Patti Gibbons Art

I don't wear a lot of makeup, or what I consider a lot. Sometimes I leave my house buck ass face naked, mucky hair and all, and other times you can see me looking like I have been studying too much Egyptology. Most of the time it is somewhere in the middle. As a public person, I have to put my best face forward! Funny how as a young person, I wore more makeup than I do now, and probably needed it much less. Why is it that young people feel they have to wear tons of makeup, when they have porcelain young glowing skin, lush lashes, plump red lips....what I would GIVE to have the skin of my youth back! Now, when I could use a glow, or a bit of blush, I say BAH, too much work, I look too fake, so I am happy just the way I am, even if blotchy, dry, patchy or the color of sour milk - the latter a phrase my AP English teacher used for me. If I had to choose use only ONE type of makeup, lipstick would be it. I love to draw on my lips, applying the color of my mood. Red, brown, a goth...

Today I was slow and weak at best, but I managed to fabulously frame the two pieces for Donskoj's show "We're Only in it for the Money"-Artist's examine the currant fiscal crisis. I have decided on the titles for the two pieces, shown here unframed;"She Almost Made It", and "W's Boner". Both have political overtones of course, and you can read anything you want into it them. As a piece of interest, some of the folding that I did to the money in the pieces were taught to me by high school students, chuckling over their new found creations that came as close to origami as they would ever get. Some people have freaked about my using real money in the artwork. Well, if money is made with our taxes....(is it? doesn't some portion of our taxes pay for the production of money?) then it is copyright free, and I can do anything I want to it...save for reproducing it and using it as the real thing. And maybe I just made that all up. BUT IF t...

....which I found out today. I was really weak, but one of my best friends was in town from North Carolina. She wanted to see me and take me out to lunch. "Besides", she said, "I know you're a cheap date today". Clear soup and a small Thai salad. And tea. Yep. Pretty cheap. It takes me an hour to eat it all, and as we are talking I have a suspicious rumble in my guts. OH NO. NOT AGAIN. It's not over. But I got to see Julie, and I did eat, two wonderful things that I am thankful for. Since I am tied to my house again, and there is no energy for the studio, I have been putting more things up on my Ebay (catskillpaper) and Etsy sites, both of which are linked here. Of course at this time of year I have to throw in a few sales pitches now and again. An artist has to do what she's gotta do. Tonight's art is from a 1922 magazine I have on ebay for sale, called The Mentor, which has articles on the history of rare books, about Dard Hunter, the great A...

A few weeks ago I had wished I could stay home and make a small intimate turkey dinner for my family. We usually go to my sister-in-laws house for Thanksgiving. They live in a huge lovely 1900's house in Catskill, NY, the home of my favorite Hudson River School painters Thomas Cole and Frederick Church. Their house is filled with beautiful decorative art, and it is a warm and inviting place, as are they. But this time of year I am working two jobs, and long to keep it simple for sanities sake. I have a small modest home, and can't feed a lot of people without it getting really crowded. Plus, in the house of broken chairs, we have limited safe seating. Alas, I was still sick, running to the bathroom, afraid to ummm...pass gas without the safety of the toilet. I sent Megan and her brother to eat at my ex's parents house, and Larry picked on the leftovers in the fridge. I have eaten a tiny bit of chicken soup and some toast, and after a three hour nap, feel like I am on ...

So I got the red state Kentucky flu. Came with grandchild, spread now to Megan and me."THAT will teach you to vote for Obama" it whispered in my ear, grabbing my guts and stomach and squeezing really hard. I have a fever, and I feel like a dog who spins in circles when it has to go to the bathroom--spinning from being sick to the dreaded runs. I can barely type, and have canceled all plans for tomorrow. Thankfully the kids can go to their grandparents house, and Larry bought a pre cooked chicken and some veggies so that he/we can have some kind of a dinner if I can get anything down. Such is life. Hope you all have a lovely day, and have some turkey for me.

