memorial day 2011

 lhi friends
let's remember all those
who laid down their lives
because they thought
they were paving the way
for freedom for those
who don't live with the privileges we do.
let's remember the ones
they left behind
the wives the sons and daughters
the mothers and fathers
who died too with their loved ones
on all those empty battlefields,
often not knowing why
they were sent to their deaths
or if the purpose was worth
the dradful price they paid.

what would happen
if all over the world
people and nations
put down their bombs and their guns
and their weapons of mass destruction
and just said no we don't want to fight anymore.
enough with the childish war games
we choose to live and let live
we choose peace and love and harmony
and don't want anymore memorial days
of our collective guilt,of our abominable hate
of our petty arguments
and thirst for blood and power?

why can't we have a memorial day
for those who choose life over death
friendship over enmity
peace over all the useless wars
fought for all the wrong reasons
by young men and women
who haven't even had a chance to live
before they met their deaths.
why can't we behave like civilized adults
instead of like petulant children?

be that as it may,
if there's one grain of truth
in the fact that they died
for somebodies freedom
and not for the pipelines
that hold our precious oil
i salute ther naivite and thei bravery
for all those who still fight
and for all those who went before
i wish for a peaceful and meaningful memorial day.

a day to remember and others to follow

hi friends-this morning i woke up at 530 to drive alex #1 son and ian 1 &and ;only husband to the airport where they flew fom n.j. to dallas and from dallas to la to spend a week among the weak andwonderful california brothers and sisters.today i got to hang arounnd with chris-something ian does weekly without complaint, and i;m a harried mess eating everything un sight,thinking of drinking although i haven't had a drink in 17 years an it's now 700 pm too early for bed ... i never got to finish this post-it's now may3 and i'm all alone until saturday, the 7th i didn't  know i would miss them so much. i feel like a lost child, wandering through the house, talking to myself.-i thought i would relish the time alone and get alot of art done, but it's torture to get myself into the studio and when i'm there i kind of flit from one thing to another, unable to commit. one thing i did notice is that even if i'm just flitting i physically need time to do art or else i  get  antsy as i did when i had to watch chris on my own for two days without any me time.may 9th- made it through the week and back to work on a lovely monday afternoon with not a care in the world.seriously things could be a lot worse - igot my boys back and my daughter's coming home for summer break this week.and i get to make a little art every now and again and rumour has it june is just around the corner.happy days brigid.

april come she will

bet you thought i dropped off the earth or gave up on my blog.naah-just seriously lazy this week. i've been on vacation and it's been BLISSFUL!!! i could seriously get used to being on permanent vacation-or retirement, whichever comes first. doesn't look like i'll be retiring anytime soon, so i'm going to kick back and enjoy the remaining four days of vacation. so far i've painted 4 paintings done a bout 6 journal pages, worked on my book, worked on an etching done many sketches, read 2 books and a gazillion magazines, watched 3 movies, walked 3 miles a day, ate everything in sight, swiched my winter clothes for my spring ones(it had better warm up by the time i go back to work or i'll be freezing my butt off), slept as much as possible and got my haie done, and went down to philly for the day to see hilary. like i said i could get seriously used to this. i'm attempting to post one of my newer paintigs, and also an etching of the same  painting- i'm trying to do a series of prints made from paintings- tbut everytime i try to upload more than one picture it doesnt work for some reason anyway tootles for now and a happy and blessed Easter and Passover to you and your loved ones.cheers ,brigid .

march winds

hello- it seems to becoming a monthly blog-not quite what i had in mind,but the stats speak for themselves. maybe that's why i get no visitors to my blog. we'll have to see what we can do to rectify the situation.if anyone is reading this thing, please take amoment to tell me what i can do to improve my visitors, and what i am doing wrong. i just finished reading artful blogger in which everyone talks about how blogging changed their lives,and about all the wonderful friends the've made in the blogging community.that has not been my experience and i'm really asking for help here. what's missing in my blog? any and all responses would be greatly appreciated..... on another topic we just got home from a  trip to philadelphia to see hilary in a play called"que(e)ry", a bittersweet production that the actors wrote themselves as they rehearsed for the play. it was an extraordinary piece about life as a gay/lesbian/transsexual/transgender/asexual /bisexual/ heterosexual did i leave anyone out? person in the modern world and all the quetions that go along with trying to decide who you are and having to live with the consequnces of whatever choice you make. it was a series of vignettes about the question of sexuality in modern life, and the complications that each individual's choice creates,with flashbacks to certain characters childhood experiences with innocent sexual experiences, that made me think of how innocent we really all still are, and what difference does it make who you choose to be and whom you choose to love in this crazy mixed up world we all inhabit-somehow the way it was presented indicated that it really doesn't matter, and reinforces a belief i've held for a long time, that in this world if you're lucky enough to find someone you love and who loves you back it doesn't matter what their race or religion or sexual orientation is- what matters is the love and the pleasure and comfort and happiness that love brings to the individuals involved and on that note i'll say goodnight. cheers, brigid

