriage was, "not going to last". 

We were subsequently married at James Street Methodist Church. 

Earlier this month, my wife and I celebrated our 22^nd wedding anniversary. 

So much for not lasting!

My wife is still a member of the church choir, my daughter and later my granddaughter has been confirmed in this Church and I have not stepped foot in this Church in the last 22 years. I occasionally run into the Reverent, (now retired), that refused to marry me and as recent as 2 weeks ago I gently reminded him that, I am still married!

So bear with me for portraying this building as a little dark and not as the bright beacon in the community that it should be. If my years on this earth has taught me anything about myself, it is that I am capable of forgiving but, I never forget. In the words of JFK...

"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names." -  John F. Kennedy

or more succinctly,

"The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget." - Thomas Szasz

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

Yellow Breast

"Yellow Breast" an 8 x 10 Acrylic painting by Mark Phillips

The avifauna of Barbados includes a total of 270 species, according to Bird Checklists of the World as of February 2018. Of them, one is endemic, 17 have been introduced by humans, and 178 are rare or accidental. Eight species have been extirpated and one is probably extinct.

One of my goals is to record on canvas as many of these birds as I can. The first one in the “Birds of Barbados” collection is the Yellow Breast. This particular species is thought to be found only in Barbados.  I remember as children calling them yellow breast sparrows but they are not sparrows at all.

Common Name: Bananaquit aka Yellow Breast

Scientific Name: Coereba flaveola sp. barbadensis

Description: 4-5 inches; upperparts black with some white patches; black head with white eyebrow stripe (yellow in juveniles); bill curved; neck black, breast yellow, rump white

Habitat: Island wide – can be found in flower gardens etc. – Feeds on the nectar of flowers.

Many sub-species of Coereba flaveola are found throughout the Caribbean with sp. Bardadensis being endemic to Barbados.

I do not particularly like painting on canvases smaller than 11 x 14, however, I made an exception for this collection. The best thing about painting this size is the time it takes to complete. I finished this painting in about 4 hours.  I hope that one day these could be sold as a complete collection and displayed together.

I would be amiss if I did not share with you what this bird sounds like. I hope you like it!

It has been many years since I have seen or heard a "Yellow Breast". I grew up in St. Philip and they were very common around my home. Now I live in St. James and despite having a reasonable sized garden around my home with many species of flowering plants, I have not noticed one. I really hope it is because I have been too busy to notice and not because these birds are disappearing from our landscape. Please let me know when last you have seen one.

As always, thank you for reading, (and viewing). I appreciate the comments and the kind words of encouragement. Until next time when I will share some more of my work with you, 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

"He shall have Dominion"

"He shall have Dominion." An 11 x 14 acrylic painting of the
Lion Statue at Gun Hill, Barbados by Mark Phillips

In response to a request from a client to use some of my work depicting scenes around Barbados, I was searching through some of my paintings and I came across this gem. 

I started this painting in February but I had to put it in my "unfinished pile" because I had a commisioned portrait to complete by Valentine's day and I never got back to it.

I realised that I had neglected the parish of St. George in my quest to represent Barbados in paint so... I threw this back on my aisle, and after a few very pleasurable hours, here we are!

Gun Hill is the finest of a series of signal stations built in 1818. These stations sighted ships approaching Barbados and signalled to each other, advising of the type of vessel and whether it was a friend or foe! In case of attack, the forts and soldiers could be quickly readied to defend the island. In the signal tower, a chart shows just what detailed information could be relayed with the use of a few flags. The signal stations were also used to warn of slave rebellions on the island.

The inscription under the Lion Statue
 at Gun Hill

At the foot of the signal station is this magnificent lion statue which was carved out of a single piece of rock in 1868 by Captain Henry Wilkinson with the assistance of four military labourers. It was meant as a depiction of Britain's strength and dominance.

Under the lion, there is an inscription with the sculptor's name and a verse from the Vulgate Latin translation of the Bible. Translated into English, it means 'He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river, unto the ends of the earth'.

At this time Britain possessed a global empire that was hugely impressive in scale, and stronger in both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and around their shores, than that of any other European state. Therefore, I tend to excuse the arrogance of Captain Wilkinson and must pay tribute to him as an artist. He has left a unique and truly impressive mark on the landscape of Barbados.

