My life by Jeremy Holton

The Geologist Who Painted

From Tanzanian water wells to the digital frontier, and finally, to the easel. Notes on a life of constant reinvention.

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Hello, and welcome.

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My name is Jeremy Holton, and I am 85 years old.

If you looked at my resume without knowing me, you might think it belongs to half a dozen different men.

 

• Born in England, I worked as a chainman, laboratory assistant, milkman, and railway goods porter before moving to East Africa.

• I did a safari around East Africa and worked as a water geologist in Tanzania.

• I returned to the UK, where I worked as a Town Planner in Kent.

• In 1967, I moved to Australia as a Geologist in the Middleback Ranges of South Australia.

• I shifted from rocks to code, establishing and managing IT systems for giants like BHP and Woodside Offshore Petroleum, eventually becoming the Director of IT Consulting for Ernst & Young in WA.

• While I studied art, I owned and ran a commercial stone-fruit orchard and became a professional artist.

• I moved to a remote village in Thailand and subsequently owned and managed an arts guesthouse on the banks of the Mekong River.

• I was an early pioneer of the web, developing one of the world's first web art galleries, which is still operating today.

Now, I am an artist and gallery owner in the Perth Hills.

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I am writing this now because I have eight children, ranging in age from 57 to 10. (Yes, you read that right—my youngest, Cody, was born in 2015). Because my family spans so many generations, my youngest children will never know the version of me that searched for water in Africa or negotiated IT contracts in first-class cabins.

I want to record these experiences—the mistakes, the adventures, and the three great loves of my life: family, art, and Thailand.

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What to expect: I plan to share stories from my archives. One week, I might be writing about the adrenaline of white water canoeing in my 40s; the next, I might be describing the renovation of our guesthouse on the banks of the Mekong in Phon Phisai.

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A Note on the Art: I have been painting and developing photos since I was 10 years old. You will see my artwork woven throughout these stories. If you enjoy them, you can find links to my galleries at the bottom of every email.

Thank you for reading.