MACO 1US $7.95

MACO MACO 32

live24 architect’s home is his casa cayman great house has euro flair

WRITER CATHERINE MACGILLIVRAY

PHOTOGRAPHER JOHN DOAK ARCHITECTURE/

POYNOR

34 so great a love for clifton hall historic mansion is restored in barbados

WRITERS HENRY FRASER AND JULIE CHALBAUD

PHOTOGRAPHER JULIE CHALBAUD

42 cool carrara marble statues adorn havana

WRITER JULIET BARCLAY

PHOTOGRAPHER JULIET BARCLAY

create52 judy’s jamaica artist mentors painters at mountain retreat

WRITER OLIVIA LEIGH CAMPBELL

PHOTOGRAPHERS JEREMY FRANCIS, FRANZ

MARZOUCA

THE COVERGlimmering pool lies to north of

Cayman great house

PHOTOGRAPHER JOHN DOAK

ARCHITECTURE/POYNOR

grow60 diamond in the grass heliconia and sulphur springs define st lucia gardens

WRITER ELIZA FRANCIS

PHOTOGRAPHER DANIELLE DEVAUX

play68 the new goldeneye glamour returns to james bond retreat

WRITER CATHERINE MACGILLIVRAY

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY ISLAND OUTPOSTS

78 by george! who slept here? history lives in barbados garrison

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY BARBADOS TOURISM

AUTHORITY

82 antigua gone green Eco-resorts win world awards

PHOTOGRAPHY CURTAIN BLUFF, KEYONNA BEACH AND

HERMITAGE BAY

VOLUME 15 ISSUE 4features

4252 52 68

invest 86 christophe harbour st kitts welcomes golf and marina resort

WRITER GARRY STECKLES

PHOTOGRAPHY PATRICK O’BRIEN, SLIPVISUAL

96 you, the sun and beach houses the crane builds east coast resort in barbados

100 the limegrove life where good shopping is good living

WRITER DAPHNE EWING-CHOW

98 fx 101 protect against fx risks

WRITER IAIN THOMSON

102 cruise and learn UWI teaches history on high seas

eat106 spice of india st lucia restaurant is full of surprises

WRITER MARLENE PIRES

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY SPICE OF INDIA

114 secret life of honey bees make life sweet

WRITER NORRIS BLANC

119 fancy that what’s salt, sweet and peppery too?

WRITER KAMSHA MAHARAJ

86 108

HAVING BUILT H IS HOUSE IN A CAYMAN ISL ANDS

COMMUNIT Y FOCUS ING ON MED ITERR ANE AN -

SPAN ISH DES IGN, ARCHITECT JOHN DOAK CAME

U P W I T H A SU I TA B L E N A M E. H E C A L L ED H I S

HOME “CA SA J . RE AD MORE IN MACO VOLUME

15 I SSUE 4 .

TO SUBSCR IBE, CL ICK THE COVER ON ABOVE.

THE Z IN IO MAGA ZINE D IG ITAL APP IS ALSO NOW

AVA I L ABLE FOR DOWNLOAD FOR ONLY

US$3.99. JUST CL ICK THE Z IN IO LOGO BELOW.

MACO MACO 54

TWO THOUSAND FEET UP, IN THE COOL HILLS OF ST ANN

OVERLOOKING THE MARKET TOWN OF ST ANN’S BAY IS

ROCKFIELD, PAINTER JUDY ANN MACMILLAN’S STUDIO,

HOME AND INSPIRATION SOURCE FOR NEARLY 40 YEARS.

Twelve acres of tropical forest surround the house,

a stone-foundationed 19th-century labour of love,

over the years its wooden floorboards and fretwork

painstakingly restored and maintained by the artist to

be true to its original style.

“I’ve kept it exactly the same. I’ve cut one doorway,

but mostly repaired the same things over and over

and over,” she says. “The beauty of Rockfield is that

it hasn’t changed. That’s the beauty of it, and the

romance of it.”

