Patti Gibbons Art

The past two days I have managed to get some paint time in. The studio is pretty clean, table space available, and canvases begging to be reworked or started.  It's time that I kick into high gear.  I see the light changing, fading, and hear September calling.  I paint in desperation to hold onto the freedom of my summer, and during the time I stand in front of my canvases, I meditate on a plan to get through another year of teaching while keeping stress low and the work load manageable.  How do I balance being a full time teacher AND a full time artist?  How do I shift my thought from TEACHING TAKES AWAY MY ENERGY TO PAINT, into somehow getting energized from my teaching and bringing it home to the canvas?  Photos are of two unfinished paintings; one is of  three little cabins that were hunkered down in the steamy mist of a leftover storm,  looking like they had very long faces, and the other an evening trip over the Hudson, location unknown a...

Not a good start to the day. I thought the workshop started at 10. At 9 am I double checked online. It started at 9. I live 1/2 hour away from the center. In my rush to get leave (sans breakfast) I hit the portable dishwasher, which knocked over the bottle of wine, whose top was not on, and spilled all over the wall and behind the stove. The timer also fell, which I promptly whipped across the room and broke into a half a dozen pieces. I am not proud of this. I know I snapped. I have not done so in such a long time.I am a total hormonal mess, and this can't go on. On the way to class, I thought "great. I am just like one of the kids that I teach. I am going to class a total mess, and ready to have a meltdown". In that reflection, I understood how my kids must feel, some of them on a daily basis. I knew that I needed a cry, to be left alone to dive into the paints and get myself back into a human state. I have no excuse for this. I don't have any stressors in...