I started this piece when I was 18, had trouble with drawing the rider, and left it for a while. My life then took a sharp turn; I married, moved, and had a baby in quick sequence. I took the painting to England with me, but never worked on it any further. I have not touched this painting since 1969, just moved it across the world with me because I've always had a soft spot for it.

I like the way it looks, the gestural lines, the pencil sketch left under the paint, the colors. It's as if I knew I would live in the desert some day, it has a very desert-like feel to me.

NFS