Patti Gibbons Art

WOAH. The summer went by and I did not make one post! It was a busy summer since I worked most weeks 6 days a week, whether in the Tibetan shop, teaching privately, or in my Rhinebeck studio.  I took a week of to go to the Cape, but the rest of the summer I was hard at work. Since I left teaching, summers off are a memory of the past. I thought that I would have a hard time working all summer for the first time in many years, but when you are doing things that bring you joy, and are no longer in a soul-sucking job, it isn't much like work at all. While on vacation I got a phone call from Lea at Marist College, asking if I was interested in being in a class thru WEDC , an educational program for women in business. It was a no-brainer, and I soon found out how little I really knew about being in business.  It is a 60 hour class, and I get a certificate at the end of it. I  have to write a business plan, present it to the instructors, the class, and other outsi...

I love Cape Cod- the ocean, the dunes, the hiking, the salt marsh, the food. Wellfleet. Provincetown. Orleans. Seals. Whale watching. Mack's Shack. Jules Besch. Kayaking Boating. And junking. Garage sales and estate sales abound on the Cape. Even if you don't buy a thing, you get to see the inside of many an incredible (and some not so incredible) homes. This trip's finds were not as plentiful as usual, but still for under 30.00 I got the following Foley Food Mill 2.00 (oh all that tomato and apple sauce I will make with this) 1907 6" thick illustrated Webster dictionary 2.00 (collage heaven) Stretcher Bars 1.00 - for the roll of canvas I will be getting from a friend Frames 1.00 for the little watercolors I do. 2 vintage John Denver songbooks 1.00 - that is to resell on eBay Phillips charging/speaker system for iPod/iPhone 20.00 for my studio. Old glass slides to make "slides" with. (I use them to make ornaments)  I can't wait t...

I write less than I have in the last five or so years. After retiring/reinventing my life, I thought that I'd have all kinds of time to write. But I am busy working a bunch of jobs, and trying to get my studio/shop off the ground. I made a new website for my studio in Rhinebeck, P.A. Gibbons Studio .  I started a blog under the same name. I joined the Rhinebeck Chamber of Commerce, Art Along the Hudson, and am part of the Artist Studio Views in September. All require money, and all require writing in one form or another. Most of my creative writing these days are in the form of my morning pages as I am revisiting The Artist's Way.  Having done it about 10 years ago gave me the confidence to build my studio at home. Now that I have opened up a new studio, one that is a little shop/gallery/studio/teaching space, I need to work on building my confidence as an artist and business owner. It's been a lot of hard work, and some hard lessons. Like YES it DOES take money to m...

February is a month of 50 shades of grey...the light blue grey of the landscape during a snowstorm, the dark grey of a storm moving in or moving out, the grey of the snow after it's been around for a few days,  the grey that has invaded my hair. I find myself doing grey scales with my art students, hoping they see and learn how to make its many subtle variations. I make grey scale landscapes, and  surround them in domes of snow.... Storm after storm have rolled in, creating a monocrhomatic landscape devoid of color, deposting piles of moisture that I measure with a yardstick, piles that have wrecked my back and Larry's arms.  I have lost the compost bins, I have lost my stone walls.  I have forgotten what colors lie beneath the layers of snow and ice, and can only hope that my roof and gutters will hold up with its weight. I find myself grateful for odd things like snow tires and Canadian boots. Today's boots are grey, as is my coat and cashmere ...

The problem with being self employed, is that when you don't work, you don't get paid. So, when I wake up in the morning, and it is starting to snow, I have to make the decision whether I can go to work. Yesterday I opted to stay home from my job at the Tibetan Shop, which closes when no one can make it into work.  I figured the price of my auto deductible is much more than what I make there, so it was a no-brainer.  I stayed home and....PAINTED. Today my painting student cancelled; his road had not been plowed yet.  Fortunately I had a few hours to put in another job who will take me as much as they can get me- a few hours a week, and I have one student who comes every week, no matter the weather.   Tomorrow I will not go to my studio in Rhinebeck, so I will go for a few hours tonight, pack up what I need, take care of some business, and get ready to hunker down, and work from home. Today's painting is titled "After the Storm". One of my 5 x 5 O...

Friday night was the soft opening of my new studio, in Rhinebeck, NY.  My studio is my working and teaching studio, as well as a gallery and wholesale/retail outlet for my cards. It is located at 18 Garden Street in Rhinebeck, and is upstairs from my good friend Judi Esmond's business Hudson Valley Pottery.   If you are a Facebook junkie like I am, you can find the FB page link to my studio's  on Hudson Valley Pottery's website link to me.... HERE , as well as get a brief bio/description of my work.  It was well attended, and I am always thrilled that my friends come to support me now, as they have for many years. I was not totally prepared - sales wise, as people wanted a price list of the art, which I had not gotten to yet. In my mind, it was not meant to be a "sale" opening, and I figured I would sell some cards/journals, but to my great surprise I sold two paintings and a mixed media collage!! I was so honestly unprepared for sales that I did NO...

I found this draft .... obviously forgot to post it. So rather than waste it---here it is! It's worth a quick look at the photos at the very least! Above is a selection from  December's photo essays on "light", a daily practice . I will print up a little book of these when I have time.   As I look at my interpretations of light and the world around me - much of it in the back yard or neighborhood, I see just a little bit of magic in every one.  It reflects how my life is now...magic every day.  2013 was an interesting year....I had the most difficult year at work, a struggle with illnesses, which prompted me to make a major life change. A giant leap of faith to leave the world of the good paycheck to enter a world of self employment. And so far, it's worked out just fine. Now..with 2014 just underway, I start another life change by opening my own gallery/studio/teaching space in Rhinebeck, a lovely picturesque town on the east banks...