february

hi all- sorry it's been so long but i've been busy working my way towards retirement in 4 months,16 weeks, 120 days give or take some weekends, a week off in spring and the odd sick day or 30. i've been taking an online course/workshop with misty mawn, and it's wonderful when i have time to participate which is seldom.she's really improved her drawing and painting skills and i'm learning some interesting stuff. she really puts her heart and soul into her classes and it shows- kudos to misty- i wish i had more time to spend on it.my art output has stalled a bit for the moment- i'm having a bit of a block, but work has been incredibly busy and tiring and i am utilizing all my energy to just get through the days right now, and it's cold and all i want to do is curl up with a blanket and read or sleep. i've gone back to straight vegetarianism after my too carb heavy vegan diet. maybe i can lose some of this old lady fat that's been creeping up on me. next year i'll be 60! i can't believe it-however did i get so old? i bought some lovely books by sibella court, who is a stylist who's worked for many people including anthropologie, whose catalogs and stores i just love. the books are quite full of all kinds of great photographs of all kinds of cool things like fabrics and papers and ribbons and string and all kinds of hardware and what she calls haberdashery all very vintage and cool and low tech. i recommend a glance through the books even if you don't want to invest in them. i keep them by the side of my bed and find them very soothing to flip through on the odd night that i can't get to sleep. well this has been a pretty boring post, for which i apologize, but i just wanted to say hello, so you don't forget all about me.cheers for now and farewell to february, the dreariest of months.until next time..

a winter tale

hi all- just at the end of a week long break that came upon me after i had a tooth extracted and wound up with a nasty infection and a fever of 102 that would not go away for most of the week- until today as a matter of fact.i stayed at home from work alternating between lying on the couch and determined to get some painting, journaling in, but as luck would have it no good work came out of the week,too sick for creative genius, as if the work that i do qualifies as genius!but at least i tried. tonight i had a little fun taking prints off my painting in progress and the results were quite interesting and looked like more than they were. i have to report   that i have some work published in somerset gallery magazine- i haven't gotten my hands on a copy yet but i saw the table of contents for the magazine and my article is listed in the contents. so I'm waiting patiently(not) for either  them to send me a copy, or for Barnes and noble to get it in stock or for the copy i finally ordered arrives. don't they know this is a big deal for me ! I've never been published before! somebody please have pity on me and find me a copy and mail it to me before i die!my address is 228 grimsby street s.i.n.y. 10306. i will reward anyone who sends me a copy with something or other, including the cost of the magazine. this is an a.p.b. to anyone who is listening.onto other news 6 months until i retire forever from nursing as a side job! lots of ! in this post. until we meet again, and in case i don't post until then merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah to all my Christian and Jewish fans. cheers brigid.

aaah december!

hi y'all- just when you think things can't get any worse december comes. i know all you christmas lovers are hanging your lights and listening to 106.7 with their nonstop christmas music, and are singing along trala tra lalala- but i hate december and am terrified of christmas and the shopping and the wrapping and the nervous wait for amazon packages to arrive! i'd rather it be february(which is closer to june) or may or something less sinister than whipping out your credit card for just one more gift, i don't think i got enough(when i'm wrapping it's like why the hell did i get so many gifts). anyway the good news is that our house wasn't really touched by the hurricane-we're the only ones living on our block, ian got hired back at his old job temporarily-we're not sure for how long but at least till march. i'm going to have some artwork, and a short article that i wrote published in amagazine called Somerset Studio Gallery, or just Sommerset Gallery in the December  issue, one week from now and I'm deathly afraid they're going to change their minds at the last minute and not publish it, so i'm trying to be very low key about it, but they just sent me a check so that's promising.i'll let you know as soon as i have the mag in my hand. keep your fingers crossed or pray for me if you pray -it will be a really good thing for me. i am also working on putting together a web site- it's still totally disorganized, but you can look for it brigid gallagher davies on art /slant.some of my paintings are on it by no means all so it's good for a laugh.past my bedtime got to run karen my faithful reader please send me your address again(sorry)send to my email bgallagherdavies@gmail.com.goodnight,love ,love brigid.

For Jack

hi all- this post is a commemoration, a poem, a love song for my newly departed much loved friend jack foley, who slipped from this life into the great unknown on September 1st 2012, with the wind at his back, and a bagpiper leading us all, his friends and his loved ones from his commemoration ceremony to the reception, up the hill from the field where we all sat in our various stages of grief and relief,that his suffering was past, that he could finally go home to that next stage of life of which i know nothing, except that his time here is past, and the next stage begun. i told my son alex who adored jack and was devastated by his death, that if there is a heaven then jack was on the express train there, for surely there was no better friend, no better lover of life, no better lover of his wife(or his bride as he used to call her) and their three beautiful children . jack,  whose friend i was so proud to be, i will miss you with all of my heart. i remember things both silly and profound-introducing him to coleen, who told me with ferocious intensity that it was he that she wanted to marry, and the night i threw my glasses(which i was blind without) off the ferryboat back to staten island after a night of drunken debauchery in order to liberate myself in my drunken mind ,to both jack's amusement and terror, as he had to lead me off the boat and take me blindly home. i remember that he laughed like a little girl, and that he laughed often and well, and i have a particularly poignant memory of him sitting on the bench in their foyer with alex, talking to him as his equal, something not enough people do to alex, and for which i was profoundly grateful.there are many more stories to tell, many more tributes to be paid, many more glasses raised- but for me i just want to thank him for being my friend, and try to pay back some of the love he sent my way, and to tell him he will be sorely missed and that most of all, he went away much too soon for all of us who loved him, and that without him nothing will ever be the same .good night,good-bye.,brigid

