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Oh Jesus

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Oh Jesus

WOW! It’s a glorious and beautiful Memorial Day Monday.

Last night, I finished reading Keith Haring’s biography. In the beginning of the book he says, “So anyway, after the Jesus thing I got into drugs.” As a teenager, Keith turned to Jesus and was considered a Jesus freak. It surprised me; it’s something I didn’t know about him.

Immediately after reading this quote, like a light switch going ‘on,’ I got up and started painting a crucified Clown/Jesus. It was beautiful; I was inspired! Though it doesn’t resemble Keith’s work, this vision came from reading his words. This new series is called “LITTLE Jesus.” They are portraits and self-portraits. For the next couple of hours and into the next day, I painted non-stop.

And then came the idea of adding a word to each piece. Having grown up Catholic, I not only debated about the concept of a crucified clown/ Jesus but also about adding the words that started coming to mind. I didn’t want to offend anyone, but I also didn’t want to censor my ideas. They were visions from God and not meant to be offensive.

It’s amazing how life works. 2 days later, this is what happened:

As I’m getting ready to go to the Getty Museum to check out the Herb Ritts exhibit, I decide to iron on a t-shirt with my LITTLE piece titled ‘Skinheads.’ A poem by Julia Vinograd, a.k.a. “The Bubble Lady” inspired it. After all these years, I’ve always remembered this poem. It’s simple and genius! It’s called ‘Family.’

A punk couple
And their baby
3 bald heads.

Wanting to see the poem, I dug through my closets in search of her 2 books and found them. As I flipped through the pages, I miraculously came across yet another poem. It’s called “The Crucified Clown.” How does this thappen? I laughed out loud as I saw this. Here was my sign from God; I had permission to continue working on this Jesus series. It's OK; I’m following inspiration. I felt grateful. The piece here is my first finished piece from the series. It’s titled, “Hipster.”

Since that day, the signs keep coming; I keep looking up at the sky and thanking my angels. (to be continued...)

Peace and Blessing!