Lynda Wesley McLaughlin was 8 years old when she traveled with her parents from their home in Groton to the Virgin Islands, where her father had accepted a one-year construction contract. After falling in love with St. Thomas, McLaughlin said her family decided to stay there permanently. Wesley described the change of life on her Web site as a journey that would afford her the opportunity to enjoy life in a different culture, enriched by a harmonious blend of people of different races and varying social situations.
After 42 years in St. Thomas, McLaughlin returned to the United States, to Mystic, 12 years ago.
“Living there was a very unique and, for me, a privileged experience,” McLaughlin said. “I found it was the most wonderful experience to be able to live in another culture and experience another culture.”
Over the years, she said many people would ask her what was it like to live in St. Thomas, and she always found it hard to explain the island. She said she would describe it as having a metropolitan flavor, a great deal of diversity, and an intimate community, yet she still felt as though her desription never seemed to illuminate her memories. Instead of using mere words, she decided to publish a picture-book called Time Gone, through the Thames Printing Company Inc. in Norwich.
“I began painting scenes as I remembered them from my childhood in St. Thomas, and the idea of the book evolved,” McLaughlin said. “Perhaps Time Gone will give people an idea of what it was like. Researching the book for authentic details put me in touch with old friends, and the project became a reward in itself. I tried to make the illustrations in my book as true to the period as possible, relying on old photos, postcards, and materials in some of the commemorative issues of local St. Thomas newspapers."
A self-taught artist, McLaughlin used acrylics for the paintings in Time Gone. She said she started painting because she loves the subject.
“It’s one of those things that the more you do it, the better you get at it,” she said. “I’ve always dabbled, so I’m essentially a dabbler that has come a long way.”
McLaughlin said on her Web ite that she relied on vibrant colors to allow her to represent the pleasant rhythm of daily life there.
“Someone described it as an arm chair trip through a different time and a different place,” she said. “It describes this little moment in time from my childhood.”
For more information, visit lwesley.com.