Writing about art is a very broad theme, because it joins together all that men and women create. I had my first encounter with art the first time I went to visit an art museum a very long time ago. I was 8 years old and went with my family to see the Diego de Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros murals in the Mexican National Government Palace. For me it was an amazing experience as what I was studying in Mexican history at school was on the walls as paintings. The dramatic historical events were fixed in my mind, and from that time on I liked to visit museums and enjoyed analysing art pieces.

After I left school I travelled broadly, visiting exhibitions in art museums all around the world. I am never going to forget the impact that the Victory of Samotracia, on the Louvre stairs hall, had on me, the game of the lines and the shades on the Victory dress and the size of the sculpture.

I became an architect and lecturer in art history and graphic design. My work as a lecturer in my country Guatemala gave me the opportunity to pass on to the students all my knowledge that I had collected during my life. I analysed and appreciated with them art history from prehistoric time to contemporary art. It is amazing how you can improve your knowledge and enjoyment of art when you share it with young people who are eager to learn. These experiences settled on me the appreciation of beauty.

When I came to Australia and I discovered Aboriginal art, I was very surprised because I had never had the opportunity to see it before. The composition of the story flows through the landscape and in the harmony of forms and colours, which is unique in art history. That is why the French people made a whole building to house Aboriginal art in Paris.

One of the most interesting aspects of art is that it reflects the socioeconomic stages of human civilisation. When I was sick at the Royal Brisbane Hospital I analysed all the aspects of my life carefully because I did not want to be sick anymore, and suddenly I remembered my art experiences because I found paintings and paper in the common room. There were watercolours, and I started to paint small things because I am not a consummate artist.

Those paintings at the hospital gave me peace of mind and hope to think I was not so lost. The other patients also began to paint, and we had fun expressing ourselves. I am planning to paint again with watercolours; maybe I can have not only peace of mind but healing. Creativity can heal a spirit, it is a gift from God to humans.