DAMN! ASPIRING HOMELESS ARTIST FOUND DEAD & FROZEN ON THE STREET!

She came from Ireland half a life ago, a blue-eyed 17-year-old determined to make a splash in New York's art scene with her colorful portraits and vivid landscapes.

On Sunday morning - years after her life started to go bad in a haze of alcohol and a lousy marriage - Grace Farrell, 35, was found dead on the sidewalk in front of St. Brigid's Church on Avenue B in the East Village.

Her body was ice-cold from sleeping one too many nights on the street.

She spent her last night alive on a bed of cardboard in a church alcove. Thin blankets barely sheltered her from the brutal winter weather.

Farrell's body was discovered at 8 a.m. Sunday by a homeless friend, Tony, who had befriended her and brought her hot dogs Saturday night.

"I tried to shake her, but I couldn't get her woke," said Tony, adding he met Farrell a week ago in Tompkins Square Park when she bummed a sip from his vodka bottle.

In a world of street hustlers and panhandlers, Farrell stood out for her lilting Irish accent, long strawberry-blond hair and her "beautiful heart," Tony said.

An ex-boyfriend, who goes by the street name English, said Farrell hailed from County Cork, and arrived in New York 18 years ago to attend art school. She had a talent for sketching portraits and painting landscapes.

"Everytime I would make her smile, her eyes would change color, blue to green," English said.

She was once married and was estranged from a son who is now about 9 years old, English said.

She told friends her mother lived in a nice house in the Bronx.

Police were trying to track down her relatives yesterday.

English said Farrell's husband abused her, and she turned to booze for comfort and to forget a once-promising artistic career.

"She'd wake up in the morning with the shakes," he said. "She had an addiction."

"I met her the day before she died. She was withdrawn. She looked like she was dying. She was shaking big time," said Rafael Fontanez, 30, a homeless man who encountered Farrell at Tompkins Square Park.

"I gave her my hat," said Fontanez, somberly smoking a cigarette outside the Bowery Mission. "She died in my hat."

Cops do not suspect foul play.

Results of an autopsy done yesterday were not released.

DAMN! ASPIRING HOMELESS ARTIST FOUND DEAD & FROZEN ON THE STREET! TRYING TO MAKE CAN F**K WITH YA LIFE!




SOURCE