This Carmelite Monastery surveys a most beautiful beach just south of Carmel, CA, my grandparent's home. My whole life I've gazed up in wonder at its tower, wondering why its resident cloistered nuns would choose to imprison themselves surrounded by such open beauty. But then in mid-life, seized by frustration over the inevitable commercialization of my art, I finally realized why: it's because they thus protect themselves and their introverted lifestyle that is beyond understanding of the materialist culture surrounding them. I longed for the same protection and thus changed my life accordingly.
 
Oil, 16 x 12