AN ARTIST’S PALETTE FROM DARK TO LIGHT

About the Book

ONE WOMAN’S SEARCH FOR LIGHT IN AN AGE OF GROWING DARKNESS Jessica was a talented, successful, sought-after artist and actress. So why was she drowning in depression and despair? When she was able to capture the color and design of God’s beautiful world with paint and brush, her joy was indescribable — but short-lived. She would find herself suddenly dashed into a dark hole of loneliness and depression. Despite her God-given gifts, “I was lost in a world of darkness of my own creation,” she writes. An Artist’s Palette, From Dark to Light, is the moving story of one woman’s journey from suicidal thoughts to sublime happiness. By developing an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Jessica was born again — and finally able to move from a dark, destructive existence to a productive life, full of joy and light.

About the Author

Jessica Di Fabio Iwamoto is a talented actress and a very successful painter and illustrator. After graduating high school, she studied painting and the art of design and fashion illustration at the Vesper George School of Art in Boston, Massachusetts. Upon graduating from art school, she was hired by the very prestigious department store G. Fox & Co. in Hartford, Connecticut, as a staff artist for two years. After two years, she wanted to spread her wings and tackle New York City. She set up her own art studio across from the Armory on Twenty-Eighth Street on the corner of Lexington Avenue. She immediately started her very successful career as a fashion artist doing artwork for Lord & Taylor, B. Altman’s, Gimbel’s, Abraham & Straus, and many other fashionable department stores, newspapers, and magazines. She continued to paint during slow periods and continued to study painting and sculpture at the Art Students League in Manhattan. She met her wonderfully talented husband, Sueyoshi Iwamoto, furniture artist and successful painter, at the Wannamaker’s Department Store; him working as a staff artist, and she as a self-employed artist. They fell in love, but as fate would have it, they went their separate ways. They reunited thirty years later. Jessica studied drama with Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof for four years. It was there she met Gene Wilder, when he was still Jerry Silberman. Their relationship was filled with highs and dismal lows. After several unsavory incidents, though she loved acting and was a very talented actress, she gave it up and continued her artistic career. She preferred working alone than working with some very difficult people with many problems, including her own. She lived in Hollywood, California, for a while, where she met the Lord Jesus Christ and she was saved and born-again. She made a 180-degree turn in her life and loves the Lord. She came back to Manhattan for a while, then left for Florence, Italy, where she had many exhibitions of her paintings, one in Settiniano, a lovely very ancient little town up in the hills of Florence. Eleanora Duse lived in Settiniano. She then moved to Milan, the fashion city of Italy, where she set up her studio in her apartment near Piazza Loretto. She had no problem living and working in Milan because she has dual citizenship between America and Italy. She worked for large agencies and magazines. Jessica was homesick for Manhattan. She also had several art shows in Milan before returning to Manhattan. She found an apartment on Jane Street in the West Village, where she set up a studio and continued doing illustrations. The computer was taking over and hand-drawn illustrations were no longer fashionable. Also, the department stores were closing down one after another. She learned Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. She did book covers for McGraw Hill. She then enrolled at SUNY Empire College and earned a BA and an MA degree. She was hired by the Fashion Institute of Technology and taught drawing and painting in Illustrator and Photoshop. She taught there for four years and, at the same time, taught drawing and painting at Marymount Manhattan College on East Seventy-First Street in Manhattan. She stopped working at FIT after four years and continued at Marymount until recently. When she returned from Milan to Manhattan after fervent prayers for an end to her solitary life, Sueyoshi came back to her. She is very much in touch with the Holy Spirit. This memoir is a miraculous testimony to what God can do if you have faith and trust Him. God is always in charge, no matter what happens.