Patti Gibbons Art

I think I am going to periodically give away things on my blog that I no longer need, or that I need to feng shui. Books, art, decorative items. I have toooo much and need to make way for the new. If you get back to me before I leave town, I will ship this today. It is a book I liked, but no longer need. I think I have depression by its bullish horns and have given it a shake. And, if it sneaks back, I have a big bag of tools and tricks, and think I can get through it without drugs. I have taken medications over the years. They might have saved my ass. Some made me very sick however, and caused me many problems, thus my trying to figure out how to live life without them. Some of it took very hard work, and at times, still does. So this is a good book for someone who wants to understand more about depression, or knows of someone who might benefit from this book. Almost new condition. No dirt, food, drool, or wine stains. Comment or email me..... Off to get ready for adventures, w...

I am going to do my best to be nice here. I really don't like being mean, except to those who truly deserve it. My blog is a place where I like to have fun. Tell stories, dreams; hopefully I inspire some, make others laugh, and it seems, make others very angry. Which I guess is OK too as you can make some of the people happy some of the times...well, you know the rest of that old adage. Politicians have been the fodder for comics,artists,and writers for years. And they don't always stop when some of them leave office either. I think Mr. Bush will be one of them, and though we have a new president, people just don't forget the events of this past 8 years, including this recent election so easily. So no, I won't stop. It's my blog and I can do what I want to. (sung to the tune "It's my party......) You can start YOUR own blog and do the same. It's all fair game...EXCEPT I don't believe in being racist, homophobic, or saying anything that might ...

So it is day No. 6 of no sleep. I feel like I am cursed. Last night I gambled that there would be a snow day, which there was, and I stayed up to list things on Ebay and Etsy. I went to bed around midnight, and fell into a deep sleep. At 2 am the phone rings, making both Larry and I jump. My first thought is "it is the snow chain" but at 2 AM? I pick up the phone..and there is a silence on the other end. " Give me back my newspaper" the male voice says. "I think you have the wrong number" I reply. "I am your neighbor, and I KNOW WHO YOU ARE:. GIVE ME BACK MY PAPER, I KNOW YOU ARE STEALING IT". By now I am pissed and I hang up. I settle back into bed, and the phone rings again. "STOP STEALING MY PAPER AND GIVE IT BACK". I tell him he's got the wrong person and I hang up and wonder what I am going to do if this persists. He never calls back, but I lay in bed disturbed by it till 3:30 am. At 5:45 I get the call about the snow day. ...

The thing I love about my art, (some of it, not all of it) is it is payback to those who wronged me or others, without really doing anything other than telling a story on paper. I have yelled at my father for his cruelty, at my mother for having ruined my hair for so many years, and today's art is about mean boys. Boys who pull your hair, call you flatty Patti, dump you, sleep with your best friend and so on. Tonight's card was inspired by a story that Larry's sister told me. He is about 5 years older than her, and once stole her doll, put it in a "doll coffin", and lit candles around her, just like a real wake. Then he bought her downstairs to the basement and showed her his little display. He totally freaked her out, and she never forgot it. Well Anita, this one's for you. I have sold the two art pieces I have pictured here. It is strange that someone would want to buy such personal and autobiographical works, but it happens. Tonight's card will go o...

I don't have much energy to write. Probably because I have gone three nights without much sleep, and after a massage and a dinner out with a good friend, I don't have much left. But two days in a row, I have been left with images of ladies rooms that are just plain YUCK. Yesterday...a nice lunch in a fancy French restaurant in town. Champagne, good food, topped off with a trip to the ladies room before I head a few miles west to Woodstock. I enter the ladies room, and it is pathetic. Worn, chipped wood. The decor is a few lonely shells strung along a shelf. The art work is wrinkled from some moisture, its origin uncertain. I look around and think, it wouldn't take much to transform this to a place that ladies would be comfortable visiting. I wonder what the men's room looks like, and I immediately turn the image off. Tonight a different restaurant, same scenario. Lovely place, and I have to take a trip to the powder room before I head home. The toilet doesn'...

