Patti Gibbons Art

I read my friend's recent blog about missing her aunt who had passed away a year ago, and she related a sweet/funny/sad story about an early memory of her dear auntie. It touched my heart, as my aunt is in the hospital dying of cancer as I type. I plan on going to see her early this week. I hope she lasts till then. My other aunt, her sister, asked me not to post it to the Internet. I think some kind of family feud is going on in her head; she is angry with my cousins who were only trying to help them, so I suppose so she did not want them reading about her dying sister, THEIR aunt, on my blog. But this side of my family has always kept secrets, does not like to air their dirty laundry, which now makes me very suspicious. But that is for another blog. When my father was sick with cancer, we had to keep it a secret from him. How unfair it was to a family of four children who never got to yell at him for what he did, or give him a chance to explain or apologize, or settle differen...

The rain is pounding down upon the tin roof where I type. I would like to be enjoying the rain, like some of my friends on Facebook who are posting cozy fuzzy comments like "enjoying the rain while reading, sipping wine to the humm of the droplets". And all I can think is PLEASE GOD, DON'T LET THE STUDIO FLOOD. I didn't get to do a clean up before the downpour. With each downpour of rain I become more and more agitated and despondent - sure that I am going to need the plastic bags, gloves, wet-vac, towels, and have to spend hours of tomorrow cleaning up water and possibly mud. I keep remembering Katrina and the damage it did, and then feel guilty for feeling put out by the mess and inconvenience. You think by now I would have nothing on the floor, and keep everything in plastic. But studios don't work that way; especially mine. It's bad enough I am perseverating on water, but after reading some FB posts, I think I have tomato blight and did not know it. I...

Some of you may thing this cruel, but listen first before you judge. Woodchucks have lived on my little piece of 100 x 100 property for a long time. As do rabbit, deer, skunks, possums, squirrels, birds....and I live in a city. I don't mind their passage through my yard, though they have decimated my crops from time to time as well as my flowers. Sometimes I have to clean up after them; especially the deer like to poop on the lawn. No biggie. We deal. But when the woodchucks too up residence by my side porch and dug a HUGE hole along the foundation of my house, my eyebrows were raised. Constant dirt on my steps, a hole getting bigger and bigger. Then there was the weird smell by the end of last summer. I scoured my back porch for any little turds that may have dropped off my long hair cat. Moved everything to make sure some piece of fish or food did not drop off a plate, and looked in every bag/container to make sure that there was nothing organic in them. Nada. Clean as...

If you think this painting looks familiar, it indeed is. It is the painting that was born from the photo I took of the Hudson River from Olana, and has been my Blog photo for a while now. Perhaps I will change the photo to my painting when I have a bit more energy. The landscape has been my passion for 30+ years, and only now am I listening to voice that has plagued me for years -- to paint. In graduate school I studied that art of the Hudson River landscape painters as well as American art and craft, and it is only now that I have totally joined with them in spirit by painting the very land that they painted 100 years ago. When I am not painting I have been having too much fun. Lots of parties and openings with wonderful people, music and hoop dancers. Lately I have been doing a lot of living, and very little writing about it. And that is OK too. Today was an hour and a half yoga class after not going since March. My knees, hips and back were very unhappy with me, but I shut ou...

I have spent the past few days painting, and not writing. I can't seem to do both in the same day it seems, so I am writing early. Hours pass seamlessly while painting, quiet save for the meditational music that I play, or the occasional phone call that I take. Before I know it the day has slipped away, the sun rising and falling (when there is sun) and I feel like I have been in suspended animation. I remember hearing Deepak Chopra talking once about this "suspension of time" and the slowing down of body functions which can happen when an artist is deeply immersed in his/her work. I totally understand it. It's like a deep meditation. The paintings have been struggles. I have learned some things, while becoming frustrated with others. While I have some colors and methods down, others challenge me. I have made mud in parts, and already don't want to fall into formulas and composition ruts. I also have to learn when to stop a painting and accept it for what ...

