Thompson has exhibited in London, Berlin and the Caribbean.
Her work is on display in The Aquarium Restaurant and Maca Bana Villas in Grenada.
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DAY TRIP: PAINTING IN GRENADA
Grenada has no shortage of energetic diversions. But amid pursuits like hiking and wreck diving and sport fishing, visitors to the Spice Isle have the unique opportunity to spend a day quietly feeding their souls. The affable owner of the villa hotel Maca Bana, British expat Rebecca Thompson, encourages visitors to see the island not merely through the eyes of a tourist, but through the eyes of an artist.
An accomplished painter herself, Thompson puts forward her art-lesson curriculum in three distinct sessions, each asking a commitment of about three hours - all doable in a single, immersive day or over a few relaxed afternoons - for one or two students at a time. Lesson one, Caribbean Inspiration, involves a field trip to one of Grenada's wilder corners: a drawing/painting/picture-taking safari intended to spur an artistic awakening. Lesson two, Return to the Studio, is just that, a session in Thompson's cliff-perched art studio, reflecting on the sights and sounds of part one by dabbling in a variety of artistic techniques: pastel drawing, oil painting, collaging - you name it. For lesson three - The Journey Continues - the venue remains the same, but the focus shifts from creative experimentation to the pursuit of a fully realized work of art.
For the field-trip component, participants are free to pick their own panorama, but I ask Thompson to show me her favorite spot on the island. "Grenada's wonderful for this," she says, "because it has these beautiful rivers, this lush vegetation, waterfalls, white-sand beaches, and you don't have to drive miles because it's a relatively small, compact island." So from Point Salines, at Grenada's southern tip, we drive up and over the island's mountainous middle, 
through the dramatic Grand Etang Forest Reserve, and wind our way along a palm-shaded path on foot to a rocky outcrop beside the Balthazar River.
A river-tubing hot spot in the rainy season, the Balthazar is today little more than an easygoing brook: cool, clear water spilling over volcanic boulders. Thompson furnishes the art supplies - drawing pads, pencils and pens; watercolor paints and brushes - and a sumptuous picnic lunch. And, of course, she provides plenty of creative guidance, offering hints and suggestions along the way for revealing your inner Paul Gauguin (her favorite painter).
She has me first sketch the scene in pencil using a feather-light touch: smooth water rolling into a gentle, foamy cascade, framed by a profusion of jungle flora and backed by the towering upsweep of a palm-crowned ridge. From there, I define my vision in squiggles of black ink and erase the pencil marks. Finally, I fill the white space with soft washes of watercolors in shades of green and brown and blue, turning a page of seemingly random doodles into - lo and behold! - an actual, finished, fridge-worthy painting.
But that's not the point. "Everyone is fixated at first on the finished product," Thompson says. "My goal is to get people to work as an artist, to see the world as an artist does, not to do a finished piece. I want them to get away from the idea that they need to produce something. It's more about the experience of being here, of listening to the river, listening to the wind moving through the bamboo, and putting some of your emotion - how being there makes you feel - into the work. I'm trying to get someone to find their own inspiration, their own style."
The fruit of my labors now hangs in my office; truth told, I think Gauguin's legacy is safe. And yet, this humble
watercolor painting, tacked to a corkboard 1,700 miles from Grenada, is powerful enough to bring me right back to the island with a glance, to that rocky bank on the Balthazar. It may not be much to look at, but long after the chocolate is gone and the rum bottle has run dry, this little painting will be as clear and fresh as the river it depicts. And as Caribbean souvenirs go, that's about as good as it gets.
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