Artnotes: Orange and Blue
How much time does it take to prepare for an art show? Lots.
We’ve spent nearly all of the last week getting ready for “Orange dans l’Azur”,
scheduled to open the 5 March. Hence,
our painting has fallen a bit by the wayside as all of our energy goes to
getting the pictures stretched, sending out invitations, framing, planning. And Artnotes is a day late.
I feel the days getting slightly longer now: the sun wakes us up at about 7:45 and sets at
6:30. We can easily go for a walk at 5
in the afternoon and not be in the dark.
The sun is higher in the sky. As
I type artnotes, a day late, the sun is streaming through my living room
window.
We had six painters with us in the Luxembourg Gardens
yesterday: students from Choate. “Fifteen minutes,” I tell one of them. “What?” he exclaims. “It’s quarter to one”. He’s been painting for nearly two hours. “I thought I was just here fifteen minutes.” I feel so happy that painting has the power
to transport a 16 year-old into another time.
Of course, an iphone can do it, but with painting, it’s all taking place
in the mind. I would like to have more
young students – they are the most imaginative and most appreciative. I can make a big difference in their lives.
Beneath the Bridge Laurie fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 20 inches
I went out painting a couple of times this week – under the bridge down by the Seine. Rain has swollen the river to a raging muddy
mess – not quite over the banks. I paint
from my window, and with the students in the park, of course.
Rainy morning from my bed Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 10.5 x 16 inches
All this makes me all realize how enriching our time in Villefranche-sur-Mer
was: our paintings were better, we broke
new ground in painting size and mediums.
We vow to travel more. We have rented
out our apartment for the latter half of October, and plan to go to Biarritz or
Grenada. I think we need to have the
upending experience of displacement to shock our brain into seeing in new ways.
Tunisia near the Park Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 18 x 22 inches
Meanwhile, please come to our opening on the 5 March from
6-9 PM, if you are in Paris. Or stop by
the Gallery at 102, rue Cherche-Midi, in the 6th arrondissement
between then and the 16 March. And
experience a little of the cote d’Azur.
Orange and Bleu.
