Folly, Bois de Boulogne    Blair PESSEMIER   Acrylic on wood   6 x 10 inches  SOLD

 La Maison Rose  Blair Pessemier  Oil on canvas   12 x 24 inches

 View from Montmartre  Laurie Fox PESSEMIER  Acrylic on canvas  9.5 x 16 inches

On Montmartre  Laurie Fox PESSEMIER  Acrylic on canvas  12 x 12 inches

LA BELLE FRANCE

Magenta.  I would like a poem about Magenta*.  The ‘Poet Publique’, sitting at his typewriter on a lesser square of Montmartre, asked me to tell him more.  “It’s red, but with more blue tones,” I told him. “Still red, but cooler, not as angry.  It is my favorite painting color [along with turquoise].”

His long fingers tapped the keys of his old fashioned, mechanical typewriter,  a brand I didn’t recognize.  Across the way a man played a guitar and a woman sang.  It was a surprisingly unpeopled scene, especially for Montmartre.

I needed an artist’s statement for an art show** here in France.  I have ten pieces on display at a gallery in Feucherolles, outside of Versailles.  Magenta is part of my painting, and I thought the poem might describe my philosophy.  Plus, it would already be in French.  And who could ignore a “public poet”?

We sat beside the poet  as he typed.  He gave us other poems, in French and in English, which he had written.  He wore glasses, a white shirt and a ‘hip’ jacket – a bit of an Oscar Wilde look.   We’d been walking around Montmartre, trying to develop a slow and interesting tour to offer our painters.  I am not sure it is possible.  Montmartre is steeped in history, of art, and other things, but it is brutally “touristique”.  Montmartre is “unimproved” Paris, much as it was several centuries ago -- untouched by the Haussman plan of the late 1800s.

We drove out to the show at Feucherolles on Friday night, with two charming friends, who were instrumental in our inclusion in the event.  Pauline, the proprietrice, arranged the works of 18 artists at her country-farm.  There were a half dozen out buildings of substance, in addition to the house and shop.  One enters the gate and is transported to an expansive “secret garden”.  Pauline’s husband, Harold, is a landscape gardener, who transformed the grounds into a magic place of hidden fountains and rare trees.  

My work  was in a little building with a stone terrace, shared with someone who worked in mixed media depicting giraffes and donkeys, and a video artist.  In an adjoining open space was a collage artist and in the barn, a photographer.  There were sculptures and prints, drawings and other paintings – all housed in idyllic follies around the grounds.   Much stone.    At the furthest reaches of the property was an area for children, defined by trimmed boxwood, with lush foliage all around.   One could get lost in the details of flora and artfully tumble-down ruins – a veritable fantasy.

“How do you like la belle France?” someone asked me.  I replied effusively in the affirmative:  this was truly what France is most proud of.   It was like being on George Sand’s, or Collette’s estate outside the city, but this is the present, and it was an honor to be part of it.   To top it all off, I sold two paintings on opening night!

*

Du Bleu en dit qu'il est pur

Et n'a

Comme n'en ont ni le ciel
Ni la terre

De frontière palpable

Et je crois

De même

De la couleur qu'on dit magenta

Qu'elle n'a pas d'autre frontière

Que le rouge qu'on y voit

L'air et le feu

Trouvent là

De quoi se reconcilier

 Color Table  Blair Pessemier   Acrylic on Wood   7 x 20 inches

 Geraniums on Balcony  Laurie Fox PESSEMIER  Acrylic on canvas  12 x 24 inches

 Boules   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on canvas 9.5 x 16

By the Seine  Laurie Fox PESSEMIER  Acrylic on wood   10 x 5.5.

Trees and planter Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on wood  6 x 9.5

Bench among the Trees   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on wood 12 x 7 inches

Sunshine in the Luxembourg Gardens  M. Blair PESSEMIER   Oil on canvas  18 x 22 inches

Shadows   M. Blair PESSEMIER   Oil on canvas  22 x 15

Pont Neuf   M. Blair PESSEMIER   Oil on canvas 12 x 24

Concert in the Park   M. Blair PESSEMIER   Oil on linen 9.5 x 16  SOLD

Drama  M. Blair PESSEMIER  Oil on canvas 12 x 12

Ponies in the Park   M Blair PESSEMIER   Oil on canvas  15 x 21

Pont des Arts  M. Blair PESSEMIER  Acrylic on canvas 15 x 18

Paris Scene  Laurie Fox PESSEMIER  Acrylic on canvas 13 x 16

Parasol in the Park   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER  Acrylic on canvas  12 x 12

Giverny Shadow  Laurie Fox PESSEMIER  Acrylic on canvas   12 x 16

Beaux Arts   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER  Acrylic on canvas   12 x 16

Outside Giverny  M. Blair PESSEMIER   Oil on canvas 13 x 18

Color 101  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on wood  6 x 20

 

Waiter  Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on wood  6 x 10

Painting by the Seine   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER  Acrylic on canvas 12 x 16 inches

ARTNOTES:  Paris Painting Workshop

I have always theorized that children teach their parents, not the other way around.  And I think the same is for my painting students.  Today we had our first of this season’s painting sessions, and our two painters taught us a thing or two.  As Blair and I noodled out another depiction of the Pont des Arts, the woman I painted with created an abstract composition of quintessential Paris.  We started out a little nervously, but in no time at all, our paintings were complete.

