The Legend of the White Witch of Rose Hall Sparks a Novel

"Rose Hall Great House" pastel painting ©Mary Montague Sikes

During our first trip to Jamaica, my husband and I decided to take a side-trip that the resort offered to visit Rose Hall Plantation and Great House. We wanted to get to know Jamaica and its people better, and we thought this trip would give us more knowledge of the island nation.

As the tour bus approached the massive Great House, we were not disappointed. The impressive old building, constructed in 1770-80, stood vigilant like a mighty sentinel overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Immediately, we understood why travelers along the highway from Montego Bay could imagine the ghostly form of the “white witch” staring through a dark second floor window.  As we advanced closer to the iconic mansion, I even conjured up images of people from long ago, dressed in period attire, dancing on the portico or perhaps beneath the elegant stone archways. At that moment, the seeds of a novel were planted in my mind.

When the bus pulled to a stop on the grounds, two pretty, young Jamaican women came out to guide

Rose Hall tour guides ©Mary Montague Sikes

our group through the house and the gardens that surrounded it. As we entered the bedroom of the notorious Annie Palmer, one of them began the tale of the “white witch”, said to have murdered three husbands and mistreated her plantation slaves with acts of brutality that resulted in the deaths of many of them. As we gazed at Annie’s canopied bed, I visualized the cruel mistress that the guide explained grew up in Haiti in the care of a high voodoo priestess who taught her black magic. More ideas grew inside my mind. The legend of Annie Palmer would be part of my book.

The old home was dark inside which added to the mystery of this future setting. What if a young woman came from America to work in a hotel resort like the one we where we were staying? What if she came to visit Rose Hall and began having visions like those I imagined as we toured the rooms furnished as they had been all those many years ago?

When I took a deep breath, the visions grew more vivid. Perhaps my heroine could start to wonder if she once lived in this setting. Years earlier, I had read Dr. Ian Stevenson’s book about reincarnation. When my heroine yearned to learn more, she would search for an expert like Dr. Stevenson. I would model a character after him.

The book I was conceiving would be a romance, I decided, as the tour guide told us more of the legend. I needed a hero in my story, someone who lived during the same long-ago time as my heroine. My thoughts grew ever more complicated. The hero would have a lifestyle that permitted him to visit Jamaica for extended periods of time. He would have dreams and memories.

The background for my story grew ever more real, especially when we returned to the Caribbean island again and again. Each time we visited, we learned more about the people, their ways, and the interest of some in obeah. This method of spiritual healing and ritual practices would add depth to my story and to the characterization now blossoming inside my head.

The legend of the white witch, true or embellished, it didn’t matter. That tale and the beautiful tropical island of Jamaica would become a perfect fit for my novel, Hearts Across Forever. Eventually, all the words came to me, and it was written. Imagination, fantasy, reincarnation, danger all brought together in a love story that is now available on Amazon.

The Gardenia Story

"The Gardenia" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Years ago, when I was in high school, my boyfriend (now husband) brought me a beautiful bright white gardenia blossom that he plucked from his mother's flowering bush. Of course, I loved it. So did my mother who later took the then fading flower and worked to root it. That root eventually grew into a new gardenia bush in my parents' yard.

A few years later, Mother brought me some fresh gardenia flowers she had cut from her bush. Although I definitely have a brown thumb, I was successful in rooting one of those flower cuttings which eventually grew into the huge gardenia bush that now lives by our back door.

When spring comes and blossoms fill our bush, I think of both of our mothers. From one special little

©Mary Montague Sikes

gift, many flowers have blossomed. Perhaps eventually more bushes will flower from cuttings grown in other gardens.

That is the gardenia story.

In My Studio - A Journey to Discover

"In My Studio" ©Mary Montague Sikes

This Covid-19 experience has brought me more time in my artist studio. I sometimes call my special retreat, "Angel View Studio", because the most important view I have there is through the three overhead skylights. There are clouds during the day and stars at night unless they are blurred out by the nearby street light. The art studio view is quiet different from the dozens of trees and the creek and marshland I see from my writing studio window. I am thankful for the views I have from both studios.

