Carmen Drake laughs easily, speaks enthusiastically, and paints beautifully. Her goal is to bring beauty and peace through her art into the lives of others. Her own life hasn’t always been one of peace and joy, however. She has dealt with heartbreak and loss, but she doesn’t dwell on the past—except, of course, when she’s painting an old pair of shoes or umbrella.
Drake is curious about the past lives of things, which might sound a little odd since we normally don’t think of things as having lives. Not so with Drake. “I think about the people who might have used those things—the life it had, the journey,” she says. “I imagine the stories behind things. Where have they been? Who wore that dress or those shoes, or who held that old umbrella with a pretty tassel attached to it? I wonder how many storms it has weathered and how many kisses were stolen under it.”
Drake is also inspired by nature, and has been since she was a child growing up in Connecticut, where she spent much of her time drawing and playing outside. “My mother tells me that, when I was about 4, I drew our family—including our dog—on a wall,” she says. “I also loved being outdoors. I was in my own little world.”
Read the full article in the May/June 2025 issue.
Innocence at Dawn
oil
8″ by 10″
Falling Roses in Mother’s Vase
oil
8″ by 12″