My life is becoming pretty mundane. Work, work, and more work. This time of year it is to be expected as I have lots of shows that I enter, both my fine art and my crafts. I try not to think about the economy too much, though looking at my finances, I will be giving lots of handmade gifts for the holiday season. They are better gifts I think, and I can give a really wonderful gift when I give someone something I have made. I can't afford to spend 50-100.00 on a person, but I CAN give a small piece of artwork that would sell for that much. Megan is sick, and I am beginning to feel sick myself. Megan just ran out to get more Zicam, and some cough medicine. We are drinking Emergen-C too. I crack myself up when I am making some of my cards. I should give this to Larry for a laugh. He thought he had a hard time getting any BEFORE the three guests set up residence in my small house. Now I know what I will give him for Christmas. A priceless gift. Ho Ho Ho. Oh Oh Oh. Patti O Joke...

It is time for bed, and my laptop battery is just about done for. I have worked, and then made the round trip drive to Newark Airport. No small feat for one who has a city travel phobia. Thankfully my friend Kip came with me, so that I was able to do it without any major breakdowns. A few spells of whining, but no major freak-out fests. (ask Megan about the time I got lost in Yonkers on a dark rainy night. I think I did a bit of damage on that one) But we're here and we are safe. And they are all sleeping after a day of travel. Poor Alanna has THE bug, Megan was thrown up on all day by both children, and traveling alone across half of the country. "Good thing we are here for five weeks" she growled. I am exhausted and remembered that grandparents hand the children back to the parents, and I preheat my bed and get ready for sleep, cause I have already DONE the parent thing. But I am a good right hand now and then. Patti O Grandparent

We're Only in it for the Money: A Group Show. Artists examine the current fiscal crisis. Larry picked up the show invites that have been dropped off around town for the show that I am in. The show was by invitation, and I have two of my off-color sassy pieces in it, which I posted on my Catskillpaper blog a while back. I have picked out fabulous frames and I will float the money collaged 1800's photographs onto a mat. People wonder why art is expensive. The frames alone were 20-28.00 without glass and my time to frame it. Even though I hate it, I am grateful that a good friend taught me how to frame years ago. I can't afford to have it done. Most artists can't. I can't charge more than 100.00 for either piece, as set by the gallery. I could go the cheap route in framing, but I always frame keeping in mind that I want to be proud to hang it in my home, or give as a gift, so I do my best to present the artwork to the world. It promises to be a fun and divers...

I am back from a vampire series watch-a-thon at Lois's-On-The-Hudson in Hyde Park. She lives in a condo which overlooks woods, in the winter you can see the Amtrack train as well as hear it, and it has a view of the west side of the Hudson River. Hyde Park is Romantic - Historic - home of FDR and Eleanor, The Vanderbilts, the Mills, and more. Lined with mansions juxtaposed with views of the Hudson. True Blood, an HBO mini series, was riveting, and done well like so many of the HBO series I have seen. We managed to watch 5 episodes, or 5 hours worth, uncorking a Beaujolais Nouveau, and when that was done, sipped on some Cirac, the smooth French grape vodka...accompanied by popcorn, cheese and crackers. In the morning Susan bought over coffee and bread, and we spent an hour to so knitting and crocheting in the mid morning light. A perfect sleepover. I came home to the continuing saga of the horrid lethal smell in my basement. For four days we have been trying to get to the bott...

First of all, if you have never had a thing like this photo live in your fridge, skip tonight's blog. It will be of no interest to you. But I suspect that a majority have had things worthy of a horror movie living in your fridge, and might get a chuckle out of my stories. These kind of finds terrorize me. I have told Larry he must dispose of the beast. I had a rough time photographing it, then altering it a bit in Photoshop. It all started when I was about 7 years old. I had gone to a friend's house and we made salt dough ornaments. Lovingly. Carefully. We read that they would dry on their own, so I covered our little creations with aluminum foil and put them in my closet, away from harms way. One day my friend called, probably a few weeks later, to ask me to bring them to her house in order to paint them. In Long Island I could never get lost as long as I followed the squares on the sidewalk, and did not cross the street. (geez, at such a young age I was aware of the ...

