Patrick Gorman Pettis' Blog

"Reminds Me of Eric" What makes a person who seems happy enough or functional enough one day simply disappear? It happens much more than we think. That question, however significant, was only part of the inspiration behind this piece. The idea really was to stamp a memory of someone who disappeared one day, an aching snapshot of someones recollection. Based on several very true stories I wanted to combine emotions of loss and hope to create the overall effect. There are people who have touched my life, some I had seen every day at one time that I have no contact with anymore. Placing that fact with the concept of disappearing within ones self and how a loss would effect someone colors and images started to play their part. Its my experience that when someone is terribly effected by a loss it is themselves they end up looking for over again. I know of people who grossly decline because of it. They wither and are never the same and still others that survive it, spread their wi...

"If art mimics life, what piece are you working on today?" - Patrick Gorman Pettis "past that comes between us" When it comes to getting an element to gift you with it's colours there are a few methods one can try. The easiest of which is a technique I call " pressing ". I love dandelions, they kind of remind me of me in a way lol. The misunderstood weed that tries real hard. My grandmother told me of a time when they would use them in salads and how my great grandfather would make wine from them. They are very bitter to taste and have an earthy tart and hearty smell. If one really looks at these little guys and forgives them their reputation they can see something beautiful. Not only the delicate petals packed into a square inch sometimes by the hundreds but a bright snap of creation's purest yellow. It almost says "Hey!! Get Over Here! Lighten up!" they're just cute little persistent buggers to me. It was really neat to learn that...

F ans, friends and family have often asked me if it's ever hard for me to part with a work. My answer is never the same twice really lol but the words are, "it depends". These pieces are a measurement of my energy and time on this earth. Considering that on a generous average in a rounded up kind of way that we only have about 100 years here that makes what we are doing each day a pretty big deal. Easily they are a part of me, and I never really say goodbye to any of them, they are all in my head and locked into chapters of my life. They never really say goodbye to me either because a part of me goes with them each time a piece is sold. Some of the newer artists and people I've taught have had problems with this. My advice to them was really to have two bodies of work. There are those works created that I simply cannot part with for whatever reason, too personal, too illicit etc. Those are part of a secret collection that no other eyes save my own have ever seen. Thos...

T he very last bit of paint to touch a nearly completed piece is my signature. I have to be sure that the work is finished and spend quite some time living with it before I even contemplate putting that seal on it. The photographs to the left are of me doing exactly that to the work known as "Breathe" as outlined in the previous six entries of this blog. If you'd like to see this work from the very beginning all that you need do is scroll back. I personally find it entertaining because even though I've had pictures of me taken while working in the past I have never before journaled it this thoroughly . I found journaling this series to be both revealing and rewarding. I am really looking forward to actually writing more about the pieces to come. By the time this blog is posted "Breathe" will already have been treated with a special preservative to protect the living parts of it and keep the colors and striations fresh as if just painted. Because there are...

I believe that we human beings are much more sensitive then we are aware. I think we kind of have to "dumb down" that awareness to survive in a world where we are subjected to so much stimuli. Otherwise it would flood our minds and ultimately confuse or overwhelm us leaving a really nasty impression that never stopped on our beings. Kind of like tasting a dish that has every flavor in it all at once and leaving an aftertaste that never stopped. As a form of survival our minds are designed to specialize, connections in one or more areas are strengthened and others weaken. The result offers us as a race the potential to surf an omnipresent saturation of psycho-emotional and physical experiences and dive into those we ultimately choose to. That said I believe that the way a mind works is the way that life will be. There are those moments where we allow our sensitivities to dialate and that sense in some capacity opens, widens and takes in, every ounce of what exactly is goin...

second set of photo's taken of the piece titled "Breathe" a work in progress as outlined in the previous entries of my blog the piece is done with natural inks, stains and dyes made by me on mounted canvas 24 inches tall by 30 inches wide nothing has been done to the photographs outside of adding sample txt, these were taken by the same exact camera without a flash of any kind in day to evening lighting a side effect of using natural inks is that as in nature, when they are prepared correctly, the colors seem to change in different lighting I often wonder how many times a person looks for the rewind button before they simply stay put for a second, and breathe. I suppose its become my nature to be grateful for the simplest of things. It's funny how almost losing your life can have that impact, and how contagious an attitude is between people. I'm from a sleepy little place called Glenville that rests it's head on the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. Schenectady, the o...

the base coat of "Breathe" a recent work in progress as outlined by my previous entries it is 24 inches by 30 inches W hen a person desires to do something so badly that they want to do it well and even communicate that way they have a “passion”. When they make that passion a way of life it becomes, in a way, a “discipline”. They are different creatures and the change is a noticeable one. A quiet focus assumes them where the thought of that very thing become omnipresent, and saturates their existence and they are pleased with that. The world responds to them differently as well, with a kind of respect if their dedication is complete. For me simply being passionate about a thing is not enough, it is the half step or the half read book. It needs the discipline in order to hone it in its own way toward a form of independent personal perfection. There are several types of this occurring all throughout nature, human and others, putting a proverbial “reason” to rhyme and creating d...