a day to be thankful

hello-this is going to be a short post-i just wanted to write about how grateful i am to be me, to have the family and friends that i have, for having the opportunity to work on my art everyday, for having the means to buy all the art supplies i need, for having a supportive and selfless husband who allows me the luxury to make art, to take classes and buy supplies and who gives me the time i need everyday to work on all my projects, who supports and encourages me on every step along the way,who bolsters my ego when my spirit is down in the dumps, who patiently looks at all my work and offers praise, advice and suggestions on how i can make it better, who believes in me when i don't believe in myself who makes me laugh and teaches me how to not take myself so seriously. i am thankful to to my children who love me even if i don't cook dinner every night, who love me as i am and not how i sometimes wish i could be- a more conventional mother who keeps the house spotlessly clean, who cooks bakes and sews and all the other things i think a mother is supposed to do, and to the friends and family who love me, who get me who appreciate my art sometimes more than i do and encourage me to continue to do what i love to do  each and every day. so thank you all of you, all 6 people who read this blog and give me so much along the way...with love,brigid

trip to the seashore

hello-i can't believe it's been nearly a week since i last posted-this summer is going frighteningly quickly,and i'm enjoying every minute.this week my daughter and i took a girl's day at the beach.we drove to point pleasant, new jersey where we flopped on the beach, frolicked in the surf, ate french fries(the best french fries in the world are for sale on the pt. pleasant boardwalk),played skee ball, took photobooth pictures, ate kohr's frozen custard ,and bought postcards and mailed them to each other from n.j. on the way home we stopped at ocean grove, an incredibly picturesque little town not far from p.p.(see photos)we took lots of pictures and i bought some amazing leather bracelets and a pair of super cool flip flops that have snaps on them so you can change the look just by snapping on a new button (sold separately).these ingenuous flips are put out by lindsay-phillips.com, and were sold in "The Emporium" a fantastic shop in ocean grove full of all kinds of beautiful goodies(i bought the leather bracelets there too-unfortunately i didn't get the name of the bracelet maker/ designer but the store is online @www.EMPORIUM-OG.COM, and i'm sure they would be happy to tell you.) i can't wait to go back and do some more shopping ! any way we had a fabulous time and i can't wait to go back to the seashore. next time i'm going to bring some paints along with my camera, because the light at the shore is so beautiful and different from new york.my dream for when i'm rich and famous is to have an apartment(read loft) in Manhattan and a house at the jersey shore-of course i'll keep my house on staten island too because i love it. when i was a little girl i used to walk past the house i live in now(i grew up around the corner), and say to myself, "i'm going to live in that house when i grow up" and sure enough i did.any way more tomorrow about all the fabulous stuff i bought today at michael"s. i'm not a shopaholic no matter what my husband tells you....until we meet again, brigid.

believe in yourself

hi there- this post is about believing in yourself and i got it from a page i created in one of my journals-hence the picture.the next page says "and others will too", but i couldn't scan it because the text was too dark and didn't show up well.it's all that we have really-this believing in ourselves -it's the first step we take on this journey of self discovery, the thing that makes us paint and draw and write and allows us to let others see it, and its scary and also exhilarating to say to the world,well here i am and this is what i do and i hope you like it, but i'm going to do it anyway whether you like it or not, because i have to.and that's what any artist will tell you-there's no real choice involved in this .we do it because we have to and to not do it becomes like a physical pain,certainly a mental anguish that makes life very uncomfortable, if not downright unbearable,at least for me-how about you? i'd love to hear from you about the need, the drive to create that motivates you to work on and on and on, even when the work isn't selling and/or nobody seems to get it (or you) but you wouldn't dream of giving up,even if it means nobody ever hears of you, or you never get published or shown. so you go on believing in yourself, day after day step after step because to do otherwise is unthinkable...hey i'll tell you what-if you believe in yourself, i'll believe in you too, and if you want to believe in me that would be nice but it won't stop or start me because i already believe in myself.so let's raise our glasses to ourselves and get on with the work we really need to do. until next time...

