Losing our way

If we lost ourselves
how long would it take
to be found again,and just
how far can we go
before it's too late
to come back again
too late to say I'm sorry,
too late to make amends.

if we lost our way
could we really
just retrace our footsteps,
come back again
as if nothing had happened:
no suicides
no broken hearts
no forgotten hopes
no bitterness?
U
I'm thinking
there's always a price to pay,
something to lose,
for every bit of happiness


something that changes forever
each and every time
we lose our way.

but then again
let's be optimistic.
let hope spring eternal,
let god  be in his heaven,
and all right with the world.
oh no,I don't believe that,
not for one minute,
no matter how hard I try
no matter how long
I hold my breath
no matter how long I live
there's just the coming and going,
the living and dying,
the eternity
of losing our way.

E

Autism Awareness

I must have accidentally erased this post,so I'll have to write it again.
As the mother of two sons on the autistic spectrum ,autism is never far from my mind. When my oldest son was diagnosed with autism I fell into a despond I don't think I've ever climbed back out of. My sons are beautiful,funny,sweet and I love and accept them as they are. I know,I know they are special with different unusual abilities etc.etc.,but I can't help the fact that their experiences with life are limited by their disabilities; I know I'm in Holland not Italy, and that they give me a love and joy that differently abled people don't possess. I also can't help feeling sad and a bit jealous as the kids of friends and family members grow up without the difficulties my sons encounter .Difficulties we did everything in our power to overcome for the past 25 years,with limited results.At 25 my younger son cannot speak to communicate his desires, and my older son at nearly 27 wants nothing more than to be "normal", like the people he sees around him. I know they are not junkies or convicts,and that they live their lives without self pity,but with enormous frustration. Imagine having to hold somebody's hand to walk out the door,or seeing other people do things effortlessly, that are so hard for you to articulate, never mind do, of never being able  to express properly anything you want to say, of constantly needing reassurance that you're okay,  everything will be all right.(Okay we all feel that last one, but I don't think as desperately). My sons are heroes, who live in a world that was not built for them,and they do so with an unconscious courage.
I have to say at this point that I have had the pleasure of watching my daughter grow into the gracious,beautiful, intelligent young woman that she is, with all the usual milestones,complicated by growing up with her brothers, who she loves, respects and is generally patient with.( They are her annoying older brothers.)Still I can't help but wish sometimes that they too had the opportunities she and so many more of us enjoy.

Calving or drawing proper calves

I am steaming because I was told by my drawing instructor that I NEVER draw calves right and that maybe I ought to study anatomy. Meanwhile half the class draws figures that look like malformed peanuts with arms and legs, and while I am not admittedly the best draughtsman in the world I never do anything wrong all the time. No one should teach a class who doesn't have supportive constructive advice for their students,not someone who tells them they ALWAYS do something wrong,especially in a drawing class. I will of course now take to my anatomy books and draw legs(especially calves) incessantly. My drawings henceforth will consist of nothing but legs with the odd breast thrown in now and again. I mean what's so bad about these calves( the only ones I could find a quick picture of) ? Admittedly not the best drawing in the world, but not completely terrible. And I must say I've drawn better examples in the past. I feel better now that I've got that off my chest. Just remember no one ever does something wrong all the time and be kind to your  trying very hard students.

Almost June

I can't believe almost a whole year has gone by since I retired! I've been really busy taking classes and rediscovering reading.sometimes I read 2 books a day!I haven't been painting as much as I should be, but that's about to change .I've been taking an online course with Kelly Rae Roberts,and some of the things she talks about are having intentions in art and in life,and rediscovering what your heart needs to hear, and giving yourself permission to do things, and telling yourself  you are allowed to do things, and one of the things I'm giving myself permission to do is to be a full time artist and writer.and something I'm allowed to do is to make my studio as user friendly and perfect for me at this time in my life,cause I don't know if I'll ever have a different studio,and that's okay- I'm lucky to have a little space of my own at all. I plan to publish before and after pictures of the studio soon, and maybe if I get really carried away of my house as well. I feel really motivated right now, and plan to spend a little time in there when I finish this. Here's a look at a some new and not quite finished paintings.till next time,brigid.p.s- some of the paintings may have printed more than once and some might not have printed.i'm not too good at this. Giving myself permission to make mistakes, and to learn more about this blog site in future. Cheers!

