This summer I made a new painting.  It’s called River of Blood.  It refers to the Raab River in western Hungary and eastern Austria.  My family comes from there.  A long time ago, the Austrians defeated the Turks at Mogersdorf on the banks of the Raab.  They say that the river ran red that day from the dying men, horses and camels.  They also say that amongst the booty was the first coffee to enter Austria.  I imagine that other things entered too. It’s hard to imagine having to flee such horrific conditions, as did the European immigrants of the nineteenth century.  My grandmother came to America in the 1880’s.  She traveled from Mogersdorf to Hamburg and from Hamburg to Ellis Island [although, I can find no records of her until 1903]. She died before I was born.  Her name was Alouisa.
 
Chickens around a Maypole
A river of blood
Grapevines on houses
Water from a well