real artists

hello-am righteously tired-ispent the day at art camp(as my husband has dubbed the art program I'm attending at the art lab), trying to capture the thinnest man in the world on paper-honestly i prefer my models to have lots of flesh oozing everywhere and this model through no fault of his own is as thin as a fashion model- very difficult to draw.after lunch we had a lecture on Cezanne and the meaning of the picture plane and various other topics. at one point the lecturer made a comment on "creative types" who draw and press flowers and pour glitter on them, akind of disparaging comment on crafters,who i gather are not considered "real artists" by those in the know.really.aren't we all a little too sophisticated,educated grown up,and just a little bit tired of this kind of snobbery ? i've seen more beautiful art in the pages of magazines such as"cloth.paper.scissors",and " Somerset Studio" and tt's sister publication" Art journaling", than i've seen in serious art magazines like "artNews", and "Art in America" or "art forum",or even in the art galleries and art museums of new york city. not all of it of course,on either side of the fence. there is alot of "kitsch" every where both in and out of magazines and galleries and yes even museums.but the point of art and of artists is surely the act of creation of making something that the maker of that"art" considers beautiful or meaningful, while taking into consideration all the "art" that has been made by "artists" since the beginning of time, whether it be sprinkling glitter on dried flowers or making monumental sculptures or painting the Sistine chapel .it seems to me to be all part of the same honest effort, the desire to transcend the ordinary mind numbing terrifying grind of everyday life, a toast to the human spirit that carries on and attempts to make something out of this life.

finally friday

hi there-what a week! i started the week off with a new class that i already mentioned-collage and bookmaking,tuesday off to paint and scan some drawings into the computer, and on wednesday i started my summer program at the Art Lab which consists of three days of drawing from the model for 3 hours, and then painting for two hours on thursday and friday. on wednesday we had 3 hrs. of drawing from the model with an art history lesson thrown in in the afternoon.exhausting. i made a valiant effot but my drawings and paintings did not go as well as they might have-and it's tough to get back into the groove for the fifst week or so, and by the time i really get into it the six weeks are up and the program is over. i always doubt that i'll do it again but by the time summer rolls around i,m champing at the bit to do it again... a few lines from Rimbaud "I am unknown:so what? Poets are brothers. These verses believe,they love, they hope:that's enough"

studio visit

hi there- i'm so new at this i just signed myself up as a new follower on my own blog! i just wanted to send a thank you to my real new followers courtney and seanora and somehow i signed myself up as one too,and i don't know how i did it or how to erase it... i spent most of the day trying to unclutter my studio which consists of a small room approx. 8 by 12 ft., packed to the gills with paintings, books, art supplies of every variety,magazines sewing supplies,manuscipts,and alot of unfinished work-you get the idea- i took some photos of the mess after i gave it up for the day which i hope i will be able to show you-here goes: well i guess not-maybe later.for some reason this post is annoyed with me and won't publish my images . i hit the publish images too many times i guess so this will have to be an image free post-sorry! after attempting to clean my studio i went to a new class given at snug harbor called"collage and bookmaking" taught by laura delprete and it was lots of fun and seems promising. i tried to take this class in the spring but it was cancelled since i was the only person who signed up -laura knows lots of stuff that i don't know yet and had lots of great coll aging stuff. i'll give you her link if she says its ok and if i can figure out how to do it. i hope i'm going to howl at these early blogs when i get more accomplished. right now my ears are burning with embarrassment at how inept i am... i have to confess if you haven't guessed already that i am not exactly computer savvy so please forgive("nudge,nudge,know what i mean") but i am struggling on nevertheless. maybe my incompetence will give someone else the courage to publish a not so polished blog. that said i'll try not to mention it again and end with a quote from my favorite poet pablo neruda "....from tomorrow's ash we will be born."

JULY!!!!!

"hello again, here's my best to you-are your skies all gray-ihope they're blue" old song that i've known forever so i don't know who to credit it to,sorry! july is my favorite month(actually october is but more of that later) because it means i am on vacation from my side job and this is a very big deal because it means i can stay up really late and putter around in my studio all day and night, begin my summer art class and just revel in being free. i work for the nyc school system as a registered nurse and they only started giving us the summers off about 4 years ago, so this still feels like manna from heaven. i've already done two collage paintings on paper, finished one painting on canvas and started another, am zooming through kelly rae roberts e-class ,http://www.kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com,ordered/ business cards,and started this blog. not bad for a week or two.this is all intersperced with eating large quantities of ice cream, slurping down countless cups of iced coffee, and reading about 6 books at the same time. i would like to add that my house is spotless but that would be a lie. i struggle with this one all the time-art or housework, art or housework and art wins every time.i mean i don't actually live in a pig sty but the oinkers are lining up to use the bathroom. my goal for today is to get organized and start planning how i'm going to get every thing i want to get done done , visit some blog sites of other artists , and work on my painting. so here's the quote of the day from my absolutely favorite famous person and tibetan nun Pema Chodron fom a book called Start Where You Are -Shambala Publications(by the way i highly recommend this and all other books by Pema- so full of joyous insight and instructions on how to live in the now)" We already have everything we need.There is no need for self improvement. All those trips that we lay on ourselves-the heavy-duty feeling that we're bad and hoping that we're good,the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds-never touch our basic wealth. they are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake." i'm sorry that was so long but you needed the whole quote to get what she is saying. we're ok just as we are,really.now i'm going to attempt to post the painting i put on my new business cards. cross your fingers.ever yours....