Country Church

"Country Church" An 11 x 14 Original Acrylic Painting by
Mark Phillips

This is where I am with this piece so far. Sorry about the quality of the photo. It was taken with a really cheap cell phone.

This is St. Martin's Anglican Church in the parish of St. Philip. Unfortunately, this church has been in the news lately.

The very day after I started this painting, I heard the news that Police was investigating what they suspected was a case of arson at St Martin’s Church. 

Apparently, someone set fire to the altar, two kneeling stools and a prayer book, leaving them extensively burnt. 

Burnt Prayer Book

St. Martin's Church was built in 1859 and sits on the site of the previous chapel school for the area. The chapel school was actually built in 1837.  The damaged altar, made from mahogany and interlaced with metal, was part of the church from the very beginning. I will not try to rationalize where a person's mind needs to be at to commit an act of sacrilege but this type of incident is happening way too often in a society that once boasted of being a Christian nation. 

Burnt Stool

Anyone that knows me, will attest that I am not a member of any church. Yet I can appreciate the value that churches provide in maintaining an orderly society. When I was still in High School, a church leader, in fact, a former Bishop of Barbados, told me, "Churches were there to control the ignorant". At the time, I was slightly offended by the condescending nature of this man of the cloth but as I have gotten older, I think that I understand what a 16-year-old me could not. As the influence of the Church wanes in Barbados, ignorance is running rampant in this country. 

Burnt Alter

Many years ago, I worked as a building contractor and I subcontracted a lot of carpentry work to an elderly Guyanese gentleman named Mr Carter. Being a more than decent woodworker myself, many times we would end up, just the two of us,  working on some particularly tricky or difficult job that we could not get finished to the perfection that we both sought. We would be 1/4 of an inch off-specification or a 90-degree angle would read 91and we would spend hours trying to correct a flaw that only the two of us would ever know was there. Eventually, Carter would turn to me and say, "Boss, let we done with this. It ain't no Church." That was our signal to call it quits. In his mind, the only structure that needed to be perfect was a Church! Where has that mentality gone? How did we get to a point where we live in a society where churches need alarm systems, burglar bars and security cameras?

To the technocrat, St. Martin's church is not considered a beautiful church. Many architectural "experts" consider the proportions of this church to be way off what is considered normal. Apparently, the roof is too steeply pitched and the bell tower is disproportionate to the structure. Even the windows in the structure seem to lack any uniformity in shape and size while the buttresses appear to be too small to accomplish the job for which they were built. However, despite the many architectural flaws, it is still one of my favourite Churches. I look at this building and it stands out as an important fixture of the landscape that has dominated its surroundings for almost 160 years. In my humble opinion, its imperfections make it special.

Many, many years ago, when I was still at school I think, I did a watercolour painting of this church. I have no idea where it is today. Most likely, my mother or one of my former girlfriends give it to someone as a gift. A few of my early works found homes that way! This is the only church that I have ever painted twice so I am going to wait until I am in the perfect frame of mind to finish it. This may be one of the works that I will keep in my personal collection, to be sold only after my death. We will see.

"I enjoy art, architecture, museums, churches and temples; anything that gives me insight into the history and soul of the place I'm in. I can also be a beach bum - I like to laze in the shade of a palm tree with a good book or float in a warm sea at sundown. " - Cherie Lunghi

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 with what you think the title of the painting should be.  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