The Nancy Who Drew, the memoir that solved a mystery, begins more than half a century ago and tells the story of a shy dreamy girl who is betrayed by her mother. Wounded and confused, she flees to London to become an actress and have her own life, but finds that the past will not let her go. Only when she stops running and starts drawing and painting the dreams that have haunted her since childhood, will she discover the clue that makes sense of it all. And eventually she realizes that betrayal is sacred when the heart can encompass the whole.
The first title of the book was
“A Mask With Wings.”
How I came to acquire this pin from The American Theatre Wing HERE
oil on canvas by NW (1987)
The second title became Girl Under Water, (oil on canvas, 1987) based on my painting of the same title here. The painting was the culmination of a series of “the drowned.” Water is a symbol of the subconscious. My figures were “descending” into the inner world of the subconscious.
After I had been painting and drawing for many years I began to see I was illustrating an inner narrative, one that went beyond my conscious rational mind. And while the pictures said everything, I needed to stop painting and turn to writing my story before I was able to understand what what the story was. Some things are too deep to access in the usual places. As I see them now, my pictures have functioned as a psychic soul map, leading me back to a previous life in order for me to understand this one.