hooray for computer savvy daughters

hi all -the picture on this post is brought to you courtesy of my brilliant daughter's troubleshooting the reason why i couldn't upload pictures to my blog- i am severely computer challenged, having been brought up in a world where only scientists in space labs had computers, and you had to go to the library to answer questions like why do cats lick themselves or what color are drew barrymore's eyes ? anyway it's back to september and i am back to work, so blogging should resume at it's regular pace-i.e. whenever i get a chance to do it. i know you all are dependent on my every word to get on with your lives but get over it,seriously. i am currently in a creative rut brought on by not too few but too many ideas of things to do, which has me literally panic stricken and unable to do anything at all. i'm also at a point where i have to decide what i want to concentrate on and what i should let go, but the problem is i want to do everything and i don't have time to do it all. i want to paint, illustrate, write books and articles, design fabrics, knit, crochet, etc- oh by the way i have started working on a website but it's not organized or completed i'll let you know when it's up and running,with the help of my more computer literate friend(thank you laura). well that's it for now, i have to go and look after my son , and do some housework, and maybe paint a little, but i will return with more exciting news about myself and my near and dear friends, and especially with a tribute to jack foley, who so heartbreakingly passed away on september first, and with news about my upcoming retirement from my day job in june or september.love to all ,brigid.

summer's end

hello- this is the 2nd time i've sat down to post all summer.the first one i never completed- i offer this up in lieu of that.i've been on vacation since the end of june, and am scheduled to go back to work on tuesday(today is friday). it's been a deliciously good summer with lots of time spent making art, reading, looking at art, sleeping, writing; spending time with friends and family and just generally doing whatever i felt like doing- the only really sad thing was learning that a dear friend of mine is seriously ill, and there is nothing that i can do to alter that...i also spent a fair amount of time doing nothing special-watching silly movies cooking alot of pasta with pesto sauce, drinking gallons of iced coffee laced with lethal amounts of cream and splenda-yes i am still a vegan, but a vegan who cannot live without cream in her coffee. i am going to make a serious effort to change this very soon as i think it may be one of the reasons that i cannot lose the weight i so desperately need to lose- but this is very hard folks- i've given up alcohol, i've given up cigarettes, must i give up half and half too? i see that my dashboard has changed in the months i've been away from posting-idon't see the little symbol for inserting pictures, so this may be a post without pictures until i figure it out, but i've made contact and blasted a little hole in my bloggers block-can pictures be too far behind? i'm working on creating a web page, which is far from finished, and i may have some artwork published in a few months,but those are stories for another day.for now i'm back, and am thrilled to be here-here's hoping my next post won't be too long in coming.oh i almost forgot- the best news of all- i am hoping that this will be my last year of working as a school nurse with a little luck, by this time next year i will be a full time artist!!!love for now, brigid.

corrections and connections

hi- just one correction- i meant to write pic as in short for picture, not pis as in short for we all know what. i've largely resolved my dilemma about the relative merits of arting and crafting by  just considering them all as creations or products of my creative mind. thanks to karen for her thoughtful advice, which i will bear in mind, but today i discovered something about journalling as  opposed to painting. journaling is semi-relaxing in a way that painting is not, and i can work with alot of different ideas at once and quickly , whereas while painting i sometimes seem to work for hours at a stretch and get nothing accomplished or do and redo the same part of the painting for days on end without resolving it. journalling is more immediate and limited- i can only do so much with a page and then it's time to go on to a new page. some fail some succeed, but it's not as big a deal as a failed painting somehow. i also find that i work alot with colors in my journals , trying out different palettes with strips of paper instead of paint which carries over into painting. and the colours i use in my painting palettes. i also work out placement and composition in my journal pages, and am able to be much more experimental in my journal than at my easel.needlees to say i've realized that journaling will remain a big part of my life for the time being.
just  showing off some of bill murphy's work to a friend. bill is an incredible artist-his work is absolutely flawless and if you haven't seen it google bill murphy artist. he is truly incredible and awe-inspiring and has been that way forever, for as long as i've known him which is a very long time.just thought i'd throw that plug in there- not that he needs it.

 moving right along i just read some really moving, incredibly honest and heart felt blogs by kelly rae roberts on the subject of motherhood and her traumatic birhting experience. she waited until she was ready to blow the lid off the story of what she went through, and most of us mothers can relate at least to some extent to her story. having children really does change everything, exposing you to an experience that is so primal and mind blowing that it's difficult to explain to someone who hasn't been there . it can bring out the best and the worst in people, and though i sometimes wish for a childless life, i'd do it all again in a heartbeat.i just didn't know i was capable of such a deep and ferocious love. so if you are a mom or even if you're not check out kelly rae's latest mothering  stories- they're well written and eerily familiar. that's all i've got for now, still haven't worked out the picture thing.This second pic ture was supposed to go with the first, the one i already posted