The Dove. A symbol of peace and love.

Wood Dove. An 8 x 10 original painting by Mark Phillips

This is the latest in my "Birds of Barbados Collection" 

The Wood dove can be found just about anywhere on the island of Barbados. Its scientific name is (Zenaida aurita). This dove resembles the Mourning Dove famous for its distinctive Cooing sounds. A bit smaller in size with a shorter more rounded tail and a bit darker in colour, this dove is usually heard cooing much like the Mourning Dove. Their “coooooo-coo-coo-a-coo” tone, sounds quite similar, the only difference is that it coos a bit faster.

One of the most vivid memories of my very young days at primary school was hearing the Mourning Doves cooing in the early morning. My father had to be at work in Bridgetown before 8 a.m. and he dropped me off at school in St. Philip before 7. I was usually the first there and I clearly remember the doves and their haunting laments. For many years I believed that it was the Wood Doves that made this sound. Only as an adult did I become aware that the Mourning Doves and the Wood Doves were different birds.

Wood Doves are not always interested in building nests in conventional places. Hence the reason you would sometimes see them in garages, old buildings or resting in hanging lights. If there is no suitable place for nesting, it is highly possible that Wood Doves would opt for nesting on the ground.

I fought a losing battle in my patios at home with the Wood Doves constantly nesting in the cup-shaped lighting fixtures on the walls. I had to eventually replace all of them with fixtures that did not offer them a perch.

The Wood Dove forages by walking about on the ground in cultivated and urban areas or on the woodland floor. It feeds mainly on grains and seeds and may sometimes take insects (ants and flies) and earthworms. Some fruits are consumed too.  In addition to its diet, it also swallows fine gravels to assist with digestion, and also takes salt from mineral rich soils.

Why do Doves Represent Love and Peace?

Doves are considered birds who mate for life and are extremely loyal. They raise their young ones with great care and dedication. They build their nests in areas near human settlements. In a way, this may have given people the opportunity to witness the immense love, care, and loyalty displayed by these doves. They are harmless birds and feed on fruits, plants, and seeds. People quickly associated doves with peace, love, and dedication.

In the Bible, the spirit of God has been symbolically represented as a bird. At the baptism, when Jesus's body was in the water, the Spirit of Christ descended into it as a dove. Noah chose a dove to send out from the Ark to find dry land.

In Greek mythology, doves are associated with love and romance. The Greek Goddess Aphrodite is depicted with doves flying around her or resting on her hand. She is born in a chariot drawn by doves. Her daughters-Pleiades-who are the 'seven sisters in the night sky', are also known as 'a flock of doves'. These birds were so symbolic in medieval times that many potions that were made for love, included the heart of a dove.

In ancient Aztec culture, the Goddess of Love, Xochiquetzal, is considered the mother of humanity. After the Great Flood, it is believed that she descended on Earth in the form of a dove and gave the world the gift of speech and languages.

In Hindu mythology, Kamadeva-the God of love-is known to ride a dove. This may also be the reason why doves are associated with love.

A story from Central Asia also portrays doves as the symbol of peace. As per the story, two kings head for war. One of the kings asks for his armour, upon which he is told that a dove has made a nest in his helmet. His mother asks him to leave the nest and the bird undisturbed, as it is the symbol of purity and love. The king agrees and heads for the war, without his helmet.

Upon seeing the king without his armour, the second king asks for a reason. Both the kings call for negotiation and meet to talk. When the second king comes to know about the love and compassion the other king had shown for the dove, he was moved. He felt that he had misjudged a man with such a compassionate heart. After this, both the kings settle down with an agreement of peace. This is how the dove started to be known as the bird of peace.

Many artists have depicted the dove as a symbol of peace. The lithograph by Picasso-La Colombe-showing a dove with an olive branch in its beak was chosen as the emblem of peace in 1949, for the World Peace Congress in Paris. After this, the dove became very popular as a symbol of peace for the modern world.

The dove is truly a bird that has touched the human mind and heart. It has inspired mankind with its innocence and purity. It reminds people of the very basic traits to live a fruitful life - love and peace!

"In the beginning, said a Persian poet, Allah took a rose, a lily, a dove, a serpent, a little honey, a Dead Sea apple, and a handful of clay. When he looked at the amalgam it was a woman." William Sharp 

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

Nubian Queen

Nubian Queen. A 16 x 20 acrylic painting by Mark Phillips

Great women are rarely represented in history.  Very little is heard or read about African queens.  

Very seldom do we read about great African men and leaders in history books, but as for African women… it is more like never.  

