It's very risky for any artist after Monet to paint water lilies and expect to be taken seriously, but that is what I've done. I sort of fell into it. While gliding through Botswana's Okavango Delta in a low slung mokoro, my companion and I admired the colorful water lilies among the tall grass. She had forgotten her camera, so I offered to photograph the lilies for her, not considering them as subject matter for me, until I returned home and saw the photos. It was then that I realized what a wonderful variety of compositions I could create with the clefted lily pad shape and the lines of the grass. I've been painting lily pads ever since.