Wynslo Phillips, Jemmotts Lane, St. Michael, Barbados, West Indies. Ph.435-2606, email: wynslo@caribsurf.com

About Myself
From a child I always loved to draw and favored the idea of becoming an artist. Reality set in during my secondary education years. I fully realized I couldn't make a living here in Barbados as a fine artist, so when I had an opportunity to study commercial art in Los Angeles, I took it.
Returning to Barbados in the mid-seventies, I discovered it was just as difficult to make ends meet as a commercial artist. So, I took up teaching art. This choice lasted a mere two years during a time when art didn't have a very high priority in the educational system. I also realized I didn’t fit very well into what I described as “bureaucratic systems.”
So, after practicing my writing skills while helping the then young Barbados Union of Teachers to develop their public relations efforts, I entered the field of journalism where I spent nearly 15 years. But, my desire to be an artist finally forced me from this activity and in the late eighties I gave up everything to pursue fulltime a long-held dream. Needless to say, those early years were a struggle I would rather forget. There was not only the matter of developing a recognizable style but also addressing the universal question of making enough to eat and pay the bills.
The local market for Barbados art is not only small but also very discriminatory and you have to depend almost exclusively on sales to visitors. (Sadly, this seems to be a fact of life for Caribbean art and Caribbean artists.) Additionally, while I have respect for the local art community, both Barbadian and non-Barbadian, there are many attitudes prevailing which I find difficult to reconcile with my personal feelings. At this point I must give thanks to Mrs. Bonnie Wilson, formerly of Casuarina Hotel, for not only being a generous patron, but who also kindly allowed myself and other artists and craftpersons to come in and set up a weekly display, at a time when hotels and hoteliers didn't give much consideration to non-entertainers displaying their skills on their premises. Consequently, today, most of my work consists of views of the scenery in and around Casuarina and the nearby beaches.
 

About Myself

A gallery of paintings of Barbados by Barbadian artist Wynslo Phillips. Caribbean art at its best. Reasonably priced, shipped worldwide.