T he last image – to become indelibly imprintedin the memory of a young 16 year old lad –was that of his mother smiling, waving

goodbye and at the same time mouthing “I love you”as the coach pulled away from the station. He was onhis way to spend a holiday with his grandmother. Dayslater, in that summer of 1981, his mother was dead,killed in a car crash at the age of 38. For Stephen BWhatley it was a moment of utter despair and thebeginning of years of struggle to keep from drowningin heartbreak. Looking back on that moment of

ineffable trauma, Stephen recalls that“Art saved my life”. Endowed with anextraordinary talent from an early age,he pursued his studies at the Ipswichand Norwich Schools of Art, and finally atthe University of London. Accompanyingthat enormous artistic skill was also a deepsense of the spiritual. He constantly tells youthat he “paints from the heart and soul” andyou can quite easily and accurately exchangethe word ‘paints’ for the word ‘prays’.

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1. The Immaculate Heart ofMary 2010. Oil on canvas, 30 x 24in/76 x 61cm. Private collection, Ohio, USA.

2. Our Lady of Guadalupe,Queen of the Americas. 2008.Oil on canvas, 30 x 24in/76 x 61cm.

3. Our Lady of Lourdes. 2011.Oil on canvas, 30 x 24in/76 x 61cm.

STEPHEN B WHATLEYTHE PRAYING ARTIST

“My worksprings frommy heart andsoul - and I giveall credit toGod. I thankGod inparticular forthe blessing ofsight...”

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The evolution of his spiritual life, overthe past 20 years, has been chiefly withina Catholic context. This was due tomixing with fellow students whohappened to be Catholics, as were theearly friends he made. He lovedfrequenting Catholic churches and wasimpressed with their beauty. Stephen wasattracted to the liturgy, especially theMass, and moved by the lives of thesaints, he formed a habit of prayer untilGod became totally central to his life.Among the different genres of his works,and they include still-life, portraits,architecture, city and landscapes, the artof the Sacred has a special place. In recentyears he has created religious images,which are such explosive examples of aCatholic faith that I was absolutely amazedwhen he told me that he was onlyreceived into the Church at Easter, 2011.The delay was due to his grief at the lossof his mother, an Anglican, who had hadhim baptised ‘Stephen Beckett’, this latterbeing her own maiden name. The initial‘B’ therefore has a special significance.

Stephen is known as an ‘Expressionist’painter. According to the OxfordReference English dictionary,expressionism is characterised ‘by arejection of traditional ideas of beauty orharmony, and by the use of distortion,exaggeration and other non-naturalisticdevices in order to emphasise and expressthe inner world of emotion rather thanany external reality’. Early exemplars of itare the famous El Greco and Van Gogh,among others. The expressionist makes astrong and bold use of red, blue andyellow, often in contrasting juxtaposition,and later fuses them into purples, greens,oranges and browns. The operativephrase from the above definition is“express the inner world of emotion” andthis is supremely true of Stephen’s work.Even as he holds the brush in his hand, heis holding his breath so that every mark ofpaint is exactly located where it should be.Very often, such is the intensity of his skillthat he actually feels pain, but discoversthat from it wonderful things happen. Butabove all, permeating every stroke of the

brush is prayer, his personal prayer thatwhoever owns or sees his work of art willbe moved by it. He works at great speedbut as he finishes, perhaps after seven oreight hours, he is mentally and physicallyexhausted.Stephen recounts many incidents of

how people, including an atheist art dealer,have been touched by his art. Even moreremarkable was what happened as hepainted the well known TV presenter andactress, Sarah Greene, of Blue Peter fameand other programmes like Going Live!,Coming Home, Collectors Lot and DoctorWho. The sitting took place in a room in aprivate members club and lasted threehours. During that time the only othervisitor was a waiter offering refreshments.When Sarah was shown the finishedpainting, tears filled her eyes as sheexpressed her satisfaction with Stephen’sinterpretation of her. Later she wrote andtold him how much delight it had broughther and her family, particularly her father,

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art profile by Tony Galcius

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who could see his own mother in theportrait, and her husband, the broadcasterMike Smith who thought Stephen was “atruly superb artist”. A year later, shecommissioned Stephen to paint a pictureof her husband from photographs, as asurprise gift. In the course of conversation,Sarah asked him whether he was aspiritual person and then revealed thatduring the sitting for her portrait she hadexperienced something quiteextraordinary.