I will leave you today with this quote:

"With each new day in Africa, a gazelle wakes up knowing he must outrun the fastest lion or perish. At the same time, a lion stirs and stretches, knowing he must outrun the fastest gazelle or starve. It's no different for the human race. Whether you consider yourself a gazelle or a lion, you have to run faster than others to survive."  Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

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 this beautiful island that I call home, 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

Tweedside Saturday Morning

Tweedside Road, Barbados. A 16 x 20 Acrylic painting
by Mark Phillips

It has been a while since I attempted a painting depicting a busy street scene. This is usually the type of painting that I find the most challenging and the ones that I have to stop and go back to many times before I am satisfied.

This is my depiction of a typical Saturday morning in Tweedside Road, Barbados. The men liming in the shop door and the customer chatting with the newspaper vendor.The young lady just getting off the minivan and the old lady dressed for church.

The challenge with a painting like this one with so much going on is to represent the figures in the correct perspective. 

You may be wondering ...What is perspective? 

You will appreciate that an artist is working on a 2-dimensional plane like a piece of paper or in my case a canvas.  I need to create an image that looks 3-dimensional so that when you look at it, your brain is tricked into believing that you are looking at the scene as you would see it in real life. Objects should appear either further or nearer to the viewer even though they are all represented on a flat piece of canvas! 

The master himself describes it as follows:-

"Perspective is to painting what the bridle is to the horse, the rudder to a ship……………..There are three aspects to perspective. The first has to do with how the size of objects seems to diminish according to distance: the second, the manner in which colors change the farther away they are from the eye; the third defines how objects ought to be finished less carefully the farther away they are." (Leonardo da Vinci)

Perspective was developed in the 15th century by the architects, Leon Baptista Alberti (1404-72) and Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446). For 500 years, perspective drawing remained one of the basic principles of Western art until it was challenged by the ideas of the Cubists at the start of the 20th century. Whether you are working with conventional materials such as pencils and paints or contemporary digital media, a knowledge and understanding of perspective drawing remains an essential tool to help you enhance your drawing technique.

The challenge in a painting like this one is the linear perspective. The sizes of the figures determine how you the viewer perceive their distance from your point of view and I have always taken time to get this just right. I am at an advanced stage in this painting and I am still only 80% happy with the correctness of the linear perspective. The height of the lady in the foreground in relation to the gentlemen in the shop door still says to me that she is very tall and the men, below average height. Some artists use this technique to draw attention to the focal point of the piece and this lady is my focal point. I have done this in the past. Over the next few days, I will decide if to leave everything just as it is or make some changes to the perspective.

What do you think?.

Art as in any discipline requires constant practice and I will be working on a few more of these scenes with people from around Barbados in the coming months.

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, me, 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

Fatimah, The Perfect Woman

The Perfect Woman A 16 x 29 Acrylic painting
by Mark Phillips

The was done from the profile picture of one my Facebook friends who liked one of my posts. I do not know her personally. I asked her if I could use her profile picture as the subject of a painting and she graciously agreed. Thank You! She goes by the Facebook name of "Fatimah Jah" and in my mind, her picture finally puts an appropriate face to the stories that I had read about Fatimah.

Fāṭimah, also called al-Zahrāʾ (Arabic: “the Radiant One”), was the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad (the founder of Islam).  Muhammad had other sons and daughters, but they either died young or failed to produce a long line of descendants. Fāṭimah, however, stood at the head of a genealogy that steadily enlarged through the generations.

Fāṭimah accompanied Muhammad when he emigrated from Mecca to Medina in 622. Soon after her arrival in Medina, she married ʿAlī, the Prophet’s cousin. Their first years were lived in abject poverty. When in 632 Muhammad was facing his last illness, Fāṭimah was there to nurse him. In general, she was devoted to her domestic duties and avoided involvement in political affairs. Yet after Muhammad’s death, she had a sharp clash with Abū Bakr, who had succeeded Muhammad as leader of the Islamic community, and Fāṭimah supported ʿAlī in his reluctance to submit to Abū Bakr’s authority.

Fatimah was different from all women in her high qualities and noble characteristics that took her to the highest rank of virtue and perfection. She was an example of her father’s morals and mentality. She resembled him in his deep faith in Allah the Almighty, asceticism, and refraining from pleasures of this life. 