Another glum rainy day in the Hudson Valley. I did not feel like going out today, and was totally into grunge. Hair in a bun. Unshowered. No bra. Old jeans and a tank top. No earrings, NO LIPSTICK. I spent most of the day working in the studio, cleaning up messes, making cards for WHO I DON'T KNOW as no one is buying them right now and listing them in Etsy, where I sell very few. Sometimes I wonder why I keep doing it. Making these cards I mean. Few people write any more, at least not on paper, never mind blank cards that require a bit of penmanship and creativity to say something on one's own. Yet I still like making these miniature collages, and in the past they have paid my studio heating bills, though this year, I am not so sure about that. Yet with the recent rejections of my mixed media work, the loss of a fab client, and a very slow market, I keep seeing the signs. PAINT Patti. PAINT. Fads come and go, styles and techniques go in and out of style, but paintings...

I did not know what to write this morning for my blog, and was just going to let it be until I was inspired. No sense in writing about the routine of my day..unless it had an interesting story, a lesson, or a laugh. I don't want to bore. I am not boring. But this morning when I saw that Frank McCourt had died, I felt a keen sadness at the loss of a great writer and man, and knew I would pay tribute to him. I have been in therapy for the past 20 years. I am not ashamed to admit it, and some of my friends even say it is taboo to post that in a public forum. But we are not in the 50's anymore, and I bet if every person went to therapy, the world would be a better place. Yet in spite of all of my therapy, there was one book that changed my life with insight into some of the dysfunctions of my Irish family, and that was Angela's Ashes, a story about poverty, abuse, and Catholicism. My father's family wore their Irish/Scottish heritage proudly. My grandfather's Iri...

As I was getting off my last connection last night, I passed the cockpit, its instrument panel lit up in the late evening darkness. I stopped and was both amazed and overwhelmed by the array of dials, digits, and switches. I had wished for once that I was the last one off, and had whipped out my camera for a photo. "How do they read that"? I asked myself. I can barely keep track of my speed, gas gauge, and engine temperature on my car. Add the GPS and I am almost over the edge with visual information while I am driving. Its enough to make me twitch and prompt a migraine. Which brings me to the Wii...my four year old granddaughter is better at Mario Kart than I am. On the Wii---I am a LOSER. I can barely figure out how to steer the damn thing, never mind knock people off the road, use the track layout to figure out the next turn, note where I am on the track, capture icons that give me super powers, and know when to use them. I was such a poor driver that I actually made...

To be fair to my grandchildren, here is a photograph of my little grandson Randy who will be 1 in a few weeks. He is an energetic little boy, but no more so than any 1 year old boy should be. He loves his Mimi, showering me with his two toothed smiles. I head to the Nashville airport in a few minutes, ready to come home and start my summer vacation of painting, writing, and getting some house projects done. (mainly cleaning, haha). I've been off track for a several months due to illness and company, but now I am ready to get back in the fast lane and I have got PLANS. So...till tomorrow when I am back in NY, Patti O Flyer

The flight was great. Alanna was great. I have been enjoying my laid back time here, Megan and Dole cooking for me, and playing with the kids, meeting more of their friends. The weather here is crazy, going from 77 with cloud cover, to over 90 when it shines in between the clouds. I haven't felt weather this warm since the last heat spell in NY...was it in May? The storms here are strong, stronger than I care for. Thunderstorms are severe, viciously throwing bolts about the flat landscape. Tornadoes blow through more often than I care for. Dole said to me: "if you hear hail, head to the laundry room". "Why?" I asked. "Breaking glass?". "No" replied Dole. "Tornadoes". The week or so before one touched down on base, and the strong winds tossed their glass topped table and chairs about; miraculously the glass survived. It is a strange place, this military base. A canon shoots off every day at 5, followed by the distant sound...

Wow..I am really behind on blogging. Being a full time grandmother has changed my whole routine dramatically. But the time given to her was time well invested, and when I get back I will be back into my creative mode and paint and write on a regular basis. We fly back to Kentucky tomorrow morning...an 11:23 flight out of Albany, arriving in Kentucky around 4. One two hour lay-over, perfect for a bathroom break and lunch with Ms. Alanna. I am well prepared, with coloring books, stickers, crayons, notebooks, raisins and pretzels in my carry-on. ' I cried a few times today, thinking about bringing her back. We have settled into a comfortable routine, even finding friends her age to play with. It has been an incredible experience, to spend so much quality time with her, at a point in my life where I am mellow, stable, have enough money to do what we want. Larry and I nurture and give her lots of life experiences. It doesn't hurt that I have the summers off, and that Larry ...