Besides the many cold wax paintings I have in various stages of finish, I also have five acrylic paintings underway. Acrylics are a special love of mine. I often enjoy making a pastel painting first, then using it as my working drawing for a larger, much showier piece of art work. Right now, I have the intense Robert Doak watercolors at the ready to use on Yupo. So much to do while I have this unusual opportunity of not going out for meetings and for Wellness classes.

"Studio, Street View" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Eventually, I will need to spend time inside my studio closet where many treasures are secured. I enjoy the forgotten surprises I sometimes find hidden there. An archival storage box for work on paper holds figurative watercolors and a treasure trove of pastel drawings. At one time, I planned to write a second hotels book--More Hotels to Remember--and the paintings for it lie hidden in a drawer. The research for the stories for my book fill bags and filing cabinets in my writing studio. Where did I ever think I would find the time to put all that work together?

"Studio Closet" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Being in my studio is magic. So much to discover. So much to create in my fantasy journey to Xanadu.

Mother and Child Paintings and Sculpture

"Mother and Child" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Early in my art career, I was intrigued by the painted images of "Mother and Child" throughout art history. The intense relationship of the mother with her children fascinated me. As a psychologist, I realized the importance of that initial contact of an infant with her mother. I recalled my early years and my own dependency on my mother as I grew.

The past couple of weeks, I have watched a baby robin hatched from a beautiful blue egg and grown into a fluffy feathered fledgling. All happened thanks to the constant care of its mother, and also its father. How amazing it was to see the male robin demonstrate with his own wings a fluttering flying motion. All the while, the female robin flew back and forth between the branches of a small cedar tree and the edge of a flower pot. This took place quite near an entrance door to our house. Robins are never there normally. The baby flew briefly, but it is now back in the nest still being fed by the adults. It looks a bit forlorn, as if fearful and lonely. Too bad it is an only child.

Babies of all kinds need attention. Mother and Child. That is a theme through life. I love the paintings I did featuring that subject. I cherish the abstract "Mother and Child" sculpture I did in cement and paint during the same time period.

Mother and Child. An universal theme that continues in art and in nature.

Changing Times -- A Gallery Gone

M. M. Sikes at Prince George Open House, Dec. 2019

One of the saddest things to happen during this pandemic is the lost of Prince George Art & Frame in Williamsburg, Virginia. I have been with a Fred Miller gallery since I finished graduate school at Virginia Commonwealth University in the early 1980s--first Whitehall, then Prince George. Fred visited my studio, then took me as one of the Whitehall artists, arranged shows and many sales for me there.

After Whitehall closed, I became an artist with Prince George where I had many shows and exhibited my work until the closure in April. I also depended on the gallery to frame my watercolors. Fred gave excellent advice and always stood behind his work. Often, when we were in Williamsburg, we would stop by the gallery just to chat with Fred. He knew all the people in the art world there, past and present. We loved his stories about travels to Paris and other places.

He had a great website set up for the gallery with a page for each artist, featuring their story and their work. He even made sure the website would work not only on the computer but for the smaller cell phone screen.

For the past several years, Fred has arranged to have an Open House event at the gallery twice a year.
It was this time last year that he held the spring event. Then, what would be his final Open House took place in December 2019. A highlight each time would be his French picnic offerings. He also created still life setups for those of us who wished to paint. Last year, instead of painting from his still life, I decided to put finishing touches on some "Just for Fun" paintings I had started earlier. Now I regret not painting from that final still life.

We always miss another gallery gone. But this is different. This is the loss of an icon from the Williamsburg art scene. We will always remember Whitehall Gallery and Prince George Art & Frame.

____________________
This from their website:

Dear friends, after 40 years of providing quality picture framing to Williamsburg, Prince George Art & Frame has closed for business. We have enjoyed working with each of you over the years, starting in 1980 on Prince George Street until our current location in Colony Square on Jamestown Road.

​Thank you for your business and your friendship.