According to Muslim beliefs, Fatimah was infallible. Allah had purified her from every sin and every defect and endowed her with all virtues to make her an example for all the women of the world. She was an ideal example in faith, worship, chastity, purity, charity, and kindness to the poor and the deprived. In other words, She was "The Perfect Woman".

There are many stories about Fatimah that seek to demonstrate how we as human beings should treat each other. I was fortunate from very young to be an insatiable reader and my Godfather, (a primary school headmaster) gave me some very unusual books. One of them was what you may consider as the Muslin version of Bible stories and I remember Fatimah was a frequent topic. I also recall that my mother was not happy that he gave me this “foolishness” to read.

I no longer have the book but thanks to the power of the internet I have found these stories to refresh my all too rapidly ageing memory, so that I may share them with you.

On the night of her wedding, Fatimah had a new dress on. When she found out that a young woman could not find a dress to put on, she took off her wedding dress and gave it to that young woman. Fatimah turned away from every material pleasure and preferred the satisfaction of Allah to everything. 

Jabir bin Abdullah al-Ansari said, ‘Once, the messenger of Allah led us in offering the Asr (afternoon) Prayer, and when he offered the Nafila (a supererogatory prayer), he sat in the qibla and people sat around him. A very old man came complaining of hunger and saying, ‘O Prophet of Allah, I am hungry. Feed me! And I am naked. Clothe me!’. The Prophet asked the old man to go to the house of his daughter Fatimah. The old man went to Fatimah’s house and from behind the door he greeted her and said, ‘O daughter of Muhammad, I am naked and hungry. Would you please comfort me, may Allah have mercy on you?’

Fatimah herself was in neediness, and she found nothing to give to the man except a sheepskin that her sons al-Hasan and al-Husayn slept on. The old man did not want to deprive her of her children's bed and he gave it back to her. Then, Fatimah took a necklace, which was a present from her cousin, off her neck and gave it to the man. The old man took the necklace and went back to the Prophet saying to him, ‘Fatimah gave me this necklace and said to me, ‘Sell it! May Allah recompense you with good for it.’

The Prophet cried and said, ‘And how does Allah not recompense you with good for it while the daughter of Muhammad, the principal of the daughters of Adam, has given it to you?’

Ammar bin Yasir asked the Prophet, ‘O Messenger of Allah, do you permit me to buy this necklace?’

The Prophet said, ‘Buy it, Ammar! If the human beings and the jinn participate in it, Allah will not punish them with Fire.’

Ammar said, ‘O Sheikh (old man), how much is the necklace?’

The old man said, ‘I sell it for a meal of bread and meat, a Yemeni garment that I cover my private parts and offer prayer for my Lord with, and a dinar that takes me to my family.’

Ammar said to him, ‘I give you twenty dinars, two hundred dirhams, a Yemeni garment, my camel to take you to your family, and a meal of wheat bread and meat.’

The old man said, ‘O man, how generous you are!’ He left delightedly saying, ‘O Allah, there is no god but You. O Allah, give Fatimah what no eye has ever seen and no ear has ever heard of.’

Ammar perfumed the necklace with musk, enveloped it in Yemeni garment, and gave it one of his slaves saying to him, ‘Take this necklace to the messenger of Allah and you will be his.’

When the slave took the necklace to the Prophet, the Prophet asked him to take it to Fatimah who took it and set the slave free. The slave smiled. 

Fatimah asked him what made him smile and he said,

‘What made me smile was the great blessing of this necklace. It satiated a hungry one, clothed a naked one, made a poor one rich, freed a slave, and then returned to its owner.’

There have been many women in the history of the world who have become great and famous because of their great deeds. Mankind can justly be proud of them.

But in the entire history of the world, there are only four women who could measure up to the high standards of true greatness and perfection set by Islam. They measured up to these standards by dint of their great services to Allah. 

Muhammad Mustafa, the Prophet of Islam, the Recipient of Revelation from Heaven, and its Interpreter, identified them. They are:

   1. Asiya, the wife of Pharaoh 

   2. Maryam (Mary), the mother of Isa (Jesus) 

   3. Khadija, the daughter of Khuwayled, and 

   4. Fatimah Zahra, the daughter of Muhammad Mustafa 

Again, I thank you, my Fatimah for allowing me to put a face to "The Radiant One", "The Perfect Woman". I am still not sure which title I will finally choose. 

