"A gorgeous heartfelt examination and celebration." - Editor's Pick, Booklife Review of Publisher's Weekly

Art & Love is the memoir of a woman’s quest to master the ancient art of egg tempera painting, gain confidence as an artist and find lasting love.

It’s 1966 and unaware that a counterculture tsunami is brewing, Lora Arbrador arrives in Berkeley, California where she is introduced to egg tempera, a painting technique that combines colorful pigments with egg yolk. Lora falls in love with this luminous medium but cannot find a teacher to unravel its mysteries. Her love life is similarly marked with many failures.

Art and love converge when she falls for a tender, charismatic artist, but after their eight-month immersion in the great museums of Europe, Lora follows him into a commune that she later realizes has become a cult.

Set against a backdrop of huge cultural changes – from the counterculture of the 1960s and back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s, to the AIDS epidemic and sex underground of the 1980s – Art & Love is a journey of creative and emotional fulfillment that captivates, educates and entertains the reader.

Arbrador’s stunning artwork enhances the narrative, inspiring those grappling with their own artistic expression and longing for love.

Includes her bonus essay “Which Came First? A Taste of Egg Tempera History.”

Monographs