Paintings by Blair + Laurie Fox PESSEMIER: A Walk to the Seine

Luxembourg Gardens November Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic on linen 11x 16 inches SOLD

Last leaves in the Luxembourg Gardens Acrylic on linen Blair Pessemier 10.5 x 18

Seine November Morning Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic on linen10.5 x 14 inches

ARNOTES: A WALK TO THE SEINE

This morning was crisp and bright, so after a coffee at Omar’s, we headed towards the Seine. Omar, the Tunisian who owns the Tourne Bouchon, makes terrific coffee – “it begins with high quality beans” he tells us. He didn’t have any crossaints this morning, so we settled for a tartine (half of a baguette) with jam.

Harika had a couple of her homemade biscuits that I carry in my pocket, and we were off.

Near the Lutetia, we passed a crowd of boys emerging from a night in the sewer. You can always tell where they’ve come from, smeared with a sandy mud and pale as a submarine crew. There are big parties in the Paris sewers on weekends, although I rarely see girls coming out from below. Some people wear big rubber boots. It’s a little fascinating but likewise off-putting – a thing I can certainly live without. Harika gives them bearth, which makes me think they don’t smell so good, either.

I love the walk to the Seine, by all the windows of art galleries and antiquaires. Shop windows in this neighborhood, where no one checks the price, are exceptional. We cross the Pont Royal, and make a brief stop on the grass at the Louvre. It’s pretty but we haven’t got easels today, and it will be hard to find a roost. Harika looks around but we all decide to go to the banks of the river. Down the stairs, and we set up our “tent” on a slightly elevated sandy area.

We are inundated with miserable looking joggers, who I kind of feel sorry for – alone and mean. In years past there were no joggers, which I think was indicative of a happier population. One man, who’s obviously twisted an ankle on the cobblestones, snarls at Harika, who thought she would sidle up and comfort him. Later she’s rewarded by a Scandinavian couple who pet her and talk to her.

The weather changes every few minutes these days, sun and clouds, always damp and thus cold. We did manage to paint outside several times, anyway. I painted at the Palais Royal, and in the Luxembourg Gardens. We’re planning a show on 6 December: Winter Light. We’ll feature Blair’s new abstract work in the studio downstairs.

We both like to paint a lot, and I was encouraged by a recent article by Robert Genn (the Painter’s Keys). The posting was about a teacher who set up half his class to do one perfect painting for the semester and the other half of the class to do the maximum number of paintings. Funny thing was the BEST paintings came from those people who painted a lot.