I always had an interest in art. I entered a sculpture in a grade school art show. In grade school, I remember admiring the girls who could draw pictures copied so well from Ideal magazine whenever we had some kind of show. I dabbled in art, here and there, sometimes as a way to express feelings for a girl, or some other subject that had gotten me into a mood. In college I would periodically go on a drinking binge and paint, or create. I have found what I could of this material and have included it in my art gallery:  "Early Works."

While I was a graduate student at U.C.L.A., I began to record my dreams. At the same time I began some doodles. There were some faces. When I left U.C.L.A. and moved to the East Coast to begin teaching at Princeton, I continued my doodles. I added color markers. Then a woman friend gave me a set of pocket water colors. This present opened up a whole new world. But it was a bit scary, too. I couldn't control the colors at all. They were a bit outside my comfort zone. But then, as I began to experiment with them, I had some dreams.

The first dream was set inside a movie theater. I see on the screen a beautiful picture. It is broken up by lines, as if it were a stained glass creation, made up of many small parts. My father’s voice is in my ear, saying, “You could begin that way.” Upon awakening, I understood immediately. Create a drawing with black lines, then learn how to fill in each space with watercolor. And so I began. Other dreams followedl.

These dreams gave me some ideas on how to paint with watercolors. I painted in my dream journals. I have collected some of these works in the section, "Beginning Dream Drawings" and then in the section of paintings called "Mandalas."

When I left Princeton and moved to Virginia Beach, I began to organize Dream Art Festivals in association with the City of Virginia Beach Art Center. One year I was the featured artist for a one-man show of my dream inspired watercolors, in 1982. I have included what I can of those works, as well as some works from other artists who participated in this program during other years, in the section, "The Dream Art Show."

Painting for the Dream Art Show put a hex on my painting, and I stopped for several years. I don't recall the impetus now, but I did start painting again. I had to do it for the fun of it, as I had done before the show, and I found myself venturing into new territory. I painted mandalas, primarily, circular and square designs that didn't require me to think too much about what I would paint. I risked looser and more spontaneous techniques. These paintings were the beginning of what is now my blog, The Daily Mandala.