Patti Gibbons Art

I have been UBER busy working a few different jobs, and painting the work for my show which opens on Saturday the 5th.  I have done the bio/artist statement, made the postcards, printed them, handed/posted/ them out, and today finished the last of the two large paintings.  It is surreal that I have created an entire new life, a very different life from the one before.  It is a lot of work, but it's joyful work!!! The last painting gave me a really hard time, and I am hoping that it will be dry enough to be able to hang. I put it outside in the sun today, hoping that it will be ready by Tuesday morning when Nancy and I hang it. It has been quite the interesting experience, as I had to paint 5 or 6 small paintings, and two LARGE ones for the show.  I still have to wire them, and make the price list. When I had my two other shows a few years ago, I already had the work done and just had to frame some of the pieces and do the PR work. This time I had ...

I have a solo show opening October 5th. I am thrilled, excited, scared. This is my first show since I have left my career as a full time teacher. Will I meet people's expectations? Will I WOW them? Will they be moved/inspired/tempted by what I have painted? Will I sell? Are all the paintings done? Nope.  Am I going to have them done and DRY before the show? I sure hope so!  This has been all so new to me, and I am grateful to Nancy Donskoj at The Storefront Gallery for taking a leap of faith and asking me to show there.  She picked a few large pieces based upon their under-paintings, and I have been working at getting these two large pieces done. I have about 6 or more tiny paintings to do yet too. The show features both drawings and paintings. The paintings depict vistas that have been branded into my soul:  olive trees on a hill,  a Barcelona skyline at night, the delicate colors of clouds at sunset.  Hayrolls. Fields. I  relive my exp...

This reinvention of self is taking a lot of work. AND TIME. Have I already posted that? I have been spending the week doing mock ups for my web designer, and getting ready to set up files in Drop Box. In order to do that, I have to clean up my Drop-box files -    delete some files to make more room, and then in order to find the files I need, I have to organize my desktop and hard drive into folders that make sense.  And once a day I have to take a break from the Drop Box ordeal to clean out the Cat Box.  I just wish I could clean the cat box with an "empty" button! In between those hours of sorting/filing/organizing, I pay some online bills, research hotels, make online reservations, search for work/shows, and play the occasional Candy Crush game. (I am embarrassed to say I play it...but I blame it all on my daughter!) Before I know it --- it is time to check what is ready to pick in the garden, and make dinner.  And then Larry comes home, and asks me ...

                                     The Strange Moon Like Landscape of the Golf Course A sweet little bungalow on the Course     At Wellfleet Harbor    The Salt Marsh at the Eastham Visitor Cente I am on vacation on Cape Cod.  Over the years I have come to know and love the Cape, with its oceans, bays, salt marshes, restaurants. The only thing I DON'T like about the Cape is the 4.5 hour ride which usually turns to a 6 hour ride due to traffic. Over the past several years we have been finding places of our own to stay, rather than staying with friends. We can come and go, and not worry that we are cluttering up their house with our photography and art equipment, or estate/junking finds. Renting sight unseen on the Cape is someti...

I've been painting.  Happily painting. In fields. In my studio. In the car. In my head. This is life as it should be. Spending every moment of your life doing what you love. My recent works are jubilant with vitality and color. GREEN. VERDANT GREEN. Get it while-you-can green. It's great to be alive again. Fully alive.

My mentor reminded me that this reinvention of my life is not going to take 2 weeks, or 2 months - more likely 2 years!  It gives me permission to be easy on myself, take some time to recover from 21 years of a very stressful job,  and not put so much pressure on myself to immediately get to work. "All will work out" is what others tell me,  and what has become my mantra. So day by day I do things to help align the stars for my success. I put out feelers, I am building my Internet presence. I am developing relationships with shops that are carrying my cards. I have one private student, and am nearly finished with a bevy of paperwork to teach autistic adults for 1.5 hours once a week.  I held my first mentorship/art meeting with fellow artists. I have spend some time outside traveling and painting plein air, and photographing the landscape.  I have a solo show in October, and the gallery owner is coming tomorrow to see what I have so that I can figure out...

After spending the first part of the day cleaning and purging the hall closet, I took my granddaughter over to Rhinebeck to check out the Hudson Valley Pottery and Ceramic Studio, where my friend works. Alanna LOVED being there so I will enroll her in a few classes while she is here.  They have kid classes and a summer camp, and definitely a cool place for any age to play in the clay. While she was there, I headed to Wilderstein  to paint.  It was late, and I had about an hour to work before they closed.  When I arrived it was beautiful; the sky a mix of cerulean blue and clouds. The last resident to live there was Margaret Suckley, the confidante and probably lover of FDR. She died at 100 in 1991 while still a resident of the house.  I have not gone inside yet, but the grounds have trails for hiking, and the house has a beautiful view of the Hudson. It's free to roam the grounds. I set up camp on a bench and painted. It wasn't long before the cica...