HIGHER THAN THE SKY

A peripatetic portrait painter displays a candid view of her life in a lively and warm autobiography. She tells of her early years in Aberdeen, South Dakota, introducing us to her admirable parents -- her mother a dainty suffragist and Christian Science healer, her father a lawyer, union leader, and visionary. There are the years of study in the East, capped by a European venture. Then come the days of painting for a living, marriage and motherhood; the later years as Palm Beach and Santa Barbara columnist, and the return to painting and Minneapolis. The book bursts with exuberance and sociability as the author relishes her calling and her encounters with such notables as Mary Pickford, D Del Rio, Mrs. William Astor Chanler, Russell Cowles, and so on and on. Ventures an personalities are commingled with ideas on art, the way to get through life joyously. Vitality is more evident than organization in this life story which will draw a market from those acquainted with society sets, or interested in them -- and who will enjoy the added element of art.