Space, it is said, is the ultimate in luxury; as much as I appear to enjoy the networking and communications with others it nonetheless tires me immensely, so much so that to 'get away from it all' as is the dream of many is not so much an appreciated break for me as an absolute necessity, it took me hours to find my bit of space.
It is a fact that to escape to the wilderness allows clarity of thought, a oneness within the simple beauty of Gods creations for me allows the confusions of life to be organised into priorities, the frustrations of life to become simplified and the answers to lifes dillemmas to become answered, it is from solitude and time with God that brings me the answers, my weekends walking was not wasted.
I am a great believer that within every victim dwells a creative and for each untapped and unexpressed creative their resides a victim of life awaiting a catylist for a multitude of depressive type illnesses, this philosophy is borne, not only of my own lifes circumstances but also that of others, the walls of Hollybush House, the Scottish centre of Combat Stress an ex- forces mental welfare charity, are adorned with paintings by veterans, television documentaries based around the used and abused hilight creative outlets of their victims, always, even the residents within Stonham Housing exhibit no end of talents, so much evidence only adds support to my words.
I am also a great believer that there a great artist of the 21st century already exists and remains unfound, an artist whose genius equals that of Rafael, of Da Vinci of Reubens and Turner, on the strength of this I also believe that the person who will hold that title will not be found in any of the great schools of Art but in the waiting room of a Charity or Care Facility, after all, did they all not have some intrinsic mental disorder that, in this modern day world, would have seen them in some psychiatric or mental health unit , as a dedicated artist I believe that I have a shared duty to providing yet another opening to the one who may be that great artist of our time
Over the past years there has been much offered by way of a serendipitious breeze to confirm what it is I should be aiming for as an artist, supported by my own achievements and successes over the past couple of years leaves me in little doubt that there is great need for rehabilitation through art and, as obvious as it now seems to me, there is little or nothing in existance for such a dedicated unit, of course there are art holidays but these are directed towards individuals who already recognise themselves as artists to some degree however, there is nothing that is dedicated to recovery through art, perhaps there is but not that I can find.
I had the idea for a veterans respite centre as far back as 1993 when I and a friend discussed this, he had the premises however a lengthy spell at Her Majesties Pleasure brought an end, both to the acquaintance and the shared dream, this arises now with art at the core of the respite.
I now have a goal that, although separate from my artistic journey, is both entwined and reliant upon my success not only as an artist but moreso as a person.
