"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