“What if it’s wonderful?” I ask Blair, my only audience. “What if when our money is worthless, friends and family live in a separate world, we are at our wits end, and we do something completely different? And it’s WONDERFUL?” Tell me another one, Pollyanna. |
|
Figures, Words Laurie Fox Pessemier 8 x 6" 20 x 15 cmAcrylic/paper 90.00 |
|
What seems like a million years ago, when our business went kaput, our dog died, and everything we imagined and worked for had changed, we moved halfway around the world to Paris with almost no money. My first few days there I woke up thinking I’d never be lighthearted again, and then, somehow, the sun came out, the birds sang, and we were smiling. It got better and better and better. Blair and I started painting again. We felt that lightness that comes from being free. We embarked on a new, better life.
You can’t do anything when you are clinging onto the past. Let go of the flotsam and jetsam, and when you see it, swim toward a new shore. |
|
 | The Show Blair Pessemier acrylic/canvas 13 x 16" 33 x 40cm 475.00 |
|
I have been reading Vlacav Havel’s letters from Prison. He was a poet/playwright dissident who led the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. A bit of a Pollyanna, like me, he accentuated the positive aspects of his hard labor prison time. He wrote, and thought while enduring horrible conditions. I regret the poems and plays he never got to write; but yes, he later became president of the Czech Republic (1989-1992) leading and inspiring so many people. |
|
 | Human Laurie Pessemier Acrylic/paper 9 x 12" 24 x 30 cm 90.00 |
|
Another remarkable story of this ilk is from Italy, the Island of Ventotene. Mussolini set up prison camp (actually on an adjacent island, Santo Stefano), from the remnants of a Bourbon jail built two centuries earlier. 700 opponents of Fascism were housed here, including Altiero Spinelli, who, with some fellow prisoners, wrote the “Ventotene Manifesto” in 1941. This document became the basis for the European Union in 1984, adopted as the “Draft Treaty Establishing the European Union”, or the “Spinelli Plan”. It is very timely right now, as the enormous population of the EU is forming their defense. |
|
I am looking for that next hand to grasp, for the next turn in the road. I am writing and painting and remaining ultra-aware of future possibilities. It will be summer again. |
|
 | Rolling Over Laurie Fox Pessemier acrylic/paper 9 x 12" 24 x 30 cm 90.00 |
|
INVITING All Artists to present their Work: Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food.... Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday No Reservation Necessary How it works: Bring a piece of your ART: that could be visual, like painting or printmaking; or literary, as in poetry or prose; or crafts, like metalwork or knitting; or food, or music. Something you made, or feel particularly inspired by. You have about 5 minutes to present, and we'll ooh, ahh, or answer questions you have. You can also come and see how we work before diving in. Just show up on Zoom at a minute or two before the hour. No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented. NO POLITICS please.Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09
Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402
Rome 7PM; NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM (NOTE -- we are accomodating the US time change this week ) |
|
|