I have been writing, making art and music since I was two. Seventy-four years of telling stories, drawing, dancing, photographing, putting odd things together that would never have met otherwise. Implied narrative in everything, so I mine my dreams for images. I spent 35 years or so writing nonfiction and illustrating for a living, but now I have returned to imagining. No more file cabinets. I paint, write, crochet figures and make found object sculptures, video animations, make & mess with my photographs, and perform. I can't concentrate on only one thing. Themes since 1943: shadows, reflections, stains, marks, bones, tracks...in other words, EVIDENCE!!! I wanted to be an archaeologist since age 2, but now I just dig stuff up from river and dirt, and haul stuff home from street and alley.
I use the moniker barkinglips everywhere, so Google that and you'll find what I do now; Google "Linda Campbell Franklin" and "Ninda Dumont" for much of my past writing/illustrating. I've written and/or illustrated over 40 books, including books on antique kitchen tools and gadgets, housekeeping antiques (hah!), women's journals, children's diaries and participatory books, a chess mystery, and others. But I am now working on five novels, some stories, a number of paintings (not shown here) and a number of short, mostly stop motion videos. I make collages, assemblages, fiber art sculpture, sound tracks for my videos, and am working on a graphic novel about an artist with too many ideas. Am getting MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts at University of Baltimore, seniors' "golden key" program.
