Summary

This is a collection of Elizabeth Layton's work, organized chronologically from 1977-1991. Contents include a biography and epilogue by a 27-year-old reporter (Don Lampert) who discovered, promoted, and became a dear friend of "a depressed grandmother with a handful of drawings under the bed."

Layton discovered contour drawing when she was age 68 and claims to have drawn herself out of mental illness. Her subject matter is self-portraiture, marriage, aging, depression, grandmothering, dieting, and political commentary (nuclear holocaust, capital punishment, mythology and hospital death).

Commentary

Layton claims to have drawn herself into wellness by looking into a mirror for hours at a time. Crayons and colored pencils on poster paper were the instruments of the "art cure" when shock treatments, drugs and other therapies failed.

Her experience with a failed marriage, mental illness and the loss of a child--often the content of her drawings--evokes empathy and understanding. Her self portraits as Lady Macbeth, Pandora, Raggedy Ann, and even Phyllis Schafley are inviting, often whimsical, full of rainbows and hope.

Publisher

WRS

Place Published

Waco, Texas

Edition

1995

Page Count

143