long over due blog

Hi all I know it's been a long time since I posted on this blog- a little bit busy. I retired from my job as of September 1, 2013 I am now a full-time artist hooray! Actually I spend my time volunteering at Art Lab, taking classes at the college in painting, and taking classes at Art Lab in  drawing and encaustic painting, hanging around my house and trying to do some artwork at home. As they say I don't know when I had time to work. I'm studying right now with a new teacher Tracy Jones at the college and I really like her.  I'm already doing some new stuff and I'm having a good time. the encaustic class seems to be good too although i only had one session so far and I'm looking forward to a good 10 weeks with the new instructor  there. the drawing class is a class where you draw what ever you like from the model and there is only a monitor, no teacher for it  so so far that's been fun. I do miss printmaking however but I can't take classes on both Tuesday and Thursday nights so I chose to take the drawing class for this semester. I currently have three pieces in the student art show at ArtLab at Snug Harbor that show is open until the end of October so if you're  on the island come by and have a look. right now Hilary and I are all  alone as Alex and Ian have  traveled to Las Vegas for vacation. we miss them but it's nice to have some girl time alone , going out to dinner and having a generally good time since they've been gone. I've submitted another journal to art journaling magazine and I'm hoping to hear from them soon to see if I'll be published again.

if  I do it will be my third time being published, really exciting. I'm going to make an honest effort to publish some more blog posts I know i've said that before but this time I really am going to try now that I have more time so I hope i'll be able to follow through on that. it's been fun, I'll talk to you again soon cheers, brigid.

june!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hi all i'm on a monthly roll-ihave something like 12 days to work until i can retire. and can start being a full-time artist for the first time in my life.!!!! i need to get more traffic to my blog because i hope to finally start my creative business, so if anyone reads this, please tell a friend to tell a friend to come on over and view my blog- i promise to fill it full of amazing stories, jokes give-a-way prizes, membership in my fan club, trips to paris by candlelight, lots of greeting cards, prints, posters and jewelry to buy, art lessons, free babysitting(well maybe not) passports to adventure and my own irresistable sense of fun and joie de vivre .and where it goes from there is anybody's guess. i will be opening an etsy shop soon but if you are interested in paintings i'm having a sale:head on over to my website BrigidGallagherDavies@ArtSlant.com. It's still a work in progress but it's a little better organized now. i have way more paintings than you will see, and i am offering a print of any painting for considerably less than the cost of a painting,$30 dollars instead of $200-$1000,for a painting, which may sound like a lot but if you check out the paintings at MOMA mine are a steal- and won't stay at those prices forever, so get in on the ground floor- i'm going to be a major player in the art scene over the next few years and you can say you knew me when, or be like Mr. Barnes and buy out my entire studio! oh yeah i'm being published in the july issue of art journaling magazine so hurry out to your local barnes and noble after july1,or order directly from somerset studio magazines. see you next time,love brig.

the miracle of may

hi everyone: may is finally here and i am counting the days until the end of june. retirement rears it's lovely head. there is so much that i want to do from painting and writing to reading to reordering my house. i want to spend a lot of time learning how to paint portraits like the old masters did, and spend some time doing landscapes and still lifes this summer. i also want to do some abstracts and encaustics, and continue to work on my etchings. and see as much art as possible all over the eastern seaboard.

i finally sent my children's book to a publisher, and am super excited about that. it would be totally awesome if it was published. i should hear in the next few months. i'm also getting very excited about redoing my studio and making some more space to make art, and organize all my supplies. i need to start collecting all kinds of cool baskets and suitcases and wooden boxes and shelves and organize all my journaling and art supplies on shelving units so that i can see everything and not have to go hunting for something every time i need it, and not having some haphazardly piled stack of things fall over because i have nowhere to put it.
   we walked until we could walk no more
   and sat beneath an old oak tree
   filling our lungs with the cool mountain air,
   filling our lungs with the scent of each other,
   promising that we would never again be alone
   and that we would always stay together
   and always laugh out loud
   about nothing in particular.
cheers,brigid