When I was thirteen or so, my father brought us to Orange County, California. I didn't speak English. And where I lived, then, there was no ESL. So, I learned English watching the puppet TV program Sesame Street. Years later, when my father died, we buried him at the Pacific View Cemetery. It is a beautiful cemetery. Today, as I write these words, my father and son and buried there. One day, I decided to visit. I was at home. In anticipation, I lit some incense. To my amazement what I felt as incredible wisps of smoke arose from the burning incense. Inspired and curious, I looked them. And I thought I saw things in the smoke. What is the nature of reality? Is the apparently empty space around us, just that, empty space. Of could it be that something or someone inhabits those places our eyes can't see. In ancient times, there were people who believed in the power of smoke for divination purposes. Somehow, they felt, the smoke could take on the shape of things to come. And even more, some felt the smoke could be a means of communication, used by those conscious things in other dimensions to communicate with use humans. This constitutes an artistic and creative quandary. I wonder if it is possible that something inhabits our world and that something somehow can be picked up in the shapes of smoke. So, I invite you to look at these pictures and use your creativity and imagination. Allow your mind to wonder and fade into the possibilities of what could be. And I ask you, what do you see in these images? Grace Divine
About the Author: I am a survivor who believes in the inexorable power of the human spirit. I am a believer who has seen through tragedy into the eye of the setting sun knowing that the morrow can bring a new and brighter day. I am a compassionate human being who empathizes with the suffering of others and wants to be there for them. And I do this by writing transformational stories and creating art filled with characters and images that are imbued with passion and love. I was born in California. At five I was abducted in the trunk of a car. I only saw my mother a few times after that. I was moved from place to place as a child and hid in the US, Mexico and Spain. I went to ten schools the first twelve years. During this time, I had to contend with a father whose mental illness and drug and alcohol addictions caused him to be a dangerous sadist. I was barely eighteen years old when I ran away from home because he threatened to kill me with a 38 revolver. But I got on my feet, found a job, bought a car. I graduated from UCI with a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics and the ability to speak several languages. While there, I married a medical student. My first pregnancy ended in stillbirth. Notwithstanding this and other hardships I graduated from UCLA Law School in 1992. We moved to Texas and while I was raising my children, I graduated from the University of Texas Dallas where I received an M.A.. There I took several writing courses. Then, I began a career as a visual/writing artist. My artwork, mostly surrealist, includes extensive writings, short stories and poetry. One of my paintings "The Kiss of Death," is featured adjacent to a Picasso in the acclaimed documentary by the BBC: THE PRIVATE LIFE OF A MASTERPIECE: THE KISS BY GUSTAV KLIMT ICON OF THE 20TH CENTURY. Today, I engage my writing, photography and art in an effort to understand the nature of the human experience, the processes of the mind, the experience of memory, visual and mental perception and life in general. My art and writing also include queries into the nature of the universe and the existence of life after death. As such, my art constitutes a form of auto-biography. I see it as a glimpse into an American woman artists experience at the turn of the 20th century. Ultimately, I am glad to be able to share my artistic experience. Perhaps others will find it useful in their quest to understand life.