How many have heard of the great warrior queen of Nubia, Amanishakheto, who defeated a Roman army?  

Who has heard of this woman who led her people with a strong arm, and built pyramids in Meroë?

How many of you know that two great African queens have been cited in the Bible? 

Most people know about the Queen of Sheba who was the queen of a kingdom in modern-day Ethiopia and gave birth to a son to the Great King Solomon (Solomon was taken by her beauty). The second queen, who most people ignore or forget, is the Candace, or queen, of Nubia, Amanitore, (Successor to Amanishakheto). She is mentioned in Acts 8:26–40, or should we say her finance minister is, and so by association, she is cited.

I was surfing the internet some months ago and I came across a black and white photo of a black woman that just shouted “Queen” to me. This painting is based on this photo. It is about 80% finished. I plan to spend the next few months completing this. This may well be my “Mona Lisa”!

Bear with me while I do my little part is correcting the neglect that has been shown to our African history. The internet is a powerful force and I hope that each one reading this would use the social media buttons at the bottom of this post and share it with your friends. Based on past posts, over 4,500 people  will read this blog post and if everyone shares, it will go some way towards ensuring that our children can receive the knowledge that will make them proud of their heritage and by so doing alleviate some of the mental damage done to people of African descent by the systematic subjection to a system  of physical and mental slavery that is still ongoing today..

Well, let me tell you about the great Candace (Kandake or queen) of Nubia, Amanishaketo (also written Amanishaket) who reigned from around 10 BC to 1 AD. 

I would be pleasantly surprised if you knew that Nubia is a kingdom with 3 times as many pyramids as Egypt.  The Nubians were well known for their military genius, and Egyptian pharaohs will sometime hire Nubian mercenaries to fight their battles.  Theirs was a civilization of strong queens such as Amanishaket, and Amanitore. 

The general public is familiar with Egypt and the pharaohs but is not so aware that there was a highly important, sophisticated, and independent ancient civilization in Nubia, which is south of Egypt in present-day Sudan.  For over a century, Nubian pharaohs dominated Egypt, and their kingdom extended from Lake Chad and well into the middle east.

Candace Amanishaket was an extremely wealthy and powerful queen.  She succeeded to Candace Amanirenas who was also a great warrior queen (and will be the subject of another post).  She built considerable pyramids and temples at Wad Ban Naqa, where she was buried with great treasures.  Her residence and several temples were based there.  Her palace is one of the largest treasures identified at Wad ban Naqa.  It was 61 m long and covered an area of 3700 m2 with the ground floor made up of over 60 rooms.  The palace originally had a second floor as indicated by the remains of columns found on the ground floor, and may have contained an atrium or other structure.  

Amulet of Amanishakheto

Inside Amanishakheto’s grave, the Italian treasure hunter Ferlini discovered an amazing quantity of golden artefacts such as armlets, necklaces.  The treasure found (or what has been recovered) contained ten bracelets, nine shield rings, sixty-seven signet rings, two armbands, and an extraordinary number of loose amulets and necklaces, specially made for queen Amanishakheto, created by Nubian artists from her kingdom.  Some of her treasures (stolen by Ferlini) are now on display at the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, and at the Egyptian Museum of Munich.

Amanishakheto defeated a Roman Army sent by the first emperor of the Roman empire, Augustus, (who broke a peace treaty) to conquer Nubia. She drove them back for 3 years until Augustus admitted defeat. She was a strong, and powerful woman, and a great pyramid builder.  Her tomb at Meroë was one of the largest ever built.  She is often depicted on pyramid murals as a massive, powerful woman, covered with jewels, elaborate fringed, tasselled robes, and carrying weapons in one hand, preparing to lead her army against others.

Please check out the video below.

If you are interested in reading about another great woman check out one of my earlier posts. CLICK HERE.

"I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men, they are far superior and always have been." William Golding

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 College - Don't let your past dictate your future.

"The College". A 16 x 20 acrylic painting by Mark Phillips

I painted this piece from a photo I took in January this year when visiting the College on other business.

There is a darkness to Codrington College that appears to be part of its very foundation. Built by slaves on lands that were probably acquired by murder. No amount of good intentions could remove the shadow from this place.

I am a product of The Lodge School, which along with Codrington College came about as a direct result of the actions of Christopher Codrington. Sitting in history class at Lodge School with Mr. F.A Hoyos, (later Sir Alexander Hoyos), I  learnt of the benevolence of Mr. Codrington. Only years later as an adult did I learn the full story of the Codrington family’s role in the history of Barbados and the West Indies. I do not blame Mr. Hoyos for his omission. I attended Lodge School in 1974 when it was still a Boarding School and both the student body and the staff were still 40-50% Caucasian. Subjects like slavery barely merited a mention.