MacMillan is known for her realist landscapes

and portraits, and, in many ways Rockfield figures

significantly in much of the remarkable body of work

she has produced over the past 40 years. Indeed, a

RENOWNED PAINTER MENTORS AND MOTHERS ARTISTS

AT HER MOUNTAIN RETREAT WHERE TIME STANDS STILLjudy’s jamaica

WRITER OLIVIA LEIGH CAMPBELL PHOTOGRAPHERS JEREMY FRANCIS AND FRANZ MARZOUCA

whole segment of her 2004 retrospective publication,

My Jamaica, is devoted to paintings done at and of

the old house. These days, she spends more time in

Kingston: a doting grandmother of three, including

her 11-year-old granddaughter-cum-housemate,

she’s got school drop off routines and the like, not

exactly the glamour that one associates with being a

celebrated artist.

In the early days, Rockfield, she recalls, was critical

to her development as an artist.

“When I was young and just started landscape

painting, Rockfield was perfect for my work. There

was no telephone, no distractions, no interference, no

visitors... Rockfield was the greatest luxury of my life!”

Indeed, the five-bedroom house, its simplicity offset

by its elegance walled with works exquisitely curated

by MacMillan herself does exude tropical elegance

and heaven, while being locked in the 1800s.

“Of course there are problems that are not modern

problems, like I have only rainwater tanks. It’s really

like being on an island, a step back in time.”

In fact, says MacMillan, even in the early days,

Rockfield was never her primary home: “When I

found Rockfield I realised very quickly that the only

way to live there permanently as a modern person

was to live somewhere else!” She laughs.

In Jamaica’s art circles, the name Judy Ann

MacMillan is as close as it gets to royalty. From her

teens, Judy Ann MacMillan has lived out her career

in the spotlight. Jamaican master painter Albert Huie

was her first mentor, Carl Abrahams her tutor, art

school in Scotland at 16, and her first solo exhibition,

at 21, was opened by none other than the Grande

Dame of Jamaican art Edna Manley herself. A lifetime

of exhibitions mounted with disciplined regularity

and opened with fabulous parties has nurtured and

JEREMY FRANCIS

JEREMY FRANCIS

MACO MACO 76

maintained that celebrity, and today, her name and

work continues to command attention locally and

internationally.

As life got “complicated,’’ more and more she’d find

herself in Kingston, and the role of the old country

house in her life began to evolve. Far from the early

days when she’d lose herself in her work for days on

end, emerging only to forage in the nearby village

for a breadfruit, a sweet potato...anything to fend off

hunger, Rockfield became a true country retreat.

And then, everything changed.

About 2000, following an extremely personal

trauma, Judy says she began to reevaluate everything

in her life. That process, a year of “reflection and

conflict,” resulted in a number of life-affirming

decisions.

“I didn’t like the way my life was going. I realised

what I wanted to do was change my life and to

change the way I lived at Rockfield, which had

become very solitary, and also because my family are

very caught up in their own lives—which is how it

should be—that things came together in my mind.”

It took almost a year of consideration and

contemplation, but at the end, the path was clear.

“I thought of this art retreat where you could

attract into your life, the people you really wanted to

spend time with. I’ve spent so much of my life with

people who are not on my wavelength, so I thought,

why don’t I spend the rest of my life with people who

are on my wavelength, who like the things I like, and

who want to do the same things I want to do, which

is paint?”

Starting in 2011, the artist has welcomed small

groups to Rockfield for long weekends, to spend

a few days painting under her guidance, but also

disconnecting from their everyday worlds.

“It’s not just a painting class, it’s more a motivation

for people who have always wanted to try painting.

Painting is a repressed dream in many people’s lives,

like singing, or like cooking divinely in Paris. A lot of

people have a dream to paint, and I thought, I can

help them.

“The people who have that dream, I know them. I

know exactly what they’re trying to do, and if they’re

trying to paint the real world, from nature, by looking

at it, I can help them. That’s what I’ve done my whole

life, and I know the frustrations, I know the things

they’re trying to do and I love doing it,” she says.

“ IT’S NOT JUST A PAINTING CLASS, IT’S MORE

A MOTIVATION FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE

ALWAYS WANTED TO TRY PAINTING.