After day 7 of working two jobs, then going out till late, all I am good for is a blurt on how I spent my blog time tonight making a folder of thoughts for future blogs before they fade into the black hole of lost inspirations and ideas. Have you ever had that happen? You are in a place where you have neither computer nor pencil, or toilet paper to write upon---perhaps it in the shower, or while you are driving in intense traffic, or while you are on line at Walmart because you had to buy the ONE thing that the local merchants did not have. The idea explodes, then another and another and all of a sudden they go whoosh.....into the vortex.......never to be seen again. The brilliant blogs, the poems, the ideas for an image that you want to paint NOW but can't. So now I collect them as they come, and am stuffing them in the folder of "ideas". Patti O Organizer The Photo? Just a reminder that spring will come again

I have come back from watching a pretty heavy movie called Rachel Getting Married. As the parent of children who both once were in rehabs and/or psychiatric wards, it hit a lot of sensitive spots. Though far more dramatic than my own story, it was difficult to relive the years of 12-Step programs, the tears and the pain of not being able to help my children, having to face the part I played in the drama, and the day to day living in an atmosphere of mistrust and fear. Now that I have a better understanding of the bigger picture, and how it all unfolded, I realize that it is a part of our paths- such as my having to deal with marrying an abusive husband who was so like my father, whose offspring payed such a high price----as well as my children's having to come to terms with their own abusive father, and forgiveness of their mother who did the best she could under horrid circumstances. I am now very close with my daughter, and working on the relationship with my son. I have no dou...

I have to be honest. I am a procrastinator of things that I either don't want to do, don't like to do, or of things that I have a fear of doing. Categories include taxes, cleaning, colonoscopies, redecorating, paying bills, calling certain people, Christmas shopping, and painting on a giant white canvas. I usually end up getting most things done in their due time, but not without meltdowns and unnecessary stress because I have left things till the last minute, or give them attention that they really don't deserve. And more than a few times it has come to bite me in the ass, usually in the way of missing out on things I really wanted to do, or in late fees, missed rebates, refunds etc. * Those pesky art pieces that lay around half finished, not wrapped up enough to sell or even give away. This weekend I took care of a few of the "art pieces" that were potential finishes and actually finished them! I started AND finished my pieces for "We're in it for ...

I stopped at R and F yesterday to buy some of the iridescent encaustic paints. Larry had bought me a gold brick one year, and I wanted the silver and several others. When I looked at the catalog and saw that they were 25.00 a piece, I had to settle for silver and pewter. I tried out my Macy's sale electric fry pan which has a large surface and worked perfectly for what I needed, and played around with a few things that I had in mind. Today's posts are two examples of encaustic over antique photosgraphs with added antique rhinestones, which has inspired me to write another chapbook. The last one I self-produced was based upon altered photographs and called the titled of this blog, EAT MAN DRINK WATER (can be found in my pagibbons etsy shop)and is about a woman with a husband with a hunkerin for drinkin'. The next one will be titled "The Dogs Do Bark" and it will be as evil as the other. That dark Victorian morality humor. He he he. Contrary to popular belief,...

I made this card in the studio the other night. I wondered if I should scan it and send it to each of the neighbors on either side of me. Last weekend after Larry told me that the one dog had been barking at some ungodly late hour - or as my previous typo was "undogly" hour of the evening(in other words, a time not fit for even dogs to be outside alone). He heard a car pull up and promptly went over and knocked on the door. Apparently it was a relative or friend going into the house, adamant that the dog is never left out. Larry replied that he had a notebook with a list of the times and dates that the dog was loose, or barking for hours on end. I am sure he was as nice as he could be under the circumstances, but firm. The next day on my run into town, I went to the family business and dropped off a business card with my phone number to the young man of the house, and asked him to give it to his mother and have her call me. He said that she was working and I could speak...