Bear with me while I give you a more comprehensive story.

Christopher Codrington was born in Barbados in 1668. His father, Colonel Christopher Codrington, was captain-general of the Leeward Islands. As a young man, Codrington was sent to England to be educated. From 1685 he attended Christ Church, Oxford, as a gentleman commoner. In 1694, having fought with distinction at Huy and Namur, he was made a captain of the 1st regiment of foot guards in 1695. After his father’s death in 1698, King William gave him the succession to his father's office of captain-general and commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands.

He died on 7 April 1710, and his body was sent to England and buried in All Souls Chapel. By his will dated 1702 he left £10,000, and £6,000 worth of books to the college, a legacy that sufficed to erect, furnish, and endow a magnificent library, in the middle of which stands his statue done by Sir Henry Cheere.

His two plantations in Barbados, now known as the Society and the College, together with part of the island of Barbuda, he left "to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts for the foundation of a college in Barbados," in which a convenient number of professors and scholars were to be maintained, "all of them to be under the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience," and "obliged to study and practice physick and chirurgery, as well as divinity, that by the apparent usefulness of the former to all mankind they may both endear themselves to the people, and have the better opportunity of doing good to men's souls, while they are taking care of their bodies."

The strict rules that Christopher left were never followed but Codrington College was built between 1714-42 and still stands today.   The painting shows one of the original buildings. To his credit, Codrington directed that a portion of his charitable bequest be used to educate the enslaved population of Barbados, but this was a gesture effectively blocked by the objections of fellow planters.

The plantations were run by managers on behalf of the SPG, and their operational oversight was nominally supervised by a Board of trustees of the Society headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a committee of Church of England, (Anglican), bishops. The plantations were reliant on the regular supply of new slaves from West Africa.  Due to ill-health, smallpox, dysentery and mistreatment, 4 out of every 10 slaves bought by the plantation in 1740 were reported to have died within three years.

Initially, slaves were branded with the word "Society" on their chests with a hot iron. Historian Milton Meltzer explains that the branding practice throughout the sugar plantations was that “Already branded once by the trader, the slaves were branded a second time with their new owner's initials." On branding at Codrington, historical documents state, “For nearly a decade, Codrington officials tried to reduce escapes by branding all slaves on their chests. In the end, though, the chief deterrent was the lash, plus, at times, an iron collar and a straitjacket.”

Woodville Marshall, emeritus professor of history at the University of the West Indies, said the Church's sins over Codrington were those of omission more than commission. "They had professional planters to run the place," he said. "The Church didn't play an active role, because they were more interested in the receipts." After the plantation was left to the SPG, its slaves were branded on the chest with the word "society", to remind everyone that these were slaves of the Lord. In 1740, 30 years after the Church took over, four out of every 10 slaves bought by the plantation died within three years. "Most people in Barbados are not too troubled by these issues," Prof Marshall said. "It was not so much the SPG that the Church should be apologising for as the activities of the individual parsons who kept plantations and slaves for sheer profit."

The elder Codrington deserves a mention here if we are to understand where the Codrington family wealth was derived from.

Colonel Christopher Codrington (c. 1640 – 1698) was an English plantation owner and colonial administrator who made a great fortune in the West Indies. Born about 1640 on Barbados, Codrington was the son of another Christopher Codrington. His father was a royalist who had arrived in Barbados around 1640, married a sister of James Drax, a leading plantation owner, and acquired an estate in the parish of Saint John. He made a small fortune there, most of which he left to his son when he died in 1656.

In 1663, Codrington and other men of Barbados bought the island of Saint Lucia from native chiefs there. While still in his twenties, he was appointed to the council of Barbados, and then as deputy governor, entrusted with the day-to-day administration in the absence of the Governor. In that capacity, he set about building schools and hospitals, suppressing smuggling, and controlling excessive drinking. Codrington was married to a woman named Gertrude.  His elder son, another Christopher, was born in Barbados in 1668, and then a younger son called John, who was an "imbecile."

In 1669, the elder Codrington was accused of murdering Henry Willoughby, a son of the Governor, Lord Willoughby, during a dispute about Codrington's acquisition of a desirable estate on Barbados called Consetts. (the site of the present College). Willoughby died suddenly with a "violent burning of the stomach", a few hours after eating a meal with Codrington, and although no wrongdoing was ever proved, Codrington never entirely recovered his good name on the island.  He began to trade outside the law and to move his investments away from Barbados.