Blair and his fellow occupied the other side of the river.  His associate painted in oil, the scene in front of him but oh, so far away.  It was like standing on the quai next to Milton Avery.  I was so impressed by them.  Remarkable.

Our week plus has been action packed, and these notes a little truncated.   While two students arrived a day early and left on Thursday, another arrived three days late, so the “week” of teaching is now ten days.  I’m pooped.

At Giverny, we visited the gardens and the house Monet lived in.  The highlight for me was the visit to the museum, where we saw Bonnard’s paintings of Normandy.  M and I studied the brush strokes and the colors:  Bonnard and I share a palette of turquoise, magenta and lemon yellow.  Fortified with inspiration from three corners, we retired to a nearby field to paint.

Another friend, M2, needed a day out of Paris and we gave him an easel and canvas so he could play along.  The four of us turned out radically different pictures.  Painting at Giverny was much more “public” than our earlier roosts.  People treated us as if we were yet another feature of the official visit, and we talked with folks from all over the world.

Blair has joined me in the “ham” department – we have come to accept and enjoy the banter and shutter-snapping.  I like to think it encourages other people to try their hand at expression.

We’ve been to the Luxembourg Gardens and will go to to the Eiffel Tower, Seine near Notre Dame, and the Bois de Boulogne before we call it a workshop.   Who knows what visual surprises tomorrow will have to offer?

Laurie (painting and text) and Blair PESSEMIER

 

 

 Roses on the balcony   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on wood   4 x 20 inches

 Chess set   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on canvas  12 x 12 inches

 April Showers   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER  Acrylic on canvas  11 x 14 inches

 Resting near the pond   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on wood  6.5 x 10 inches

 A day in the park   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on wood  6.5 x 12 inches

 Sitting on the edge   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on wood  6.5 x 10 inches

 Souvenir Concord   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on wood  6.5 x 20 inches

 

Shadows in the park  Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on wood  4 x 13 inches

 View from the Winter Garden   Laurie Fox PESSEMIER   Acrylic on canvas  10 x 14 inches


ARTNOTES:  Another View

When we were in Germany on Thursday, Harika played with another dog, Joey, at the office we were visiting.  Joey is a border collie, a slightly larger dog than Harika, and nobody’s fool.  He got me to throw the stick for him for a good thirty minutes.  Harika is not a  “retriever” in any sense of the word.  She wanted the stick, but was unwilling to go after it.  So, she let Joey get the stick and as soon as he brought it back and dropped it at my feet, she stole it and ran away with it. It was a different approach – and with dogs there are no rules.

I need to be doing more than one thing at a time.  I think of myself as a multi-tasker.  When people tell me to “follow my dream”, I always want to ask “which one?”    And often the allure of the dream is just that:  it is a dream, not a reality.  Dreaming of being thin is always better than not eating.   

I dream of having a paying job where we can travel: not huge distances, but go to a place, meet with clients, and tour around.   This week we went to Germany to discuss such a job.  The ‘big’ job with this firm didn’t turn out as expected, but we will work on a smaller scale.  For me it is just perfect:  I can work for someone, get paid (sticking point: commission only for the moment), and spend the rest of my time on my other dream:  painting and doing art workshops.  Ideal.

We drove through Belgium on our way.   We stopped for French fries with mayonnaise and  I had a meatball brochette.   Belgium may have delicious chocolate, but the food, especially roadside food, leaves room for improvement.  

When we got to Cologne, we stopped at a large city park for a walk with Harika.  Driving in Germany, especially around cities, is stressful.  It doesn’t help that my only words are good morning, please, thank you and god bless you:  gesundheit!  We walked Harika around a pond and through the grass.  The trees in Germany are much larger than those in France, and German trees are allowed to realize their greatest potential:  tall, stout, leafy, green.    I can breathe.

Once we got our wits about us, we re-embarked for a trip downtown to see the Cathedral, the “Dom”.   After crossing  the bridge across the Rhine three times, we arrived.   It was easy to see, because it is huge:   the tallest structure in the world from 1880 until 1884, when it was eclipsed by the Washington Monument.   As far as church spires go, these are the second tallest in the world.   It is at this cathedral the relics of the Magi, the Three Wise Men, are housed.  The church commenced construction in the 13^th century to house these very artifacts. 

I had hoped to hear the bells, but had to be satisfied with the steel drum player, an American, outside on the Plaza.  The plaza was a vital place, even on Wednesday afternoon.

We pressed on, got lost, bought a map, and finally arrived at our destination, a hotel in Bertzdorf.  It was one of those charming German “hofs” and we had a lovely room on the second floor looking out to the courtyard.   The lilacs were in bloom, viewable from the winter-garden.  We ate our dinner in the “bierstubbe”, seated on well-worn wooden benches while a nearby table hosted a card game.  The fish was perfectly prepared; Harika enjoyed the pork mignon wrapped in bacon, too.   We drank a local German red wine, which was good.

If Joey didn’t give me the stick so Harika could steal it, she had another technique.  She growled fiercely, showing her sadly undeveloped teeth and her “taureau” eye (as Christine in the park calls it); through fear, amusement, or both, Joey let her have the stick until I took it back and threw it for him again.  Good dog.