After a heartbreaking split from her lover, Simi had what she described as a crack from reality. She thought she would die. The pain from her whole life, it seemed, had been waiting for this moment to come forth. Crying for ten days straight and another ten days of the stomach flu she was at ground zero. Fifteen pounds lighter she slowly started to come back into the world. Things looked different, the colors in the sky, the trees, everything. She was raw. Singing and playing her music were her lifeboat.  She started to rebuild. At the same time a well known Woodstock artist came into her life and asked to paint her. He called her his muse. They talked and he worked. She related to the struggle of the artist and the incredible love of the work. The smell of the studio was both foreign and healing. Visual art soon became her constant companion.

She fell asleep clutching Van Gogh and Gauguin books. She was able to write perform and record, but any down time alone proved quite painful.  

There were times of laughter in between, yet she was still plagued with episodes of intense obsession and what seemed like psychosis.  Months later, her musical partner David Baron was scoring a film in NYC. She began making trips from Woodstock down to sing and work on the soundtrack. While on these stints, she became close with the filmmaker and his companion Alexandra, a philosophy major at the time and kindred spirit. Here she stumbled upon some peace surrounded by masterful art and intellectual discussions.

On one such trip to the city in September 2015 she was hit by the "psychosis." When she arrived at the studio Alexandra could see she was not well. She asked her: "What do you need darling, what do you need?"  Tears rolling down her face she said: "I need to draw." 

Alexandra discovered a large drawing pad and a beautiful antique box filled with pastels in a drawer,  she did not know where they came from.  Simi started to draw maniacally. After awhile a great calm came over her. For the next 48 hours she drew while Alex read to her about Carl Jung's split from Freud, which became known as his red period.

She was in peace for long periods of time during that weekend with friends. When the obsession would come hurdling back she would retreat to the pad and draw, easing the pain.  Alexandra gave Simi the pad and pastels to take home with her to Woodstock. Simi hasn't stopped drawing since and thinks drawing may have saved her life.  She hopes to share some of this passion with you in these pieces.