Limited Edition signed hardcover artist book with a forward by Rachael Ray

In March 2020, when New York City went into lockdown, Sonya Sklaroff could no longer paint in her NoHo art studio. Instead, she set up an easel in her midtown Manhattan apartment and made that her new studio, despite it also being her husband’s new office and her children’s new school. She painted her daily life, her family, her dreams, and everything she missed from the “before times”. As the Covid numbers rose through the summer and the protests intensified, Sklaroff and her family left the city for more tranquil surroundings. She continued her Pandemic series in friends’ backyards, at rental houses in the countryside, and wherever else she could work. After returning to the city and working again in her studio through the fall and winter, she focused on the dark days that seemed to envelop the world. But by spring, as the city began to reopen, she painted neighbors, friends, and city views filled with promise and joy.

This book is a compilation of 43 of the colorful and rich paintings that Sklaroff created during the pandemic.

The Forward is written by Rachael Ray, with whom Sonya became close friends during this time. In December of 2020, Ray was given one of Sklaroff’s paintings as a gift by best-selling author Harlan Coben. Ray contacted Sklaroff to tell her how much the painting meant to her and the two began a pen-pal relationship via text until the city opened enough to meet in person. Rachael Ray’s forward is a written testament of the joy that art can bring during difficult times.