PAINTING IS A REPRESSED DREAM IN MANY

PEOPLE’S L IVES, L IKE S INGING, OR L IKE COOKING

DIVINELY IN PARIS. A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE

A DREAM TO PAINT, AND I THOUGHT,

I CAN HELP THEM

ABOVE Evening Breeze

JEREMY FRANCIS

FRANZ MARZOUCA JEREMY FRANCIS

JEREMY FRANCIS

MACO MACO 98

Painting aside, it’s really the camaraderie that

makes her retreats a success. Participants are both

locals who make the arduous trip up the hill for the

day, and also residential guests who fly in and stay

as house guests for a very different kind of Jamaican

experience.

“We have so much fun! I love when people surprise

themselves with what they can do, because everyone’s

scared to paint. It takes quite a lot of courage to paint

because no one can really help you—you are alone

with that brush. People are scared of making a fool of

themselves, but really, how much of a fool can you be

if you’re enjoying yourself, and the world is beautiful

and you’re trying to do that?”

The day begins at 9 a.m. after breakfast, with

participants selecting their subjects guided by Judy’s

gentle encouragement. There’s a break after noon

for lunch, siesta till 3 p.m., and another round of

painting till sundown, cocktails and dinner. Judy,

herself a formidable chef, designs and supervises the

preparation of each meal, adding her usual finesse

to transform locally sourced ingredients into veritable

gastronomical feats.

It’s hard work, but absolutely fullfilling.

“A lot of the people who come, they have spent

a lot of their lives catering to other people and not

having time for themselves. I tell them, this time is

for you. When you’re thirsty, I’ll get you something

to drink. I’ll get you a cup of coffee and some lunch.

You paint, and learn about your innocence. And they

love it. They get usually a happy experience at the

end. They are all pleased with the work they get at

the end, I am thrilled by it.”

Since 2011 she has held nearly a dozen retreats, with

participants’ skill level ranging from the never-picked-

up-a-brush-in-their-lives, to the enthusiastic amateurs

and semi-professionals seeking a skills update or

refresher. Most of the groups have known each other

before, many are repeat visitors to Jamaica, but they

all have in common a determination to complete a

painting under Judy’s tutelage.

There is, of course, another benefit to the artist for

hosting these retreats.

“They revitalise me. I’ve gotten so many ideas from

them. I’ve been at Rockfield 37 years, but my guests,

they’re seeing it afresh. So I’m seeing it through their

eyes. The things they choose to paint make me think:

oh my gosh I’ve never painted that! I should paint

that too! And the simple way they go about it, it’s

divine to me. I learn from it. So I think it’s a great

exchange that’s taking place. I’m enjoying it as much

as them. I just don’t know if they’re as tired as me at

the end!”

ABOVE Ackee Season

ABOVE LEFT The Victorian Garden

ABOVE RIGHT Miss Cooper

JEREMY FRANCIS

JEREMY FRANCIS JEREMY FRANCIS

FRANZ MARZOUCAFRANZ MARZOUCA

FRANZ MARZOUCA

MACO 10

“I realised when I bought Rockfield that I would

have a lifetime of material, and I do. But when you

work every day, like going to the office, it can get a

sort of sameness. And that is a danger in painting.

Now these people coming into my life, remind me—

like having grandchildren—of the joy that painting is,

or used to be: that fresh joy.”

But neither does she want to be an interference:

the delicate balance between giving direction and

hovering is hard to achieve, but it’s an exercise in self

discovery and the pursuit of beauty.

“I don’t want my guests to just go to class and

paint something that I set up. I want them to walk

around and have the absolute experience of creativity

where you choose one thing among the many things.

And that’s a very mysterious choice: none of us really

understands that subjective decision....why that tree

or why this time of the day.”

And so, her Rockfield revived, repurposed and

rediscovered is now, like Judy herself, open to new

inspiration and welcoming of whatever comes next

in her life.

“Painting is the bottom line, the foundation of my

life, I love painting and I love to share it. This is the

best way I know how,” she says.M

MacMillan’s Artists Retreats are bespoke events

that are individually timed and designed around

participants.

The retreat includes:

by acclaimed artist Judy Ann MacMillan

ABOVE Morant Bay

RIGHT The Thatch Tree

JEREMY FRANCISFRANZ MARZOUCA

FRANZ MARZOUCA