Guided

A Beautiful Lady, a comforting vision and a surprising detail led this artist to a spiritual discovery

- Star Saint Claire

ANGELS ARE A FAVORITE subject of mine when I paint. But the one I was about to create was special. Gazing at the blank canvas in front of me, I pictured the image in my mind and remembered the first time I had seen her. The woman I referred to as the Beautiful Lady.

It was 1966. My family lived in Seattle, in a pale green wooden house perched halfway up a hill. I was five years old, making mud pies in our yard. To me, the place was magical. Sitting in the square of green velvet grass bordered by red roses and a stone retaining wall felt like being in a secret garden in a fairy tale.

I patted my mud pie, smoothing it into shape. The air grew strangely still. I sensed something nearby. I couldn’t say what. I left my mud pies baking on a sun-warmed tree stump and wandered to the stone wall. From my perch I could peer down on the street below.

Walking serenely up the sidewalk was a lovely Asian woman. She was dressed in a traditional kimono, though at the time I didn’t know what her dress was called. I just knew it was beautiful, made of flowing silk and covered in big watercolor flowers in purples, pinks and blues.