‘‘…here, right here, all the freedom and grace I was looking for came the instant I burst through the flood gates. A tidal wave of exhilaration came up right behind me and crashed forward. I rode that enormous wave right to the shore of humanities timeless story and it spoke its wordless wisdom, coming out in the language of paint and canvas…When I could summon up some real courage I would dive my brush into the messiness with a pure color and swoop through it, blending and soaring over the landscape with a beautifully loaded brush.’’