Barbados

I can’t stay away from Barbados.

It’s all the cliches - get ready…

The sound of the sea

Always the laughter of the locals,

Turquoise, veridian, ultramarine water, warm as a bath

Incessant night call of tree frogs chorus at night.

Shy green lizards, quick to hide.

All shapes and sizes of shells for the opportunist hermit crabs.

Hummingbirds on hibiscus flowers.

Impossibly flamboyant bourganvillia  and  frangipangi.

Fierce tropical downpours and the rewards of rainbows.

Tastes of grilled mahimahi, flying fish,

Rum and lime,

Macaroni pie and sweet potato fries.

Floating on the salty sea over green turtles and myriad coloured fish.

Sunsets and sea sparkle. 

Barbados is all these things and more -

For me a place of memories and dreams.

The first sight of land from the aeroplane window

Bring tears to my eyes

Such a small , brave land it seems to me

-My heart soars

We are in Barbados now, after a zoom session today with my team at home, Mags and Sarah and our lovely mentor, Jackie.

Klaus and I had a swim to cool off  and I stayed in for a float…..

Floating with my ears in the water, listening to the pulse of the ocean and wrapped in the quiet of the warm salty sea, I ponder.

Mostly I feel lucky – lucky to be happy, to be here, to be loved and to have my amazing team working away at home keeping us afloat ( ha ha pun!)

Seems I need to show more of myself to my customers – physically and personally. I will try to include more photos, but they’ll be few and far between – I really hate having my photo taken.

Meanwhile I will write about the things I love doing, the places I like to be, the things I struggle with. It may appear over a few blog posts!

I hope my paintings tell their own story and that you can find your own story in them.

Barbados is huge in my heart because I grew up here. My family moved when I was 4. Dad replied to an ad for brewmaster/manager of the newly built Banks Breweries. So we sailed on a Geest banana boat, my parents, my sister, Lisa, and our dog, Nick, leaving family, friends and familiarity behind .I am so grateful they moved our lives to this jewel of the Caribbean.

My father loved cricket and Banks sponsored the first Barbados against the Rest of the World match.. Most of the guys working at the brewery were employed for their skills on the cricket pitch.

I never understood cricket, but the cricketers became our friends.

I left when I was 17 to go to art college in the UK. I still had a few paid holidays back to Barbados, then, it was 20 years before I went back. Around that time I knew I had to be nearer the sea, and not long after, we moved to Ahakista – my home.

Back to the floating. It’s kind of meditative – I am totally in the moment and part of the earth . It is grounding, seaing (should be a word) and freeing.

OK – enough pondering – I need a Banks !