though the palette would be broad. In 1964, a taste for change led him to a job as a diplomatic courier for the U.S. Department of State, based in Germany. He'd carry sealed bags with secret materials to Cairo and then Ethiopia, or to Beirut, or to Cold War Moscow. Coleman remembers the Russian guards on the trains, with long coats and machine guns, German shepherds sniffing under the cars. "It was so cool."
Coleman met Karoline, who is from Germany, and they lived in Belgium when their children were young. They still make regular trips overseas.
Nowadays, Coleman spends much of his time paint by number, and not much on marketing his art. "Things kind of happen by accident," he says. Sometimes he knows another artist who's shown at a gallery, and that gives him an in; or people buy paint by number paintings through his website.
"I'd like to keep seeing growth in my paint by number work, to say: 'That's interesting. That's new,'" he says. "When I was starting out, I wanted to be nationally known. Now I just want to see positive change, to feel what I'm doing is worthwhile."
He grins. "It doesn't hurt that this pays for our travel to Europe."
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