July 2013

I suspect George Wharton James took the photos of the Rosamond family, and may have taken photos of Eutrophia, Mary’s tragic sister. These sisters were very poor. James had become the publisher of Out West magazine. He was a collector of baskets like the ones we see Bonnie and June with. The four Rosamond sisters…

If I had not come down to the sea with my kindred, then Rena would have slept in that cold doorway all night. If she had been discovered by a bad man, she may have been raped or killed. This is what she considered when Christine Rosamond, Michael Dundon, and I passed her on our…

In 1969 I declared myself a New Pre-Raphaelite. In 1971 I did a large canvas of Rena Victoria. She was standing on a grassy hill looking towards the setting sun that turned the sky into a rainbow. She was wearing a thalo-blue cape bordered in stars. A crescent moon was behind her head, like a…

Ian is Jon. Rena came to California to find me. I can remember being in a trance in school and drawing her hairline over and over again as I grew older. When I saw her come out of that door way, I knew she was the one. What are the odds of us finding each…

Roy Reuben Rosamond published stories in Out West that began as ‘The Overland Monthly’ that was published by the writer, Bret Harte, whose patron was my kindred, Jessie Benton. Before radio and television Americans read magazines to get their feel for the land. Folks back East wanted to go West and live like natives, wanderers,…

Sitting on the shore, watching my beloved Rena Victoria go into, and come out of the water, was my inspiration for ‘The Birth Of Venus’ that was written while I was living on the McKenzie River. Several days later I recorded my story on tape. The next day Marilyn showed up with the latest Enya…

Rena and I were living in a tent in the back yard of my friends house who days earlier had asked me to give up my apartment for his best friend, his wife, and newborn baby. I was homeless when I met Rena Christensen, who was far away from home and homeless, too. On the…

The name Music comes from Muse. For several years I have been pushing for a Love Dance, my generations Swan Song, a grand dance review based upon the music of Love. It is no coincidence that Teresa Moor, Rena Christensen, and Dutta look alike. Here are three Muses that are heading for Horse Mountain to…

Marilyn was my first Muse. We met in High School. When I went down to L.A. in 1970, I gave her call. She was very involved, and we did not speak for very long. At 3:00 A.M. in the morning I took a walk along the Venice pier with Christine and her boyfriend Michael. I…

“The 50 Most Powerful Women in the New York Art World” “Many may have started out as the women who work the front desk, but now they are the ones who decide whether or not you get to buy that painting, or have that museum show.” The evening my sister Christine Rosamond Benton drowned, Vicki…