My day started off with another night of sleep deprivation. At 3:10 am, the neighbor let the dog outside, and he barked till 5:30 AM. Big deep barks, about 10 feet from my window. Somewhere around 4 AM Larry went over there to knock on the door. No answer. Can't call the police, because they are useless. Been there done that, and they never show. I think I slept 4 hours before I was awake for another 3. I slept in for a few more before I got up and started my day. Since I could not get to yoga, I went to the gym for the first time in forever and did 1/2 hour on the elliptical, going a bit over 2 miles. It had been SO long since I had been to a gym that my trusty Ipod was dead, and I was relegated to doing some people watching. I check out the young woman in the skin tight tank top and low cut pants who is lifting weights like a pro. Definitely in good shape, and cute to boot. I see a couple of middle aged men walking around the gym most of the time. They lift a weight here a...

It has been a rough start to the weekend. Larry has an infection from a cracked tooth beneath his cap, and has to go to the oral surgeon on Monday. So he has been in bed all day, and sick and groaning. I make a very very bad nurse, as I have no patience for groaners, but have done my best to be kind and made a humongous pot of chicken soup for him to eat. I am going to go upstairs to watch either Rivers and Tides, or Titus with him. I did my own dentist thing yesterday, but my check up was great save for a tiny cavity near an old filling that has to be redone. Then I went to Rhinebeck to have my hair "enhanced" a bit. Before Lois did my hair, I took a few of my Canadian aspirin that I smuggled in to the country (the ones that have some codeine in them with aspirin and caffeine) as I was having a really nasty ache in my shoulder. I don't remember injuring it, sort of like my last shoulder injury which took 2 years to heal, and I don't want to go through THAT again. ...

Tonight I had the most fabulous therapy appointment and field trip. Though Peg is my therapist, she is also my mentor. I credit not only my mental health to her, but my courage to take risks and adventures in the spiritual and artistic realm. She is a gift from the universe, given to me at a time when I needed it most. I am ready for great adventures. In fact I crave it. Entering shows, joining art organizations in places that count. Searching for residencies/fellowships for the summer. Planning for future trips around various US spots and Europe. A girl has got to have dreams, and I dream big. And I have come to realize that dreams CAN come true. After Pegs, I headed over to Woodstock to meet an old friend whom I taught with before they cut the music program out of our school. For 5 years he has been designing and building a 7 million dollar log home in Woodstock, and I got to see it for the first time today. Can I just say...UN-FRIGGIN-BELIEVABLE?! Three floors, and the floors ar...

I got tagged on Facebook by one of my cybespace friends for something called 25 Random things. I did it, as I love to play such games, only I will have to figure out the Facebook details tomorrow, but it made for a good post for tonight. The image is from fact #18, and is one of the many pieces I have in my collection. I wrote a zine about my obsessions, and my obelisk obsession is in the zine, replete with images and a story. 25 random things about me. 1. I am a true red head in case you were wondering and no, I don’t color my hair, just put in some highlights now and then. 2. I have had three long term relationships. Married 2 of them, Divorced #1, still married to #2, and I think it is till death do us part. 3. I am fiercely independent. 4. I love to write, and make art. It is an integral part of my life. 5. I am a never recovered Catholic who spent time in a Buddhist Monastery this past year and loved it. 6. I hate to work out. 7. I quit smoking twice in my life, the last time b...

It was a historical day for our country. I won't go on and on about it, because by now, I am sure you have heard it all. But it was amazing. My principal got up in front of the entire school and encouraged the students to take note of this moment in history as we began our school-wide celebration. She talked about how she marched for civil rights, and got pushed off the streets by policemen on horses, others sprayed by fire hoses. I have been reading Maya Angelou's novel "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Larry gave it to me for my birthday. Perfect reading for a time like this, and it is hard to believe that it has taken my entire lifetime of 50+ years to get to the point where people are appreciated for their ability, not their color. What we did today in our Alternative High School was pretty amazing. We started with an assembly to prepare the students for the day, then we ran a series of 30 minute seminars related to the big day, such as Finding Peace Within Y...

