After many years of illustrating the artefacts from Lamanai, which by necessity and convention was done in pen and ink, I thought how great it would be to have full colour renderings of some of the finest of the decorated bowls. This would make them more publicly available, as the actual bowls are either in storage, or the painted designs are difficult to see due to the erosion and wear that has taken place on the slipped surface.
Lamanai has a unique collection of lively animal designs painted on the interior surfaces of large bowls, and as I had access to copies of the drawings, I decided to paint these designs to scale. Using photographs to help get the colours accurate, I did paintings of all the restored large bowls, not as they are now, but as they would have looked when first made. These are published in the Lamanai Guidebook.
Lamanai Temples and Wildlife
During every season that we worked at Lamanai, I would do a painting or pastel of one of the major temples. These were not architectural renderings but were intended to capture the feel and spirit of the temples within the jungle canopy, while making sure that all the features and details were accurate.
Watercolours are difficult to do when sitting in front of the temples, so I did drawings, took photographs and then completed them in my studio.
The pastels – the High Temple and the Mask Temple, were done on the spot, as it is easier to handle pastels, they are more of a drawing medium and one does not have the problems of controlling washes and colours.
Rubbing of Lamanai Stela 9
Stela 9 was discovered in 1982 and in that year we made a latex mold of the stela. The carving is extremely fine, even the eyebrows can be seen, and the detail of the carving is in very good condition. I brought the mold back to the UK and have been making rubbings from plaster casts of the stela ever since. These are as good as if made from the original stela as the casting process picks up all the fine details from the mold.
More information about Stela 9, the iconography, interpretation of the glyphs etc can be found in the Lamanai Guidebook.
Lamanai Art
See the full catalogue of paintings
Interested in buying prints or replicas
Most images can be produced to customer specification; please send details of the space in which you intend to place the artwork, or budgetary guidelines, along with any other information you feel will help.
I can provide prices for work on canvas, watercolour paper and prints.
The prices shown below are only intended as a guide as there are various options available for most of my work.
Oil Paintings: Prints can be purchased on canvas from £70, watercolour or art paper from £20. Paintings can be produced up to 23″x 33″. Original canvases can also be purchased.
Ceramic Replicas and Sculptures: All ceramics are handmade to order. From £60.00
Lamanai Pictures: Prints can be purchased and produced up to 16½”x 23″.
Lamanai Rubbings: Stela 9
Multi-coloured – as shown – $350 US
One colour – dark blue or terracotta – $250 US