cancer claimed a friend at an early age, Axton decided that he had to learn whether he could survive as an artist who creates according to his own criteria. He quit his commercial art job in 1976 and, inspired by the New Mexico landscape and the simplicity of the Taos Indian culture, began producing paintings that reflected a mystical quality responsible for much of his popularity. His works have been called "spiritual," "haunting," and "visually elegant."

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