SpiritualityStephen carries on the story: “She

revealed to me her own feeling ofspirituality after she and her husbandsurvived a helicopter crash in 1988. Sheexplained that whilst she sat for me, shewas not only aware of all my passionatecreativity going on but also of a presencearound me, what she described as ‘lovingarms around me’. What was even moreamazing she said, was that the waiter whohad called in to ask about refreshmentshad been overwhelmed: he had gone tohis boss afterwards and told him that theroom was charged with energy; and thatwhile he could see two people – artist andsitter – he could feel three presences inthe room. “I was so moved and told herthat I had prayed so hard for strength as I

do before every creation”. What SarahGreene did not know was that the nightbefore, Stephen had had only 20 minutessleep. He frequently suffers from insomniaas well as depression. But it is well hiddenby his cheerfulness and lovely sense ofhumour.It was in 1990, when Stephen was 25

years old, that he became a professionalartist. His work had already been exhibitedwidely but grew even more popular andthe commissions rolled in. Privatecollectors from all over the world havebought his paintings, while the publiccollections exhibiting his work includethose of HM the Queen, Royal NationalTheatre, the BBC, and the LondonTransport Museum. To advertise theSummer opening of Buckingham Palace in1999 and 2000, he was commissioned topaint an exterior view of it and the GrandStaircase, both on location. These wereused on posters all over the Underground.The painting of the exterior view todayhangs in the Palace itself.The outstanding break in his artistic life,

which he loves to refer to as ‘God’sCommission’ was a series of 30 paintingsfor the Tower of London, which werehung in its Banqueting hall at a reception in2004 when Stephen had the honour of

being presented to Her Majesty. Heattributed this commission to God,because it was an answer to repeated andintensive prayer. Although he had beensteadily working for several years sinceturning professional, he needed somethingreally substantial, which would allow himmore freedom. The commission was topromote the Tower of London and thePool of London through a series ofarchitectural and historical images. Theseworks were reproduced on steel vitreouspanels, lining the underpass that takes thepedestrian from Tower Hill Tube station tothe Tower itself. It is a permanentmonument to Stephen’s work in thecapital, and is seen by the millions ofLondoners and tourists visiting the capital.His choice of subjects to paint or to

draw is obviously determined by thosewho commission him to do so, amongwhom are actors and film stars, both fromthe past and the present. Many of his ownpersonal choices, however, arecommemorations, perhaps of ananniversary, a birthday or some otherconnection with his life. For example, hischoice of Marilyn Monroe resulted partlyfrom the fact that she died in 1962 on thesame date in August as his own mother.Similarly, too, when he was commissionedto paint portraits of the Princes William andHarry, he could personally empathise withthem as they, like him, lost their mother atsuch an early age. One of his most recentpaintings (inspired by photos) is that of thehappy Royal couple William and Kate. Bythe use of reds and yellows it radiates theirlove and happiness, with the subtleintroduction in blue of the famous ring,once worn by William’s mother.When it comes to his religious work,

then Stephen’s choices will be inspired bya feast day of Our Lord at some point inthe Liturgical Calendar, or of Our Lady ora saint. Readers of this magazine will haveseen some examples of his sacred work inrecent issues. A lot of his paintings can beviewed on his website and flickr photosharing site and are both available to buyand order as prints. He gives God and thesaints all the credit for his success andhopes that his paintings will bring abundantblessings on those who buy or view them. Catholics have written to him and told

him that his religious paintings haverestored their faith. Even Religious havedescribed how his work has increasedtheir understanding and piety. Stephen

