is an intensely personal record of the forces and events that shaped Jon Schueler (1916-1992) as an artist. At the same time, it evokes with great resonance the various cultural, historical and geographical contexts that informed his life: from pre-war Midwestern America to the Western Highlands of Scotland where, from his studio, he could look across the Sound of Sleat to Skye and the other islands of the Inner Hebrides, a vista that allowed him to strike the delicate balance between the observation of nature and abstract forms, which is the mystery and power of Schueler's paintings. The book recounts his dramatic childhood in Milwaukee and traumatic war years in Britain as a B17 navigator; his decision to study painting with Clyfford Still at the California School of Fine Arts; his arrival in New York in 1951 and his introduction to Rothko, Newman and Kline; his turbulent experiences with marriages and women; money and the lack of it; and the tremendous need to return continually to Scotland where he found in the Sound of Sleat the images essential to his painting.