And no, farewell to Bush does not mean that I am shaving. In fact, the other day in class, we had quite the conversation about Americas obsession with getting rid of body hair, washing our clothes even if they are not dirty, and an our aversion to any natural smell of the human body. We shave it off, scrub it out, and we are still a bunch of dirty Americans in our rampant pollution of the earth. Elizabeth, a writer from Philadelphia wrote an excellent blog the other day titled The Age of Innocence is Over ; she writes about our wasteful habits and the need to do our best to live green. But I diverge. I went to a party last night that was a farewell to Bush. I love my bush, I love Kate Bush, I can even handle Bush Beans, and I don't mind bushwhacking, but THIS Bush has been the bane of this country and it was a joyous event to celebrate the end of his reign. He and his cronies have done much to destroy our environment, our economy, our image, and our Constitution this past 8 ye...

I just watched a short video that made me cry, of a brief talk make by an Australian man, Nick Vujicic . Maybe many of you have seen it already, but it got me in the gut, and I found tears streaming down my face. It is a video that I will show the kids in my classroom. I am sure some of them will laugh and poke fun of the guy, but I know it will be out of discomfort or nervousness. It puts life and one's complaints in perspective. And the message..."never give up", is so important for both the young and the old. Which brings me to my topic...the Bucket List, another email sent to me today by a different friend, about how we should never put off till tomorrow....as we don't know how many tomorrows we have. Perhaps you might want to copy this list into a word processing program and keep just for yourself...to review from time to time to see if you have been following your dreams. (x) Been to Europe (But want to go again) ( ) Been on a cruise-hmmm...now that is an...

At 51, I would think that I have one up on the kids. Not in the school that I work in. In alternative education, you hear EVERYTHING. Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, rap, blues, more sex and more drugs, it is a constant edu-ma-cation. Today I had a young woman come in and say: "so and so (name deleted) totally freaks me out". "Why?" I query. She replies: "oh he sits in the back of the bus and asks questions like do my curtains match my carpet?". I look at her, and ask "what is wrong with that?", as I figure that the person asking the question is anal retentive and try and imagine what their home looks like. The kids AND the staff are staring at me in a quizzical kind of manner. In my naivety, I say "what is wrong with that?". A twitter goes around the room and they look at me like OH MY GOD, WHAT PLANET IS SHE ON?. I sense the suppressed laughter and know that there is some deep hidden meaning to this question, but at the end of a...

The other night, after a few weeks of getting back to our life after Megan and the children left, I suddenly realized there were parallels in our life to the Benjamin Button movie. Over the past year, and even more so during the holidays (when I wasn't sick) Larry and I have been doing some partying (in a modest and responsible way) by going out to dinner, going to the movies, opening bottles of wine, inviting people over, going over to friends houses, celebrating, laughing, snuggling and purring............like teenagers discovering the adult world. I spent some time thinking about it, and realized that when we met 14 years ago, I was in the throes of single parenting, which all went rapidly sour after meeting Larry. (nothing to do with him...just circumstance) He should have left after meeting the kids for the first time, and getting kicked in the shins by a nine year old while he was helping me move furniture. During the teen years, I don't know how he hung in there --- I d...

A busy day. School, packing up the sales I had in the past 24 hours on Etsy. Though it may be hard to sell art, I have many fabulous things to sell to USE in art, so I have been keeping busy listing on Etsy and Ebay, hoping to make enough money to pay another studio heating bill. I got my largest heating bill EVER yesterday. Six weeks of working in the studio cost 160.00. Most of the time the heat is at 40 and when I am in there, I pump it up to 65 or so. Sheeeeit. There is still 3 months of winter left. GULP. One of my friends suggested I go solar, but somehow I have this idea stuck in my head that it will cost me a lot of money. And, as Larry pointed out, there are lots of trees around my studio, so it might not be practical. But in spite of all of this, I realized that there ARE some things in life that are free, like the coffee/tea that is served in my bank. Too bad it doesn't open till 9 am, cause I would figure out how to make many transactions there during the week ...

