Sunday, March 23, 2014

Artnotes: Getting Started


Chess 2014  Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/panel  12 x 12 inches 

Artnotes:  Getting Started

The best way to write is just to start writing.  It’s that way for lots of stuff, I think.  Yesterday we painted with four students and their teacher in the Luxembourg Gardens.  It took effort to pick the scene and get started.  First attempts weren’t perfect, but as we pressed on, we produced some wonderful paintings.

Cold day in the Park   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/linen  9.5 x 14  

Younger people have no hang-ups about not painting what they see.  One girl asked, “could I just paint the subway?”  Great idea, I told her.   People passing by wondered just how she could be seeing that metro car in the Luxembourg Gardens.  That was part of the art piece, too.

Whenever I haven’t done something for a while, it takes me a long time to get going.  Even with cooking, it can be that way.  We had two sets of guests this short week, which started for us in Paris on Wednesday.  One of my Thursday guests was a chef, which is always a little intimidating. I made a mustard and grapefruit sauce for the duck that cleared one’s sinuses.   We had rousing conversation – from art materials to emergency remedies at sea.   Later he described my meal as “dimensional”, which I took as a compliment. It is not just the food, but the fun at the table that makes everything right. 

Birds in the Somme   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/wood  7 x 13 inches 

On Wednesday morning, we drove home from our wonderful two day sojourn at the Baie de la Somme.   While we were there, I saw so many birds – following fish from the sea to the river.   The Bay of the Somme is famous for migrating birds and huge sections of the land are set aside for preservation.  It wasn’t unusual to see hundreds of birds in the sky.  Our room in Saint Valery sur Somme looked out on the river, where the tide was significant each day.  Birds would ride the incoming or outgoing current, rushing along.  Others scooped out fish, whenever the occasion arose.

This put me in the mind of river fish, fresh water fish, something I rarely see in the market.  So for our guests on Friday night, I selected two “Fera”, deep water lake fish found only in the lakes on the French/Swiss border.  We had scallops as a starter (in a blue cheese and whiskey (for want of bourbon) sauce), followed by this white fish which I poached in a white wine and served with roasted potatoes and leeks.  My cousin’s daughter and her friend came over – both young and brave with ideas about many things.  Good eaters.  She (my second cousin) is such a confident person, I sometimes feel she is more grown up that me.   It was lots of fun.

Red trunks/green leaves   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/linen  10.5 x 16 

Little by little spring breaks.  Trees in the park sport small, pale green leaves.  The three of us are exhausted today, from fun, work and food, and I lie around writing, eventually, and sending out artnotes.

Serious Play   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/panel  



 Amiens Cathedral  Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/wood   13 x 9.5 inches

Along the Somme  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/linen  12 x 12 inches

 Somme  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/linen 

 Apple Blossoms  Blair Pessemier   Acyrlic/wood  13 x 7 inches

Ranunculas in a Turquoise Vase  Laurie Pessemier   Acrylic/linen  16 x 10.5 inches