Daddy’s Old Lamps – Version 2 CREATIVE EXPRESSIONS OF COLOUR

This week we have another work of art from the series Heritage and Culture. It is called Daddy’s Old Lamps – Version 2. This painting is a rendition of two lamps that I saw at the home of one my patient’s – Renalson Benjamin (now deceased). Mr. Benjamin and his wife Jeane are no strangers to us in the St. Pauls community. Jeane still has a little souvenir booth down at the Antigua Naval Dockyard in English Harbour and she is an active member of the Pilgrim Holiness Church in Liberta. Along with their children, they won many music awards, including the top prize of the Caribbean Christmas Carol Competition by Radio Paradise of St. Kitts.

While Mr. Benjamin was ill, I took a photo of the lamps and started the artwork. Unfortunately, he passed away before the artwork was completed. However, I decided to finish it and was able to give a copy of version one to his wife (the same is displayed in her home). I said version one, but it really should be finished version one, as the artwork went through many metamorphoses before I decided on the first stop.

The present one displayed today, was done with a little more colour, especially in the background, although I did not want something that was very colourful. This new version is a symbol of moving forward while remembering the long fruitful life of Mr. Benjamin. He was strong and hard-working but calm and kind.

Many of my artwork features, in a deliberate way, the subject of light. I see light as the first act of God’s creation, a symbol of life and God’s glory. Renalson was a man whose life exemplified the warm, loving light that shines out from a man of God in a world that is often filled with darkness and hate.