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, me, 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

S

Eastern Sunset

Eastern Sunset. A 11 x 14 acrylic painting by Mark Phillips

Last Sunday at around 6.30pm, on the way home after work. Tired, sweaty and hungry, I took the Bennets Road through Sandy Lane from Highway-1 to Highway-2A. Usually, I would take the right turn that would take me back onto Holder's Hill. This would be the quickest way home but today I decided to continue up the hill. 

It was sunset. The sun was almost below the horizon in the West and it was creating the most breathtaking effects as I was driving East. The trees and the distant hills were aglow and I just had to whip out the trusty cell phone and take a few snaps.

I have dozens of reference photos of sunsets taken on the west coast with the sun sinking below the horizon turning the sea and sky all shade of orange, but none had inspired me. I had never seen this side of the sunset. I learnt something from this experience. Sometimes you need to turn around. What you were looking for in front of you may just have been behind you all along. I had left home many evenings in the past and stood on the ridge by West Terrace staring out to sea hoping to catch that perfect sunset on film and here it was,  when and where I was least expecting it!

I kept today's post short because I wanted to try something new today. Instead of an inspirational quote I will share an inspirational video. When you are on the wrong side of 50 like me, sometimes you need a little encouragement to keep pressing on and being all that you can be. If you like this please leave a comment below. Hell!, even if you don't like it leave a comment. I am a big boy. I can take it!

As always, thank you for reading, (and viewing). I appreciate the comments and the kind words of encouragement. Until next time when I will share some more of my work with you, 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

Long Beach

Long Beach. A 16 x 20 acrylic painting by Mark Phillips

Earlier this year I started painting a series of beach scenes around Barbados. The initial idea was to create a body of work known as the "Sea & Sand Collection". I started with Bottom Bay in St. Philip. Bottom Bay has already been sold and this is the next instalment of the collection.

Long Beach is situated on the South East Coast of Barbados in the parish of Christ Church. It is located at one of the most south-easterly points of the island. Long Beach is Barbados's longest beach but the lack of signage and amenities means that this beach is often deserted. Just the way I like it!

In 1986 or 1987 when the Barbados Defence Force held its first training course for the newly established Commando Squadron, Long Beach was used for one of the qualifying test, "The Obstacle Course". The other tests were the" 9-mile run" through St. Philip and St. John an the "30-mile run" which started at St. Ann's Fort in St. Michael, went through St. Thomas, St. Joseph, St. Andrew, St. John, St. Philip and ended in Christ Church in the clearing between the trees on top of the cliff shown in this painting. 30 miles to be done in 7 hours and 30 minutes.

The Obstacle Course started with a run across the entire length of Long Beach. Followed by a scramble up the cliff face you see in the painting and onto the obstacle course that is just behind the line of trees in the distance. I was a young Second Lieutenant, just back from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and I had a lot to prove. I passed all the tests and I even ran the 30 mile run and the 9-mile run a number of times after I had passed , just for fun, but I never attempted the Obstacle Course again. That was not fun!

I have been asked about my motivation to paint. To be honest the short answer is that I am making up for lost time. For far too many years I let "life" get in the way of art. I painted when I was in High School. I joined the military directly after school and that was the end of my practising art for many years. After the military I was trying to build my own business. I got married, (another full time job), and my last daughter was born. For the next 21 years, I would do the occasional drawing but nothing serious.

Then, one day last year, my grand-daughter asked me to help her with a project for her Art exams, and, to paraphrase the Mighty Chalkdust, I "took up my paint brushes again"  As I was working with my grand-daughter, I realised that, my daughter,  the young lady I had planned my whole life around for over 20 years no longer needed me in the same way. She had finished her studies and was now the youngest Registered Pharmacist in Barbados working with one of the largest companies on the island. She was well on her way and I still had a lot to offer. My Art could be my new focus and with the reach of Social Media and the Internet I could expose my work worldwide.