I had to make art for a show that I am in. I had been percolating ideas, but until you start doing it, you really don't know where it all is going to end. I had a great time making the pieces, but I am not sure if Jouri will like them. Laugh, yes, for sure, but hang them in the gallery? They are bad - we shall see what he is made of!(photos of the wicked pieces and commentary about show are on my Catskill Paper blog I also made two more pieces which were jump started by the previous show pieces, and probably the act of cutting up money inspired these. I wonder if there is a market for W art. At the very least making the art was cathartic, and I am sure that I will make a few more before I can forget about him. Patti O Bush Wacker

I heard the geese this afternoon, heading somewhere south. Anywhere south. As I walked I felt the leaves had turned sharply crisper with several deep frosts, and I flashed back to the wind the other night, tossing flake filled pockets of cold air about in the inky blackness of an early hour on the mountain. Today I got serious. Out with the diaphanous fabrics, and in with velvets, cords, wools, and layers upon layers of comfort and warmth. Bathing suits seem a vision of the past. My skin turns milky white again, another year older and a bit more worn in. Early in the morning as I gaze into the rear view mirror for a CHECK ONE TWO, I notice how each year it settles more comfortably on my bones. The late summer Yoga for Bones class taught us awareness of our bones inside the body, and how to keep them safe as we age. That seems like a distant memory as the cold reminds me of the aches which hide deep within, and I make secret bets with my bones about the weather. They often win. S...

Last night I drove two friends up to Karen #1's house up on the mountain in Willow. I watched the temperature drop steadily on the EOS as I climbed in altitude. The little chime came on with the snowflake warning me of the potential for hazardous weather. YIKES...there were snowflakes whipping around in the wind! Willow is a little town outside of Woodstock and Bearsville, whose history I do not know. Other than farms and perhaps some hemlock cutting, I know little about this quaint old town other than it has a lot of deer and bear. Before I got there, a deer ran out towards the side of my car, necessitating trying out my ABS brakes. The car shuddered a bit and stopped rather quickly. Fortunately he/she narrowly escaped a rather sudden death, and I took a moment to breathe through my adrenaline rush. Karen #2 and Nanette were so busy chatting that they never saw the deer and were wondering what the hell was happening. The last time I drove up here, a deer jumped clear over the ...

Last nights concert at the EGG in Albany was intimate, moving, and for the most part thoroughly enjoyable. I have posted a photo of it here taken from the State site. There are better photos out there, but being very copyright conscious, I did not use them, but I believe because this one was on the state site, it is legal to use it, just like you can photocopy state/federal documents as many times as you want on that xerox machine, because folks, it is all done with our money and we own them. Yep, bet ya didn't know that! I remember when this was being built, in the 70's, by the architect who designed Rockefeller Center. We would drive by it and my father would snort some insult as to its design. Super modern for its time, (unlike him) it is super cool, and a great venue to hear music. In its several theaters I have heard Johnny Winter, Leon Russel, Susan Tedeski, and a few classical concerts there, an hour away from home. We were about 30 feet from the stage, off to the...

I have just returned from an overnight trip to celebrate both my and one of my dearest friend's birthdays. We went out to dinner with a few other mutual friends, and exchanged little gifts. She is a year older than me, and I met her when we were in the same painting class in college in 1977. Since then we have been to each other's weddings, cried during each other's divorces, birthed our children and celebrated the life of our grandchildren. She housed me while I was homeless for a few weeks with my two babies, found me a place to live, and though we only see each other several times a year, and live very different lives, there is the bond of friendship that will never be broken. It is awkward at times, as she is married to a very conservative Republican who is the head of his party in a place south of here which I won't mention (no sense in slandering anyone here)is a lawyer, and probably thinks of me as less than an equal due to my lower social status, my sex, and ...

I don't have much energy after a long day. Some of that is for another blog as I am going to be lazy and post a survey that I got from one of my friends. They always list me as a person likely to answer, because, well, I simply have fun doing these. I love to read things about people, and I love writing about my interesting little life. Surveys make me think about myself and what I do; and sometimes I see a pattern that says "do some readjustments. Perhaps it will do the same for you. Have fun. Four places that I go to over and over: A-This is pathetic...work, the post office, the bank and the liquor store. (I need to liven this up a bit more!) B- Four people who e-mail me regularly:Megan, Karen, Kip, Loel (oh but so many people do email me that it is really hard to pinpoint who and how much. My mind doesn't work like that) C-Four of my favorite places to eat: The Armadillo, Sobroso, Le Petit Bistro, Kyoto (hmmm...I like International, wouldn't you say?) D- Four ...

