Of The Earth

The woman with the wagon served as a metaphor. She helped me to see how I felt. I studied her. I was drawn to her silent way of moving through the world. No fuss. No muss. Simply focused upon her task. She had a garden. She communed with the earth in a way that no one that I knew had demonstrated. She seemed to have no other life. She was in fact OF THE EARTH. As a young artist learning to calm down and listen to my inner voice I knew instinctively that I could benefit from this.

Back indoors at my work table I would insert bones giving the figure a necessary armature to be able to 'stand up' to the world. I would sometimes turn the drawings around in my mind's eye, looking in reverse, in order to train my eye to see from all directions.

The two drawings done in pencil...one from life on newsprint the other in the studio on vellum. 1973.

Speaking of Gardens

My maternal grandmother Julia Toth, my angel Alice Twitchell and my Street Raking Woman all inspired me to plant some seeds, learn to compost and start an artist's garden.


I loved reading about Monet and his inspiration. The idea of living, growing changing plants ever reflecting the light and the weather; an organized place to walk and observe, to live and breathe in the rich color and the eternal ongoing process of life and death...a great mirror for reflection.

This felt like a healing direction in which to travel.

This garden was created using a traditional Williamsburg design by the home's husband and wife team of artist/builders. They were the sole owners. After their deaths the house sat empty for two years. The gardens grew over completely and the House Wrens moved in sleeping on the high roofed porch posts. When my partner and I discovered the snoozing balls of feathers we knew who really 'owned' this magic garden! There were many surprises including my first ever sight of a mole cricket (!!) as the paths were cleared and the beauty of the garden's of Wren House revealed their 'bone structure' .

The painting 'Summer Home' is Acrylic on canvas, 18x18 inches shown with two views of this mornings garden at Wren House.

Helping Hands and Mighty Companions

This present turn into my sixth decade has opened a fascinating and unexpected space. I watch the pendulum swing back into the early days when I was moving through the world dreaming of life as an artist. It was a bumpy start. I had been violently pitched out of the system and had to invent a way to stay alive. Yoga was my first life line, I made attempts each day to stop the panic attacks by learning how to breathe s l o w l y. Without dwelling on the drama it is possible to state that I was well educated at 18 years of age in the awareness that there are at all times 'Helping Hands' to assist when it seems that all is lost.

It was then that I met my angel Alice Twitchell. I have no doubt that we each saved the other's life in the summer of 1968 even though I never spoke directly of my traumas and I didn't learn of hers until 26 years later as we sat at a campfire on her land in New Mexico. I didn't know until then that she had lost her 18 year old daughter in a car crash 6 months before I arrived on the farm.

In the summer of 1968 I traveled with an acquaintance to the 300 acre Twitchell farm in Southern Ohio and possibility wrapped its arms about me like a life preserver pitched to a drowning soul.

I have twenty six years of magnificent, extraordinary letters from Alice. I've written memoirs about her and I keep a photo of her on my desk at all times. Thirty years my senior, artist/sculptor/painter/yoga practitioner/Baha i/gardener/advanced soul, she demonstrated an extraordinary level of balance and peace that I wanted with all my heart to emulate.


Her handmade life and her environment were intoxicating in their natural earthy beauty and simplicity. Her lifestyle gave me a visual imprint of what I wanted my own sweet life to look like. I have wavered not a day.

A year after I met Alice I began a relationship that included regular travels to Cape Cod. My first stay was in South Truro and my second brought me to the enchanted cottage owned by Lenore Tawny in the Wellfleet area where a good friend was housesitting for the summer. Everywhere my eye turned, indoors or out, I felt wrapped about by images and inspiration of the possible. I was beginning to see evidence of what life as a Woman Artist could be.

This India ink drawing on newsprint paper, 9x12 inches was done in 1971 in my then fanciful style during my solitary wandering on the isolated Wellfleet beach.

The Art of Loving Life

I've recently turned 60 and I am finding it of value to reflect upon a few of the many mentors, teachers and inspirations of my formative days as a young artist.

In 1978 I met 89 year old Mr. Stephen Domonkas, the architect of Casa del Mar. Casa del mar was a small exceptionally designed and truly intimate home. It was also a museum of world art gathered during the Domonkas' nine steamship voyages round the world.

The day we met was hot and steamy, a typical lake front summer afternoon. I was returning art books to Domonkas library on the shore of Lake Erie in Sheffield Lake, Ohio. As I placed a book of Rembrandt's drawings onto the counter I heard a rasping voice say, "Rembrandt, Rembrandt, I remember Rembrandt." I looked at the ancient hand pointing to the book cover and thought to myself, "I'll bet you do."

We visited there in the library that bears his name for a few minutes and he asked me to come and see him at his home to discuss art and travel.

From then on each Tuesday afternoon I'd ride my bike through the impressive wrought iron gates into the circle drive. My wicker handlebar basket would be filled with the roll of my weekly drawing practice. During our visit we'd sip tea and he would give my work a spirited and no-holds-bar critique.

We became dear and devoted friends. His sweet wife, Ruth, often waved her hand at us during our animated chats saying, "You should've married him!"

This 18x24 inch watercolor on Arches was painted in 1979 during the time of my visits. Inspiration for the entire 'Casa del Mar' series was taken from the lighthearted style of Chagall.

Do you consider where your inspirations comes from and who the mentors for your work tend to be?