Sunday, September 02, 2012

Back to work in Paris

 Trimming the bushes   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic on canvas(panel)  13 x 9"

 Children with boats in the Garden   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on canvas (panel) 12 x 12"

 Fountain  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on canvas (panel) 16 x 10"

 August boats in the Bassin    Blair Pessemier   Acrylic on canvas panel  16 x 13 inches
 August in the Garden  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on canvas 16 x 10 inches
 Our Sunflower   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic on canvas panel  16 x 10 inches   SOLD


Jeu de Longue Paume   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on canvas panel  14 x 11 inches

ARTNOTES:  Hmmmmmm....

“Look at these wires,” I say to Blair.  The wires which lie around the perimeter of our new studio/gallery are ten deep in some places.  The location used to be a travel agency in the day of faxes and dedicated computer lines.  It’s impossible for me to tell what is data and what is electricity, so I have been carefully sorting out the unconnected bits.

We’ve taken a little gallery studio for a four month trial period.  Blair will paint here – with oils, on a large scale, and I can continue to paint in cafes and outdoors.  We’ll have the chance to show our artwork, and also have a place for our plein air painters to practice on cold, wet days.  

It is a bit misty this morning, like walking through a giant, wet cloud.  At the park, a “Longue Paume” tournament is  taking place – men (mostly) with long thin rackets  wallop a (hand) ball back and forth.  This 250-year-old game was an Olympic sport in 1908.  As the game originated in France, the French have called the tournament.  It is a variation on the jeu de paume (handball).

Blair is buying a chair for the studio/gallery (only 50 Euros) and we found a glass console table on the corner the other day.  We also found a terrific “Louis-XV-style” chair in white linen that Blair carried up our six flights to the apartment.  The heavy-as-lead glass console sits in a concierge’s garden for the moment – we’ll pick it up (with a dolly) on Monday.   Lots of renovation takes place around Paris at this time, and the sidewalks abound with treasure (and trash).


We’re getting back into the swing of life in Paris.  Our place should be fixed up in time for when the rest of the city returns to work next week.  I am looking into being able to take credit cards (mega painting sales loom).  I wrote an article for an emagazine  published this week:  page 212 of http://issuu.com/aperfecteventmag/docs/aperfecteventemagazine  (A Perfect Event Magazine).

The person we are renting from is quite the character, who once lived in this studio/gallery.  Remnants of his time live on in shelves held up by jute and eye hooks.  Oddly rigged wooden boxes, decorated with plants and aboriginal designs, shield more unsightly wires.  He comes from New Zealand, and built up a business of travel, books, art and culture from his part of the world.  Now he has sold all that and is trying to launch a language museum.  And, oh, he just bought an airplane, a DC-3.  He’s invited us to join him on  a trip to New Zealand, but as I pour through the mass of wires on rue Servandoni, I think, hmmmm.

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