I am very excited to be sharing the stage on Saturday, July 9th at 8 p.m. at the Free Times Cafe along with some truly amazing artists: dub poet Clifton Joseph and singer-songwriters Carmen Toth and Tim Maxwell.

Before the show:

Because my words are all wound up with my paintings, I was thinking that I’ve got to somehow bring my artwork into my performance so that the audience can see the whole picture. I considered taking the actual paintings up on stage with me, but I I thought that would be awkward and complicated and distracting. Then I thought: photo prints! Then Duane suggested Power Point and I responded Great Idea, projection! So I don’t know. I have two days to figure it out. In the meantime I’ll tell you a little about the process of how some of the poems/stories came about.

The poem History began with some words in my head that followed with a drawing then a lot more words then a poem then a painting. I had just been in a car accident. It was all about the body. I spent a lot of time in bed, and to keep sane (and happy) (and alive), I had to do some art. I wrote in bed. I painted in short stints here and there. (I also went back to work, and saw chiropractors and acupuncturists and my favortie massage therapist, Moni.) Even though it wasn’t, it was still all about the body because either I could do something or I couldn’t based on how my body felt.

After the painting History was completed, I began working on the oils, watercolors and inks that are in the WRITTEN ON THE BODY series.