I do not find it difficult to start painting. I sit in my studio, turn on my favourite calypso or reggae music and start looking through the large file of reference photos that I keep on my computer until something catches my eye. I will then upload that photo or photos into my photoshop type software and compose a painting. So far this has not failed me. Once I start painting I just get lost in the process and I will work until I am reach a point where I feel I can do no more at the time. 

After 1 hour

After 3 hours

As I have said before, last week was a busy one for me outside of my studio. On Monday, I just started the first in my "These Fields & Hills" collection. This is a 11 x 14 acrylic painting and I have only done about 3 hours on it so far. It was the scene at sunset. As usual, I did a rough block in. (No sketch). Then I started to develop colours. Next, I will add some trees in the mid-ground and finally add the accents produced by the sunset. Hopefully, I will more to show you next time.

"The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power". Unknown

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 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. 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 Hour of The Wolf

St. Andrew's Parish Church
A 11 x 14 acrylic painting by Mark Phillips

I know you are all wondering what in the name of all that is holy does St. Andrew's Parish Church have to do with "the hour of the wolf".

To explain the connection, we need to go back to 1984. I was a young soldier in The Barbados Defence Force and we were on a one week training exercise in Walker's St. Andrew.

Firstly, according to Ingmar Bergman, the hour of the wolf is;"The hour between night and dawn. The hour when most people die, when sleep is deepest, when nightmares are most real. It is the hour when the sleepless are haunted by their deepest fears, when ghost and demons are most powerful, the hour of the wolf is also the hour when most children are born." -From Ingmar Bergman's Film HOUR OF THE WOLF (Trailer)...

It was a chilly morning just before dawn. The sky was just starting to lighten in the East and the mist off the sea was creating a somewhat eerie scene. I was part of a 2 man patrol and we were to rendezvous with the other members of our section at a point very close to the church. We were fist to arrive and we settled down in a bush out of sight a few yards from the church. 

Now, you must understand that we had been out most of the night and we had walked quite a few miles. We were hungry and we were tired. As I sat there looking at the church wall you see in the painting, I thought I saw a blurry form go over the wall into the churchyard. It wasn't even a form, it was just a movement' like something you catch from the corner of your eye but you weren't sure it was real.

I was about to dismiss it as my imagination fueled by fatigue and hunger, when I saw it again. I immediately looked at my partner in the dim light of the approaching dawn and I realised that he had seen something too. I whispered, "Did you see that?" He shook his head in the affirmative. "What the hell was that?", I said earnestly. He calmly turned to me and said, "those are the spirits of the dead returning to their graves before sunrise." I was speechless! This was insane... But... I had seen it with my own eyes! Not once but twice! I was 20 years old at the time and my partner was an experienced soldier much older that I was and here he was as cool as ever, telling me that spirits roam this land at night and return to their graves before dawn. At the "hour of the wolf".

That was over 30 years ago and I have never forgotten that night. As recently as 2 weeks ago, I drove past the church and I remember that morning like it was yesterday. When I decided to paint a collection of Barbadian Churches in 2018, the first one I painted was this one. You would realise that I had not given it a clever name. This Church is special to me. This church was where I understood that there is more to our existence on this mortal plain than I had before believed. About 10 years later, I witnessed another incident during a funeral at another church that further opened my mind, but that is a story for another day and another painting!

It is not clear if the building known as St. Andrew's Parish Church (established in 1630) actually survived the hurricane that ravaged the island of Barbados in 1780; some accounts state that it was one of the churches reduced to 'ruinous condition' while others state that it had indeed survived. In any case, this majestic church was one of the three churches that did survive the great hurricane of 1831 but it soon fell into a state of disrepair and was slated for demolition in 1842. The knocking down of this church building brought a public outcry from the people of Barbados and the church was subsequently rebuilt in 1846. That is the building that you see here today. This beautiful Barbadian Church, like many others on the island, very closely resembles a traditional, English church with its Gothic inspired architecture and square tower.

Let me apologise for not posting anything over the last few days. Unfortunately, I was ridiculously busy with my "day job". I was working 18 hour days and today Sunday, I finally finished the project and got home about 6 pm. But, as my youngest daughter always says, "You got to go make that cheddar". At least I can afford to buy paints and canvases now! I leave you with this thought;

 “A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man woke in the night.” — J.M. Barrie

Rest in peace tonight everyone... Or maybe not!

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 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. 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