So part II of today's blog. As I pulled into the parking lot at school, my friend was blowing her horn at me in celebration of Obama's victory. She is black, and the only reason why I even say she is black, is because we have been sisters in this fight and hope for a new America.In my fantasy world, Obama will bring blacks and whites closer together..more so than ever. I have watched the magic happen even BEFORE he was elected. The irony of it all is that I have recently been accused of being racist by some students...me, of all people. Me, who hangs with people from all nations, all colors, all religions. Me who does not see color, except on my palette. It was very tense today in school. Many of us faculty were screaming and doing dances, hugging one another in the halls. There were those who said nothing and stood stony faced. Many students were heard to say "that N----- got in" and they were angry. I try not to judge them as I know that they are probably h...

After 11 hours of work I went out to watch the results of the election. I will be back later on with more, but am posting my two photos of election day morning as I walked out the door. Many of you have posted such lovely fall photos, and here are mine...my house and neighborhood wrapped in the soft fog that rolls in here when you have such warm mornings. Today it is 50 out, so I am debating sandals instead of the closed shoes I have been wearing. I leave you my house, my neighborhood till I get some time at lunch to post more. In the meantime, off to the showers! Patti, an Obama Mama who is proud to be an American again.

So here we are, the night before an election - an election with a charge that has electrified the nation. McSame or Nobama. I have seen and heard it all in these many months. I am surely tired of the negativity of what an election brings to the table, and try and focus on only positive thoughts and change. Remember the law of attraction. So to bring in the eve before the election, I went to the video store and rented Superbad. When I told Megan what I was renting, she replied "oh MOM, that is SO CRASS!". I laughed and said "honey, who do you think I have been teaching all these years?!" I made dinner, invited a darling co-worker friend over, and we celebrated a Monday night with fine cuisine, some libations, and a very funny movie. I am a sucker for such "crass" classics such as Caddyshack, Porkeys, Animal House and others, and I felt like Superbad was a continuation of the same, only a bit more updated. And I loved it. Crass, yes. Funny, absolutely...

I am addicted to paper, ESPECIALLY antique paper; prints, postcards, scrap, trade cards, valentines, etc. I remember when it started. I was in grad school for five years (hey, as a single parent of two, and teaching full time, I needed every BIT of the five years to do it!) and was researching and writing my thesis on the role of women in the American Craft Movement. Quilts, Tiffany's girls who put together the stained glass lamps, floor cloths, method paintings, needlework, and more. Then I discovered Ester Howland,who in the 1850's started her own business making handmade valentines. As I read about how women enlisted their families to run their own home business making such cards for extra money, ideas began to percolate. It was the handmade Valentines that inspired me to start making my own handmade cards, WAY before it was fashionable to do so. My early cards used vintage marbled paper and images from art books. But as I studied copyright law and explored my options...

What I love about Halloween is that I can dress like the way I do when I go out, or the way I would LOVE to dress if I did not fear people thinking I am a freak. Yeah, no matter where I wear my leather pants, people look. When I wear my green sweater that looks like someone's overgrown lawn, someone ALWAYS has a comment. I love my cowboy boots, (I have gulp - 5 or so pairs) I love my ruana from Ireland, and I love my Renaissance dresses from Moresca. But I just can't wear them all the time and anywhere I like. Especially when I need to keep a low profile or when I don't want people staring at me. Yesterday I wore a cobbed together outfit...my FAB leather pants (one of the best investments I ever made) my black leather boots, my hairy sweater and my horns which I bought on Etsy which looked REAL. Though I did not look like any one sort of creature, I certainly looked wild. (photos will be forthcoming as soon as someone gives me one from school) I took my lunch break to...