I have been having problems posting every day. Sometimes my morning is absorbed by Alanna, and honestly, by the end of the day, I am wiped and too tired or uninspired to write. It is a reminder of how much parents give up for their children/grandchildren.... I have however, been reading, flying though at least a book a week. One of my recent reads have been Water for Elephants, a mesmerizing well researched novel about life in the circus during the Depression. I have never been to a circus, but do visit it's sister sidekick, the Carnival, which comes to our city every year. A friend of mine told me she won't take her grand kids to a place where people that put your kids/grand kids on ride are the very people you would avoid on the street. I beg to differ. Yeah, the carnies are an odd bunch of people. Many rough, toothless, struggling folks, weathered by cigarettes, booze, and a life of constantly moving. They are survivors. It might not be the life we choose, but they are ...

I have laid low the past few days, spending time with Alanna that has been wonderful for us both. I broke away for a hair appointment with Lois, after which we jetted off to catch a quick Cosmo before a movie in Red Hook. Tuesday is 4.00 night there, so we were bound and determined to see SOMETHING. We ended up seeing "My Sister's Keeper" which I thought was a light movie. NOT. I cried through the entire movie. By the time I left the theater I looked like I had smoked up big time. I ducked into my car, and drove home into a horrid storm, watching the light show over the mountains, wondering what town was being slammed with a severe thunderstorm, only to hear that 2" of hail and sleet landed an hour south of us. No surprise. The movie was tough. Cancer in a child. Heart rendering decisions. Love.Desperation.Death. Healing. All too close for me, but yet on some level I need to watch such movies and garner what I can from them NOW, when I am strong. Today was a do...

Larry and Alanna walking to the Sanctuary A very LARGE pig This goat lost a leg being hog tied It's Monday, but it is still the weekend in this household. Larry took four days off, today being the last one. Alanna has been thrilled to have both her grandparents home for four days, and it helps ME out a bit as I have been her caregiver during the day when he is working. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my grandchildren. But I am so thankful that Larry and I never did have a child together in our later years, 'cause simply, I don't have the energy for 24/7 kids, and man, it is very hard to make art. But we DO manage to have a lot of fun and we are full of tons of love and adventure, and that is what counts anyway. One of our more interesting adventures this weekend was to visit the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary , beautifully nested in the mountains of the Catskills in Willow. We wandered around the sanctuary for hours, in and out of fields and pens that held pigg...

It's not funny anymore. Each day seems the same as the day before, and the day before that. Sun, then clouds, then rain and thunderstorms, more sun, then a repeat of clouds, rain, thunder. The grass never dries out enough to mow, and my basement smells damp and moldy. The driveway and my studio roof are growing beautiful green moss, as green as any I saw in Ireland. I don't know if I sport freckles, or mold all over my body. My allergies tell me that it's all mold. Anything is possible when you live in a rain forest. Every time I put the top down on the VW, even if there is NO cloud in the sky, I am in it for a few minutes before a big dark cloud comes out of no where and rains on my parade.Up till today I have second guessed the clouds and remained dry. Then my luck ran out. One shower forced me to pull over and put up the top two blocks from home, the other appeared out of a sunny sky, with a handful of innocuous clouds dotting the sky, which were apparently saturate...

Our day started with a 10:30 am play date at the park which meant hot sweaty running around and then a visit to our little city zoo. The "zoo" has been in existence for years, and thanks to some local support, keeps getting bigger. The animals look a bit rough in my humble opinion, though since I have not grown up on a farm, I am not sure if this is how all animals look anyway. One goat has a stiff leg that won't bend, one of the white deer has a tumor on it. A bunch of the birds have feathers missing on their backs, though I SUSPECT that it might be because the males keep jumping on them for some YOU KNOW WHAT. One of the rabbits is morbidly obese, the sheep is dirty, and the bull is over his hocks in mud as his entire pen is a mud hole (no wonder with all the rain). The llama is a pill, and I haven't seen it standing upright yet. The peacocks seemed well enough, as did some of the exotic birds. I wonder if these animals are rescues or rejects, but children of ...