In 1672, while Willoughby was away on a campaign, Codrington received a report of a rich silver mine on the island of Dominica, which was still in the possession of the Island Caribs and summoned the council of Barbados to ask it to agree that he should seize Dominica "before any other nation should possess the same". He then sent men to negotiate the purchase of the island, and a party to take possession. However, the French Governor General, the Marquis de Baas, promptly had the Englishmen removed from the island and protested that they had broken a treaty with the French of 1660. When Willoughby returned to Barbados Codrington was dismissed from his position and was also removed as commanding officer of a militia regiment.

After leaving the council, between 1674 and 1682 Codrington was elected several times to the Assembly of Barbados and was its Speaker in 1674, 1675, and 1678.

Codrington went on to build up the largest land holdings in Antigua and secured a lease of the whole island of Barbuda from the Crown.  He was appointed as captain-general of the English Leeward Islands, and in 1683 moved his base of operations to Antigua, where he was an important plantation-owner and was influential in reforms to make the island more like Barbados. By 1685, he had founded the settlement of Codrington on Barbuda and went on to build a stronghold there. During the Nine Years' War of 1688 to 1697, he led a series of armed conflicts with the French. As a captain general, Codrington found many ways to line his own pockets and was the target of allegations of corruption when he died in 1698, not long after the Peace of Ryswick.

All his ill-gotten gains were inherited by his elder son, our Christopher Codrington.

To rid ourselves of our shadows -- who we are -- we must step into either total light or total darkness. Goodness and evil. Jeremy P. Johnson

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

Wood Pigeon.

Wood Pigeon. An 8 x 10 Acrylic painting by
Mark Phillips

This is the latest painting in my “Birds of Barbados” collection.

For all my life, I have referred to this bird as a Wood Pigeon. However, its correct name is Columbidae Patagioenas Squamosa, also known as the Scaly-naped Pigeon or in some countries the Red-necked Pigeon.

The Scaly-naped Pigeon is a large, dark pigeon that is common and widespread throughout the Caribbean except for Jamaica and the Bahamas, where it does not occur.  

It is very good to eat.

No, it does not taste like chicken, it tastes much better!  They feed on fruit and seeds and as children, we caught them with “fly sticks” baited it with sunflower or “yellow hawk” seeds. Some of the boys even used downfall traps made from pieces of old chicken wire and wood but I preferred my fly stick. We have even used our "guttaperks", made of a y-shaped stick cut from a branch of a Whitewood tree and strung with a piece of rubber cut from an old bicycle tire.

We would remove the intestines and organs, remove the feathers, skin and all, and roast them over a fire made with cow dung and casuarina sticks. Good Eats!

Many times, our hunting efforts were frustrated by wood doves, my grandfather's pigeons and other smaller birds being caught in out traps. We usually set these free as they were just not worth the effort to cook. However, whenever wood pigeons were present they would push the other birds away to get at the bait and invariably they were caught. 

There is a lesson there somewhere.

I believe that there are other species of "wood pigeon" in Barbados. I would appreciate if anyone has any information to let me know in the comments below.

I'm like Albert Schweitzer and Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein in that I have a respect for life - in any form. I believe in nature, in the birds, the sea, the sky, in everything I can see or that there is real evidence for. If these things are what you mean by God, then I believe in God. - Frank Sinatra

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 Quietness that the Stillness of Nature Inspires

Harrismith. A 16 x 20 Acrylic painting of Harrismith Beach,
Barbados by Mark Phillips

 "The poor long for riches, the rich long for heaven, but the wise long for a state of tranquillity." –Swami Rama

The peace and quiet that is highlighted in these St. Philip beach scenes is what the word, paradise means to me. 

This is the latest in my collection of St. Philip Beaches. I have already painted Peat Bay, Skeete's Bay and Bottom Bay.

This was painted from a photograph that I took n December 2017. I was standing on the cliff overlooking Bottom Bay trying to get an unusual shot of the beach when I happened to look the other direction and saw this perfect shot of Harrismith.

Harrismith Beach is located between Sam Lord's Castle and Bottom Bay in the parish of St. Philip. The name Harrismith originates from a town in South Africa founded in 1849 and named after British Governor Sir Harry Smith. It is my understanding that the buildings seen on the cliff were once the site of the Harrismith Hotel. As a child, I always knew the ruins as the Harrismith Great House. 

