In 1972, I had a teaching job in an English art college and a chance to show at Nigel Greenwood, the best gallery for emerging artists in London. The gallery wanted more of the same work. My work was totally abstract, with no input from life. I was bored with it. I could paint but I had nothing to say. Something vital was missing. I took off on my own overland to India and spent three years in India and Nepal. I began a serious lifelong meditation practice using yoga and Vipassana, a Buddhist body awareness technique with deep healing power. Later I added Western mystical tradition. There are as many paths as there are people. Returning to America, I wandered and worked in California, Mexico and Guatemala, building my meditation practice.
In 1987, I began painting again from nature and a new awareness. In 1997, I settled to stay near Eureka, California, an interesting art community surrounded by miles of uninhabited, inspiring landscape. I have a craving for wilderness which feeds my work. The world has supported me in my effort to become a new person. Now is my chance to return that gift with painting and teaching.
