WHEN THE READING LIGHT WENT ON

Frank Romero, 58, Chicano artist from Los Angeles:

I started painting when I was 5 years old. I was very lucky that teachers helped me along the way. Then I began reading. I have always connected reading with painting.

I read everything that comes by. Books about love, Hollywood mysteries.

Five years ago, I read “Macho,” a book by Victor Villasenor, because I was asked to paint a cover for the book.”Macho” is a book about the journey campesinos--pickers--take from Michoacan to the United States. I am an urban Chicano and I’m not that familiar with that line of work, so I am interested in that kind of life.

Now, I am waiting to read the book that will use my latest painting as a cover. The painting is called “History of Chicano Movimiento.”

The painting depicts murals you see in downtown Los Angeles, East Los Angeles--sites such as the Teatro Campesino. It’s a history of the Chicano movement. I have the cover. I just need the words that will go inside. I want to read that.