In a snowstorm I wrote this and posted this to my art blog. Tonight, when I am tired and full of cramps, and post movie MILK, I am posting this poem here. More to follow at a time when I have more energy. As I fold laundry In murky silence of storm I hear movement of gears On mantle clock. Tick tock Tick tock The gong sounds Bongggggggggggggggg Bongggggggggggggggg - a moment of silence Tick tock Tick tock Grey snow glows outside window. Swoooooosh of slush from passing cars Agitation of laundry in wash Rain on roof. drip drop. Drip drop. Tick tock Tick tock.

I have vivid dreams nearly every night. I fly, I travel, I move into new houses, I fight, I have adventures that only those who dream could experience. I love my dreams, and sometimes wisps of them overlap into my day, confusing me, making me wonder if I really have traveled somewhere the night before. Last night (in the dream) Larry's cat got let out of the house by my daughter. (He loves his black half Siamese cat who plays fetch with stuffed mice, a gift from me for his birthday about 10 years ago and our cats NEVER go outside). I freaked, as I knew he would be a total mess until Shiva was back in the house. I got in my car to look for him. I was so crazed that I was driving around in a flooded parking lot with my top down (car top that is) I kept getting stuck in the mud, thinking what a mess my car was going to be with the mud flying out from under the front wheels. I could not find him, so I went back home. In the house was a young man who was a friend of my daughters....

It's a snowy day here in the Hudson Valley. My friends came over early to hang out. I was prepared for them with some brie and crackers, and cassis and champagne drinks. It was after noon, why not? The Christmas tree is still up, so as far as I am concerned, we are still in the holiday mode. Just when I was about to head across the river to see Lois, it started snowing, so all plans cancelled. Instead I went to my attic where even those clutter buster folks would shudder. I cleaned off one minor surface, and came away with a folder of old prints and such which I am listing on ebay and etsy. While researching some old prints and art, I googled myself which is something I periodically do in images and on the web. I was rather disappointed that more art did not come up under the images, no matter what I put in. Patti Gibbons, P.A. Gibbons, etc. But I did come up quite a bit on a web search, and while cruising around I re-connected with one artist friend, found an article with...

I have gone back writing my art blog. I could not let it languish in cyberspace, and once I recuperated from the weeks of 12 hour days, I decided to keep it going, understanding that there are cycles in my art life, as in everything else, and there may be periods of time where I don't post. I keep two separate blogs as I figure not all artists want to read about my personal life, and some who read my personal blog might not be that interested in my art. My art blog talks about the shows, the swaps, the risks, journey, and process of my art, which is a sub-life of its own. Stop by Catskillpaper some time for a look into the right side of my brain. Tonight's images are from my recent studio work. The bottom piece is for a swap which I have named "Detritus Art", otherwise known as cleaning my studio while making art from the debris. It has been fun, and that was one of the reasons I joined a swap. I needed to put some art into the world to share with others, an...

I'm in love with Victoria's Secret, but wait, we are jumping the gun on the story. A two hour delay this morning. Fabulous. Unexpected, another gift from the universe. Or is it. No one is able to get into any kind of routine with snow days and delays . The kids are grouchy, the teachers are grouchy. We are all trying ease back into this structured school environment. What the kids sometimes don't understand is - I get it. I go out to the car. My car cover/blanket cover worked, except that I had to take it off before it froze to the car. Then I was faced with drying out a cover that seems the size of an elephant, and the color of one too. (I propped it on my easel and have been drying it in the studio) But the windows opened fine this morning, and I headed to work. Because I should not talk about my job here, I will only say that it was a challenging day. Just when I thought I have experienced everything, some new drama/emergency/situation arises to test how quickly...