A 16 x 20 Acrylic painting of Bottom Bay, Barbados by
Mark Phillips

Harrismith Beach was never a regular haunt of mine as a child. Most of my time was spent at Peat Bay, Bottom Bay and even Kitridge Bay even further east. Swimming was not recommended at any of these beaches because of the strong currents offshore and our swimming areas were either Skeete's Bay further North or Crane Beach or Foul Bay to the South.

Like Bottom Bay and Peat Bay,  Harrismith Beach is perfect for relaxation and inward reflection. For someone like me who enjoys their own company more than most, growing up in this part of Barbados was paradise. 

It is my opinion that the way to enjoy Barbados

A 16 x 20 Acrylic painting of Peat Bay, Barbados by
Mark Phillips

is to experience the tranquillity of our more serene beaches. Too much emphasis is placed on the overcrowded beaches of the South and West coasts. It is somewhat of a paradox for me. On one hand, I know that these beaches offer the best of Barbados and I would love to see them shared with the world but on the other hand, I would hate to see them become overcrowded and commercialised. 

The original painting of Bottom Bay has been sold, I am pleased to say, to a local collector. I am always glad when my art ends up in Barbadian homes to be enjoyed by generations of Bajans. Too often our best artwork is bought by visitors who take them away from the island and away from the eyes of Barbadians. Personally, I find this rather sad. That is why I would sell me art to residents of Barbados for far less than I could get for them just for the satisfaction of knowing that they will remain at home. 

“If you have time to chatter, Read books.
If you have time to read, Walk into mountain, desert and ocean.
If you have time to walk, Sing songs and dance.
If you have time to dance, Sit quietly, you happy, lucky idiot.”
― Nanao Sakaki 

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

"Tranquillity" Do you recognise this beach?

"Tranquillity" A 16 x 20 Acrylic painting on stretched canvas
 by Mark Phillips

I am 95% finished with the piece. I started with a clean white canvas at 10 am and finished at 11 pm. A marathon session that saw me stopping only for the occasional bathroom break.

This is one of my favourite childhood haunts. I have spent many hours alone on this beach. In fact, I studied for a few of my GCE O'Levels sitting under the coconut trees that you see in the painting. I said a few. The truth is that I only studied for 2 O'levels, Biology and Geography and those were the only 2 "A" grades that I received. The other 6 that I passed were a combination of a decent memory and extraordinary luck.

I asked if anyone recognised this beach. The reason that I am pretty sure that not many people will. Despite my efforts to reproduce it as accurately as possible, it is simply because it is not a very well known beach. There are no signs, no access roads that do not require a 4 x 4 vehicle in good condition, nor is the water particularly safe. Many, many years ago, an artificial barrier of rocks was placed across the entrance to the beach and as small children, we were warned about the dangerous tides that existed beyond this barrier. Even the most adventurous of us did not venture there.

As children we used the beach mainly for body surfing, using whatever pieces of plywood that we could salvage to use as body boards. However, the main attraction of this beach was the coconut trees. A rite of passage into our "gang" and the status that you maintained in the group was always determined by how well the individual performed a number of tasks known as "trials". If this is sounding all too familiar, remember that we grew up reading Enid Blyton books. The Famous Five, The Secret Seven along with the Hardy Boys adventure books were a major part of our life.

These trials were always difficult. Designed to test your courage and your physical strength. Anyone could design a trial and present it to the group. He just had to be the first one to do it. One such trial was to climb every coconut tree on this particular beach. Carrying a rope and a knife you were required to cut a bunch of coconuts and lower them to the ground. This particular challenge was designed by me and I had done it alone long before I presented it to the boys. I spent many days alone on the beach and I regularly climbed every tree. Sometimes spending up to an hour perched in the treetop enjoying the breeze and the gentle and sometimes not so gentle sway of the tree. If you have never drunk a coconut while relaxing in the top of a 30ft coconut tree on a beautiful tropical beach, you have not lived!

As an adult looking back on those solo trips into the treetops with no one around, I realised that this was possibly one of the more stupid things that I had done in my lifetime. (And believe me, I had done a few stupid things!). Had I fallen and was injured, no one would have found me for a long time. I never told anyone where I was going.

I visited this beach only last week and very little has changed. It is still one of the most secluded an peaceful spots in Barbados. The occasional plastic bag and pep bottle is evidence that someone visits occasionally but until the access road is fixed, this will not be a tourist attraction any time soon.

If you know this beach please leave a comment below.

"When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused." - Rainer Maria Rilke

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