I purchased this book as a Christmas gift, but decided to hold on to it for myself. This artistic volume of Richard Blackford's favourite paintings is definitely a keeper. As a Jamaican myself, the paintings depicted here had me longing for the Jamaica in which I grew up. I could look at the pictures of the high school children, especially, and although my school was not represented here (by their uniform) I could easily place myself at the bus-stop among the other students in "School's Out."

There are some personal accounts here from Blackford also, which I believe adds to the "Artistic Journey."

I love the level of detail and use of colours in his paintings. One can see the earnestness in the face of the cricketer in "Devastating Pace" as well as the men in "The Domino Game". There are bits of history depicted in several of the paintings, some with written explanation. "The Windrush Landing", for instance, depicts the early migration of Jamaicans to England in the mid 1900's.

I have enjoyed sharing this with my young children, who are not being raised in Jamaica. Truly, every Jamaican living abroad should buy this book for their coffee table or library.