Patti Gibbons Art

Life is Short: Call Now, is the title of Bruce Cockburn's new CD. I heard a cut while traveling during a rare moment of sunshine in my car with the sunroof open.In light (or dark) of all that is happening to so many of us, having friends or relatives with potentially terminal illnesses, the title really hit hard. Those who are ill not only need the phone calls, but the people who love and are dear to the dying; they need a hand or an ear to help them through the process. Pick up the phone today and call someone who is elderly, sick, or lonely. Cherish your friends and loved ones. And remember that bumper sticker that you may have seen on cars..... "BE NICE TO YOUR CHILDREN BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONES PICKING OUT YOUR NURSING HOME". I have been getting into the studio, making some art, listing on eBay and Etsy, and most importantly visiting with friends all week whom I have not seen in ages. I sometimes feel guilty for not being more accessible to my dear ones, so I ta...

For the first time in days, it stopped raining. I was lucky; no flooding in my studio, and no major problems with the house or the area I live in. We live in a small city away from the Hudson River and most of the streams that overflow when it rains like this. Areas near the creeks did not fare so well. I gave myself the gift of a massage this morning, a necessary gift to keep my aching muscles going. My afternoon luncheon with an old friend was cancelled; he was very sick and needed to pursue additional medical care. My auntie called me for two hours, telling me about her and her sister's urgent medical problems. I got a few more phone calls which essentially ate up a majority of the afternoon, but they were all necessary. Today I needed to be the strong friend or relative but it made me very very sad. Until now I have not given much thought to death and dying, but I have been haunted by the fact that my father died at an age I am now, that some people I love and cherish a...

Some of you might wonder about the significance of the title of the blog. As with much of my humor, you can take it many ways, and it is meant to be as such. It was a collage which I had done on a greeting card and sold, but had kept the image archived. The image has now further taken on its own life.....in a creative surge that came from severe PMS, a rainstorm, and a deadline. I stayed home all day yesterday due to my BLACK DAMP GLOOMY BLOATED mood and sublimated it into a work of art. I am doing the summer zine swap with the Gleaner Group on Yahoo. The deadline is July 1st, and I must have a zine ready by then. I have a group of altered photographs which I have been saving for a project, the collage of Eat Man Drink Water, and I wanted to write prose or poetry that somehow tied it all together. The muse of creativity descended, the zine was 80% born. It is an illustrated Poem based upon some of the dark Victorian poems read to me by my Auntie. (direct from Ireland!) Does anyone ...

I woke up to another humid, misty, dark morning on the east coast to an interview on CNN about how are our belief systems affect our ability to make money. If we have been raised thinking that money is bad, or been given our "imprinting" about money and success by people who had negative thoughts or who had no money, then it can affect our entire financial future, or lack of it. This is nothing new. For those of us who have done the work in Cameron's THE ARTISTS WAY we have discovered how to work through our negative thoughts about the arts in order to gain confidence and empower ourselves as artists. It works. I am a firm believer in the mind-body and mind-art connection. So now, I am eager to move to the next level--a participant in the mind MONEY connection. I have to admit I have had some pretty negative thoughts about money and rich people in the past. Having a lot of money is sinful. Years of Catholic schooling taught me to be humble and that money is the ro...

Remember that Supertramp song, those of you who are old enough to remember Supertramp? They were one of the best 80's concerts I went to in Springfield, Mass. I do remember it, so I must have been pretty straight, haha. In a way I am glad that I experienced the 70-80's period and survived it. Though I was not a child of the 60's, I followed close behind lucky enough to experience some of it. Long nights of partying like mad. Thank GOD I survived those times as well as most of my friends and relatives. Some didn't. I never got addicted to anything, or in a bad car accident, and I just have all of these amazing memories. (I grew up spending a lot of time dancing in Woodstock NY at the Joyous Lake --- when disco was Barry White, the Rolling Stones.) I was too young for the first Woodstock, and my parents would have NEVER let me go; I did go to the second Woodstock in 94', which was fun as an experience but could never recreate the essence or the spirit of the first. My...

My first post on a bleak day. Be patient with me as I am new at this and will need a few weeks to figure out how this all works. I am having problems figuring out how to make paragraphs and such..the text editor is having a stroke on me. Guess I had better polish up on my html skills. They are minimal. Today was the last day of school. I remember riding the bus in the 70's, throwing my papers out the window with the other kids. When I think of it, what a mess we were making along the country highway, our looseleaf floating like leaves in a windstorm. I had a rotten last day. Normally I am ecstatic, but today I had some heavy thing happen to me and I alternated between crying and wanting to throw breakable things around the room. My hormones were raging whispering evil suggestions into my ear. Do it Patti, just throw that mug straight across the room through the window. I made it through, went out for lunch and drinks with old and some new colleagues and tried to forget abo...