Tell Joanne, she’ll paint it for you

Joanne Yates-Boopsingh has been drawing since she was the height of a grasshopper. When other children wanted comic books she asked for a drawing book and crayons.

Having done a variety of art-related things, the 30-year-old plus wife of Robert and mother of three young children, has settled into what she terms “my way of being a Trinidad and Tobago ambassador by portraying the beautiful things about our country.” And this she does by painting whatever her expat clients most want to remember about their experiences of the good part of Trinidad and Tobago, on plates, mugs and even a matching teapot.

In very soft-spoken tones, she acknowledges: “There are all the kidnappings etc. but I can see the absolute beauty of our country and have decided to use this medium to show it. I paint nothing unless it is dedicated to God because this is a God-given gift that He gave me and I must use it for his glory.” Joanne becomes excited as she speaks of her work which basically suits our foreign market. “Rather than the traditional Humming Bird and hibiscus, they will get the more personal stuff. Scenes such as Mayaro, flamboyant trees, turtle watching, the roadside vendors where they may have bought vegetables round the Savannah with the coconut carts and person walking the dog, the most popular is the boil corn vendor, and of course those who have eaten doubles.”

The Carnival portrayals include pan around the neck and the masquerader who brought Joanne a costumed picture of herself playing mas in “The Strip”, which now adorns a plate. It’s a good way of collecting memorabilia. She has played twice and next year will add a third plate for her wall when she goes “back to her homeland.” Joanne is predominantly guided by what the clients’ experiences were in Trinidad and Tobago. “I get into conversation and ask them where they have been, what they have done. The next question is what about Trinidad do you want to remember most. I would then find myself on one given day in that area, sketch it, and then paint it for you. Take the President’s House, a visitor here for two months was very disappointed with how the residence looked so dull on postcards, so I painted a rainy season version where everything is green and bright.” The artist’s first love is really portraits: “Professional portraiture but the plates do not lend themselves to portraits, and you do not get orders for portraits every day.”

Joanne has never not known what she wanted to be. Having always wanted to be an artist, there was no guessing after graduating from St Joseph’s Convent in St Joseph. She won a scholarship to the International Fine Arts College in Miami, studied commercial art for two years, came back and worked with an advertising agency which totally coloured her perspective of that field. “I abandoned it as a career post haste.” Her career then took many twists and turns, from painting T-shirts, to portraits, to teaching at Bishop’s Centenary College. With the birth of her second child 18 months ago, she left teaching.

“I just stayed out as with pregnancy, sometimes the creativity disappears and evaporates. But one does not kill an artistic spirit, it is like a plant, and after six months the calling came back with greater desire and I had to find an outlet for it. I was drinking coffee from a mug bought on my honeymoon in St Lucia and happened on this idea, did a batch of mugs, and people went crazy for them.” Joanne works with her clients on a one-on-one basis and has only just started distribution through one retail outlet with no plans to expand into other shops. So far her pieces have gone to Rome, the United States, Canada and Hawaii, just to name a few places.