art profile by Tony Galcius

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quotes two nuns, belonging to the Franciscan Sisters ofChristian Mercy in the USA who came across his work on theinternet and were so moved that they asked to share thepaintings on their blog. Referring in particular to his GoodFriday painting of 2007, one nun wrote: “The beauty of yourprayer expressed in your art is a gift for all of us; it helps mepersonally to deepen my relationship with Jesus...the coloursespecially draw me to reflect more on these relationships..”,while another wrote: “The image of the Crucified…. is abeautiful painting. The vibrant colours awaken in me arenewed sense of the power & healing that come to us inJesus. His suffering and death colour the world with healingbeauty...” This endorsement of the evangelising effect of hiswork strikes a very encouraging chord for Stephen. Obviouslyas a professional, he paints to earn a living, but he isnonetheless totally motivated by his wish to share the love ofGod. He is a great admirer of St Faustina and has taken as amotto something said to her in one of her visions, whichStephen paraphrases beautifully: “Anything you do that is not inMy name means nothing to Me”.Not everyone will appreciate or like his style. Like classical

music, it may be an acquired taste. But I have found it instantlyrecognisable, striking, attractive and contemporary. When youthen learn that the artist prayed as he painted, then ideas oftruth and thence beauty also enter the viewer’s mind. I would,therefore, urge bishops, priests and anyone looking for a work

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(opposite) Sarah Greene ather London home in 2006,with her Stephen BWhatley portrait, paintedin 1996.

(right) Changing the Guardat Buckingham Palace.1999. Oil on canvas, 40 x40in/102 x 102cm.Commissioned by theRoyal Collection of HMQueen Elizabeth II.

(below) This is the officialLondon Transport Museumpostcard of the 1999 oilpainting of The GrandStaircase, BuckinghamPalace, commissioned fromartist Stephen B Whatley;and painted by the artistover two days, on locationat the foot of the stairs.

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of art to adorn a church, a school or public place to consider approaching Stephen. WhenI asked him who his agent was, his immediate and simple reply was ‘God’. It was saidhumbly, modestly and sincerely and it sums him up very well. I was reminded of thebeautiful words of Archbishop Montini (later Paul VI ), spoken to Fr. Alberione: “You takethe Word of God and you clothe it with ink, type and paper and then you send it into theworld. It is the Word of God wrapped up in this way. You give God wrapped in paper, asMary gave the world God wrapped in human flesh. There is something similar betweenbeing wrapped and enfleshed”. Substitute ‘oils, colours and painting’ for ‘ink, type and paper’ and this quote could aptly

describe the art of Stephen B Whatley.Five of Stephen’s non-religious oil paintings are currently on show until the 17th September, in the Summer Exhibition at the Colomb Art Gallery, 52a GeorgeStreet, London W1U 7EU; close to St James’s Church, Spanish Place, Marylebone.

(above) In 2000, Stephen B Whatleywas commissioned by Historic RoyalPalaces to create a series of 30paintings for Her Majesty’s Tower ofLondon. The original paintings arewithin the Tower of London; butvisitors to the Tower can see all 30paintings permanently reproduced onsteel vitreous enamel panelsthroughout Tower Hill Underpass,London; the main walkway to theTower. In this view, Stephen’s tributeto St Thomas More is closest to thecamera.

In 2004, all 30 original oil paintingswere exhibited in the BanquetingHall in Her Majesty’s Tower ofLondon, to celebrate the completionof refurbishment of the Tower; andStephen was presented to HerMajesty The Queen.

(left) Stephen and Sarah Greene nextto his portrait tribute, William &Kate- Tribute to Royal Love, alongsideother works by the artist, at theColomb Art Gallery in London’sMarylebone area, in April 2011 - just10 days before the Royal Wedding.

I am extremely indebted to the artist for his generous help in writing this article. For further information, visit

www.stephenbwhatley.com www.flickr.com/stephenbwhatley

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Father, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me...? Good Friday 2007.Oil on canvas, 24 x 18in/61 x 46cm. Private collection, Alabama, USA.

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