'Painting is a companion with whom one may hope to walk a great part of life's journey.' Though obviously best known as a political leader, Winston Churchill was also a keen and much admired painter (as well as a Nobel Laureate author). He took up painting in 1915 and carried on with it until his death in 1965. His works are found in various collections around the world as well as at his house in Chartwell, Kent. In 1932 he published this essay about the joys and reward he gets from painting. He wrote it in order to share the thrill and delight of 'a joy ride in a paint box', and also - in a very contemporary spirit-to share his thoughts on 'remedies . for the avoidance of worry and mental overstrain by people who . have to bear exceptional responsibilities and discharge duties'.

Painting was, in essence, his mindfulness practice. It tells at first hand his experience of first taking up the paint brush in 1915, when he had been cast into the political wilderness, and when he had 'great anxiety and no means of relieving it', and his desire to share this 'astonishing and enriching experience.'.