Patti Gibbons Art

My love for Olana runs deep. I wish I could remember the first time I visited it; it was probably at a time that I choose not to remember, like when I was raising two kids alone, working, and going to graduate school. But I am a sucker for romance, landscapes, Victorian painting, and exotic architecture, so I fell in love at first sight. I have made several paintings and numerous sketches of the site and landscape, and photographed it many times, during different hours and during all four seasons. I have been married there on the autumnal equinox at sunset. I have embellished my house with decorative objects that I have bought in the gift shop. I have sipped on wine and watched the sun set over the Hudson. I have heard the crunch of snow and ice, and felt the suction of mud on my boots on a late winter day. I have watched the sun reflect the windows at sunset, and witnessed the house turn a liquid gold on a hot summer day. I fantasize about living in the house and painting the la...

Larry and I promised ourselves a break after the holidays to spend time together on a little romantic jaunt. We headed north, crossed over the Hudson, and headed to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. As we drove thru the Berkshires, we saw the horrid damage from the last storm. The tops of the trees along a several mile stretch were all broken off from the severe ice build up. The weaker ones were flattened, the younger ones losing the weakest branches and the tops. It was surreal. We stopped in Great Barrington for lunch at a Thai restaurant, and went to the Outfitter store which had a GREAT buy on winter boots. As my feet were freezing in my leather boots, I bought myself a pair of Canadian boots - Pajars. The last pair of Canadian boots I had were toasty warm, the bottoms lined with some kind of silver space age material. They lasted for years until I rode them horseback riding and they got full of mud and manure, got thrown into the basement, only to fall victim to the mold monster. ...