"Cricket at Mt. Rose" 
by Eric Johnn
(Oil on canvas ... 30x40) 1991.

This scene represents a typical Sunday afternoon in rural Grenada. A crowd of villagers gather to witness their favorite game, cricket. The origin of cricket is questionable. But as history reveals, Grenada's last Colonial Masters were the British. They colonized continents, islands, seas, oceans and many, many countries under the Sun. They could have witnessed cricket being played by indigenous peoples in their respective lands. However, as we know it, the Brits brought cricket to Grenada and the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean. In the painting, the green cricket field is uneven with a slant. A great house once owned by the wealthy De Gale family sits upon a small elevation. Next to it, are a few palm trees. A symbol of power for people who lived there during colonial and post-colonial times. Another great house radiates in the far background, next to it, two palm trees. A school dominates the middle-portion of the painting, built in modern times. At left is the Muleva or old sugar mill, erected by either French or British colonialists in the 17th Century for producing sugar from sugarcane plant. The cricketers are dressed in cream flannel pants and white shirts-the uniform of traditional cricket. The umpires are in dark-colored pants and white overcoats. The surrounding area is littered with numerous shrubs and bushes. However, the invaluable export-crops of cocoa, nutmeg and banana are everywhere, (not too visible in the painting). There is an adage that says, "Everywhere the British went, the first thing they would do was plant in the earth, a flag, the Union Jack, then the next was plant stumps for playing cricket". 

(Available in print & original)