the last time i saw february

hello hello- this is the last day of february-tomorrow march begins and we start to slither towards spring- i can't wait! to see the first little green shoots poking up through the dirt brown earth, tofeel the first warm breeze, to experience the beginning of daylight savings time march 20th- the first day of spring . i'm looking forward to so many things-daily walks, open windows, laundry drying on the line, planning a garden. this year i want to plant a garden full of vegetables and  all kinds of flowers, i want to clear out the yard and the house and get rid of all the clutter that's clogging our lives both physically and mentally. i want to simplify  and get rid of all the things we've never used, no longer use,and realistically have no time for. i want to do some plein air paintings, some encaustic work, maybe some sculpture. i'm planning on expanding my studio onto the deck to do some work that needs space and good ventilation, put an easel and a table out there and throw paint around to my heart's content..we are shorter on funds now, so i want to use what i have without buying much more in the way of supplies-making do when i would have headed out to the store to purchase whatever i needed for a project. i plan to use my creativity to the max and see how far it takes me. i want to do a thorough spring cleaning of my house , my studio and my brain, figure out what's the best use of my time and resources and plan accordingly. i'm excited by the strides i'm making in painting and printmaking- i just have to take some more photos of my wok so i can show it here. i'm working on my portfolio too, and am planning to submit some work to galleries and magazines in the not too distant future. i'm also going to finish my book, and get started on the second one. i'm planning on collaborating on that book with both hilary and ian -it should be lots of fun.well ta-ta for now and happy spring-cheers brigid

time to blog blog blog

hello friends and almost friends-so sorry for the long delay.i've just been working too hard at my fake job but now i have 10 count them 10 days off to do whatever i want to do and blogging is high up there on the list, along with painting, collaging, writing,sleeping ,walking, doing nothing,cleaning(HA-HA), spending time with my man and sons, doing yoga, setting up my studio so its more user friendly, thinking about my new portfolio that i have to make, visiting many blogs that i haven't had a chance to look at, and visiting my shrink to get my head screwed on straight, going to see some art, catching up with old friends. i think i need to retire, nevermind taking a week off! well we will see how much or how little i accomplish.major bummer the art lab turned me down for a 1 woman show, and i'm not exactly sure why. i think i must discuss this rejection with the director. they said they liked my stuff sort of, but that i didn't have a cohesive proposal, and they couldn't visualize it as a show. at least i think that's what they said-they also said i should have submitted a resume of where i've studied and showed my work, which i could have given them had they asked. oh well. they've encouraged me to submit a more together proposal inthe future, which is one reason why i need to put together a good portfolio. i have no ego, i'll submit again.boy i wish that were true-the bit about not having an ego.i don't have much of one, thanks to the good budda and pema chodrun and ian, but rejection hurts. back to the drawing board as they say...in the meantime i have two paintings ih the open exhibit which comes down in about 10 days. i have one painting high up on the wall on the right as you come in, and another in the gallery itself, on the lower right hand side as you go in, both mixed media portraits of women. so enough for now- i have to tell you about the two cool courses i'm taking, and what i'm working on now, but i'll leave that for another day. shine on cheerio,brigid.

a tribute to pat passlof

i can't remember the first class i took with pat as i was rather shy and awkward then -she probably terrified me, but it wasn't a terror i held onto because i studied with pat for many,many years. or at least it seems that way. i was in love with her of course,and in the big word she held in her beautiful hands-the artist word,the word that tauunts and terrifies and beckons us fom afar, and although i think she called herself a painter, she was an ARTIST to me,the first real artist i had ever met. now that i've started i'm not sure what i should say about her-what do you say about someone who irrevocably changes your life, who takes you on a journey to a place you never even knew existed. who lights in you a flame that never goes out-in short a person who makes a blind person see, and she did all those things for me especially the latter. i was blind and she taught me to see. and as an added bonus she taught me to paint. she set me on the path i continue to travel today.and though i don't know what she would think of the work i've done in the last year or two, it doesn't really matter. i am on my own path now, the one she set me down on, and she will always be the most important art teacher i have ever had; and though i have studied with some fine teachers,none of them even come close to teaching me what she did. she turned me upside down and cracked me over the head with a look or a word or a paintbrush taken out of my unsure hands and into her capable ones, to demonstrate something there were no words to convey.i wish i could do that now- take a brush in my hand and convey what words cannot, to try and do justice to her, and to thank her for all that she taught me ,things i have no words for. i can only hope in some small way that i do justice to all that she gave me, and that she knows how much i love her and continue to learn more about all that she tried

to teach me all those years ago. to pat with love, brigid.