The Sixties

The tumultuous Sixties was a busy time for my mother. Not only did she have four growing children, she had portrait commissions, and participated in the Westchester Art Society, and the Yonkers Art Association. When she could, she attended evening life drawing classes. When a model could not be obtained or did not show up, they would draw each other.

Alice Defiel, friend and fellow artist.

Watercolor of me with a new haircut.

She also had a passion for gardening....rock gardens in particular. she would pick up stones along the highway, loading them into the family station wagon for walls or paving. She sewed. making many of her own clothes and all of our Halloween costumes....and she knit handmade sweaters. My mother was never bored, and never idle.

Below a photo of me in my mother's rock garden in the early spring. She terraced the space between the house and garage, building walls and steps. There was a dogwood and lots of woodland plants below in this shady garden. That is our cat Punchy in my lap.

It was during this period that she developed a style all her own, which she called "Peoplescapes", a subject I will address in another post.

Janice in her basement studio doing a portrait. Note the diagonal quilt square curtains made by my mother.

The image for this painting came from a photograph, either on an album or a magazine article. My sister Marjorie was a big Rolling Stones fan. At that time I was more into Dylan. For this painting my mother stretched horsehair cloth used to cover speaker grills. This gave the painting an interesting texture. Note the ribbed sweater, hand knit by Janice.

Nancy in Beatle mode.

This painting of my friend Diane Barna was done as a demonstration at the Art In The Park festival in Tarrytown in May, 1966. Janice was featured in many art fairs doing exhibition half-hour portraits.
Above, an article from the Herald Statesman about the "Art in the Park" fair with a photo of her painting Diane.

Me, sitting in the backyard 1966.

Janice, painting at Wyalusing, PA.

This is Janice doing one of her half-hour portraits at the Wyalusing Art Fair in PA. Looking approvingly over her shoulder is her mother, Mary Wands Campbell, aka Moon.

On the fence behind Janice and Moon hung this painting of flamingos.
Life Study in oil, done at an evening class. They often held these classes in a church basement. I remember once a report of a peeping tom who was cought observing the class through a window

Jon Nielsen, artist and good family friend. My mother met Jon when she first moved to NYC after college. I believe that he, too, worked for the Branford Advertising Agency. Jon was born in Denmark and as a good Dane was a pacifist and a contientious objector during WWII. He taught at the Famous Artist's school in Westport, CT, and did many book illustrations. He would use our family as models for his work, taking polaroids of us in posing as needed. I think he paid us .25 per hour. We thought it was fun playng pretend and having our photos taken. When we moved to Dobbs Ferry he was married to his first wife, Pegeen with whom he had two sons, Ian and Kim.

Some Saturdays I would go over to Jon's studio and he would teach me the Famous Artist's School method of figure drawing, which mainly involved using geometric shapes..cylinders, spheres and rectangular solids. The Metropolitan Opera was usually on the radio, which at that age I did not appreciate. It took another ten years for my tastes to change.

Kay Nielsen, was Jon's second wife, with whom he had a daughter, Joneen, for whom I often babysat. Kay was an English teacher and one summer offered to encourage my reading by assigning books which I would read and we would discuss. I remember reading The Catcher in the Rye, and Franny and Zooey. I am sorry to say that they were a bit above me at the time, and that I was a poor student.


Robert Borgotta - sculptor and friend. this sketch was likely done at one of those evening life classes.
Another sketch of a fellow artist
John Begg, sculptor.

Portrait of Phil as a toddler

Phil and our new kitty, Morgin

Drawing trees was a constant challenge and delight for my mother.

Below, a few trees from her sketchbook

My father and mother at a friend's house before heading to a party in NYC. They rarely drank hard liquor, so it is unusual to see them both with drinks in hand. Looking through these photos I am stuck by how often we are wearing homemade clothing. My mom made the dress she has on here, playing with the stripes from bodice to skirt.

In the still life below my mother used a palette knife for extra texture.

The Candela family, January 1969, just after my father's death.

left to right: Nancy, me, Phil, Marjorie and Janice

Spring 1969 by the oak tree in the front yard...things are looking up.