Oil on Canvas
“I was born during the ‘Great Depression,’ which followed the biggest meltdown that Wall Street has ever known. It was the inspiration for my painting of a more recent meltdown on America’s Wall Street.
Many of my bittersweet memories begin with fantasies starting in a cast iron frying pan. I remember my mother sobbing as if our world was coming to an end – then I started sobbing because she was sobbing. All our tears disappeared when my father appeared to turn a bowl of beer batter into jumping horses and dancing girls kicking up their heels in the sizzling pan of bubbling oil. Besides his hotcakes, he would enrapture my sister and me with a magic show of coloring eggs. Dad would dip hard boiled eggs into an oil mixture of brilliant colors; swirling them up and down and round and round into a kaleidoscope of images that tickled my imagination. That’s how it all began – a bittersweet introduction to the wonderland of ART – it was the key that opened a door to the magical world of make believe, where I learned to see the light beyond the dark cloud hovering over our country’s ‘Great Depression’… it helped me to cope with my own form of dark cloud depression.”
Wonderful artistry, beautiful poetry. I write poetry as well and enjoy reading others. It gives me inspiration.
I have been a fan of yours ever since I saw “Picnic”.Thank you for showing us your true self and being an inspiration to others.
God bless you. Madeline
Hi, Miss Novak:
My name is Larry Paulette but I made up a name for the computer artist in me: LAVENDER LAGOON. I’m enjoying your art work. I discovered your painting web-site tonight as I was putting together an e-newsletter about a documentary I heard about the first time while researching Olivia de Havilland. She narrated a film about art and Alzheimer’s called I Remember Best When I Paint. I also found an article about Rita Hayworth who turned to painting flowers as her Alzheimer’s worsened.
I’m an artist also (mostly portraits of celebrities) and so I’m interested in learning more about celebrities who are multi-gifted and creative in various ways, such as you, Miss Hayworth, Phyllis Diller, Henry Fonda, Frank Sinatra, etc. (Side Note: I’m listening to the complete soundtrack from Vertigo as I type this). I would very much like to send you my e-newsletters, which I think you would enjoy because they are free association articles, gifs, photos, quotes about actors, artists, writers, etc. from my POV. I’ve used many photos of you in the past, especially stills and gifs from Vertigo. I shall include your painting web-site in a newsletter I’m working on today and hopefully others will visit your site and see and read your thoughts on paper and canvas. PS: GetTV Channel 68-3 has been playing a lot of your films later (I think they own the Columbia Studios library). Bell, Book and Candle has been on quite a lot this month. I watched Pal Joey for the first time from beginning to end. Some lovely moment. And the other night, they played Middle of the Night(?) with you and Fredric March. I did an e-newsletter about six months about Paddy Chayefsky and used some of quotes in it and included Middle of the Night.
I’m 65 now (66 in April — Aries) and I used to collect movie magazines as a teenager. That’s how I fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor and Bette Davis. I got to know the others, such as yourself, by reading Modern Screen, Photoplay, etc. I always felt a connection to you because of the publicity you occasionally received about having LAVENDER tinted tresses and using lavender ink. I choose my e-name from that association and from a quote by Tennessee Williams from Summer and Smoke: Alma (which is Spanish for soul) says to a stranger she meets in a park at the end of the movie, “I feel like a water lily floating on a Chinese lagoooooooooooon.: So that’s how LAVENDER LAGOON became my name. Research and spreading beauty is my game. Nice chatting with you, Miss Novak. Looking forward to your posting of more paintings in the future. [email protected] aka LAVENDER LAGOON
im still new to facebook and a computer for that matter, i still have to get a picture for facebook. i lost my mom in 2010, mother and grandmother both were school teachers, my mother was born in 1931, also a child of the depression. her dad my grandfather was lucky, he worked for firestone rubber, here in akron ohio, came up from tennesee in 1926 to akron to better his life. but even the employed had to be careful. i love all your paintings, when i get back from vacation, ill see how i can work it to buy a print of vertigo . i think your fans want to take up painting now.thank you again for sharing your life with us. also i didnt know you would be in youngstown for your art exhibit, i was upset not to know, but i didnt know you had facebook. i am 45 minutes to an hour from youngstown, and i am going to see your exhibit, i think it ends july 20th. im very proud of you and hope the best for you and bob
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