Sooki passed peacefully on April 25th surrounded by friends, family, color, light, joy, and love. Sooki was beauty, simple and sophisticated, deeper than you could ever imagine. She felt deeply, loved deeply and lived deeply. Her magic is seen in her paintings. What came out of her brush was a feast of colors and stories that she had kept in her heart for years, feelings that were just waiting to explode. And this is how Sooki became part of something bigger than herself, pure art destined to express the beauty and mystery of the world that she could see more than most of us can. She owned beauty because she was beauty, and so she could express it on canvass, or in an email to a friend, or in a prayer to the sun. Sooki had strength and bravery. She would run marathons, practice yoga and hike for hours. She could drive a manual shift car on the Amalfi coast, free the bats who lost their way, she could live on a boat and be a sailor she could scuba dive, she could cook and bake, she could dance, she could love with all her heart. Sooki loved her family and her grandchildren more than anything else in the world, She loved her friends, and supported them with all she had to give. She would put everything aside to be there for you. She would give so much, Her love and passion and beauty will continue to live in her paintings and in all of us who were so lucky to have entered her world. She’ll be with us forever, and ever after that, because “it’s all about love.” Bye Bye Birdie

Sooki Raphael