Most of you who know me have heard my famous joke about failing the Martha Stewart school of housekeeping and organization. One look at my house, and you will know that I DO NOT spend my time cooking, cleaning, or organizing. Playing, making art, socializing - yeah baby, but being domestic, blech. Though not dirty, or totally messy in every room, my house is an prime example of a lived-in house occupied by two collectors/artists. Paperwork piles on the kitchen counter. Sometimes on the dining room table. Glasses of all shape and kind litter surfaces that range from the mantle to the hall table (hmm...I wonder whose they are...) Then there is my computer room, where I sit and write, sell my art and collectibles, filled with piles and envelopes full of things that I sort and measure. When necessary, I clean off the couch to watch TV. Yet people come back, and so far no one has yet stepped in any cat vomit or stray turds from the long haired feline. But on snow days, where I can...

I am tired and almost said "furrrgetaboutit" when it came to writing tonight's blog. But I got inspired by taking a few photos tonight, the night of "Little Christmas" , day #12 of the 12 days of Christmas. It is snowing out. It's light, fluffy, and pretty now, however it is also going to sleet and throw down some freezing rain to boot. I can't deal with a totally frozen up car again, so I decided to try out my new car cover, but I was told that I should put down an old blanket first. I did that, but it only covered the windshield and the roof up to the back window, and am fearing everything sticking to the car and making a huge mess only to be undone with above freezing temperatures or hot water. Sigh. I will report back tomorrow. I took a few shots..inside - the mantle, the lights by the side door, and the neighbor's house. Hand held, no flash shots, which can get blurry or grainy unless you get lucky - but you still get the feeling...of ...

Over the vacation I have managed to watch a few films that were either laying around here from Megan or my mom, or ones that have been gathering dust from Netflix. I watched two scary movies. I know, wrong holiday, but Larry loves horror genre films, while I consider most of the modern ones repetitive scenes of unnecessary violence which are poorly done. (save for Silence of the Lambs - oh so excellent) But I will watch them, closing my eyes if I can't deal with what is happening, or going to sleep. First was "The Happening" by M. Night Shyamalan with Mark Wahlberg and John Leguizamo. Not a great thriller, but an interesting message. Man ruining the earth till it fights back. It held my attention, though it could have been kicked up a notch or two in the intellectual realm. 3.5 stars. Then there was "The Stranger" with the beautiful Liv Tyler. The young director definitely attained his goal of terror (I watched the extras) in this film. Young couple ends ...

It has been said ....sigh....that I could make something perverted out of thin air. It is a skill that I have honed over my lifetime, and held against me by #2. Don't know where it came from, considering that I was raised in a strict Catholic family where the word tampon could shake the world. Actually, I think I was so repressed, that my sexuality eventually started to leak out somewhere, and it started in my humor. The tampon story for your entertainment: I remember being about 12, sitting in my parents living room and reading my mother' s Reader's Digest, probably looking for the jokes and the "increase your word power" section, which were the only things that interested me. I came across an ad of a young girl riding on a horse, stating that with Tampax, you could be safe riding a horse, swimming, bowling etc. Wow I thought, this is magic, whatever it is..something very mysterious and cult like. BUT WHAT WAS IT? Both my parents were miraculously sitting d...

I started to clean out the hall linen closet near my bathroom. It houses my sheets, towels, personal care items and more - sometimes a sneaky cat. The closet is deep, and things often go missing for a L O N G time in the inkiness of the back. As I was cleaning I found a PILE of old fabrics that I had bought at auction about 10 years ago.They were from a lot of partially assembled quilt blocks, and the fabrics were from the 1930-50's. As I carefully and lovingly unfolded each piece, trimmed, ironed and folded it to sell on Etsy , (I have decided that I must not get diverted by other things so that I can really delve deeply into my art) I took a trip back in my past. This fabric reminds me of my mother's apron collection, and this one of the pot holder set in the white metal cabinet in our kitchen in Long Island. This pile over here reminds me of my Scottish great aunts, who wore cotton shirt dresses with thick black shoes. I loved them very much, rutabagas, boiled eggs ...