1959 Lark

The gift of art and painting help a young girl navigate love and loss in childhood, thus becoming a sustaining lifelong passion and career.

Following the short life and passing of Linda Hyatt Cancel’s younger sister Melissa, she and her parents must continue their family life, honoring their little girl and their grief. With a love for colors and illustrative expression already showing itself when Melissa passes, Linda delves into her arts passions as a sanctuary. Life after Melissa looks like moves and vintage cars, and later new children, new burdens, and new opportunities. Love and faith give Linda the strength, through each challenge, to overcome adversity. Her painting career develops, eventually joining her with Santa Cliff Snider, with whom she carves out her own niche in the painting world, melding poetic tonalism and nostalgia.

This book is a treasure box full of my most precious memories and experiences, whether sorrowful, poignant, or beautiful, that continue to inspire and inform my journey as an artist. My hope is that the reader finds healing, joy, and delight in this little slice of American pie.

Linda Hyatt Cancél is an award-winning professional oil painter residing in the Pacific Northwest, specializing in poetic tonal landscapes and still lifes as narrative. Her life’s journey took her around the country where her artwork caught the eye of an arts professional with a snow-white beard. She is now a proud personal friend, collaborator, and brand ambassador to the real Santa Claus! 1959 Lark is her debut autobiographical novel.