Shadows in May Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 13 x 16" 33 x 41 cm
Child and Nurse Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 10.5 x 14 inches 27 x 35 cm
Eiffel Tower in Sun Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 10.5 x 16 inches 27 x 41 cm
Eiffel Tower in Clouds Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 113 x 16 33 x 41 cm
Sunny Pot of Flowers Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 14 x 20 35 x 50 cm
Artnotes: Paris Charm
“I had to go to the police station to report my car was hit
and run,” a friend reports,” it took me an hour and a half.”
“How could that be?” I asked, knowing our police station is
never busy.
“They made the report with a typewriter. And carbon paper.”
I was shocked. I didn’t
think you could even buy typewriter ribbon anymore. If you thought France was approaching the 21st
century, think again.
We got our carte de sejour this week – good for one year,
and it was the same thing. We started
the process one year ago this month, and finally our card (good now for another
six months) was renewed. Blair and I
each have a file two inches thick, which is less than some other people: one Polish couple, 60-ish, had one as thick
as the Oxford English dictionary (condensed form). Every
time we go there, we EACH have to have six months’ copies of our electric bill,
our banking information… and they keep it (who knows where?) for eternity. The city doesn’t mail out our carte de sejour
any more, so we brave multiple lines and metal detectors at the big city police
station once again. I look for inspector
Maigret in the hallways.
The family of one of my younger students is here for a
month. I visit with them while their
daughter gets ready to paint. The
parents are charmed by France and its antiquated customs. They are from Los Angeles. “I just don’t understand how this many bakeries
could stay in business,” she tells me. “All
so small and individual. And chocolate
shops. All delicious. ”
J and I go to the garden to paint with a French woman, with
Blair, already started. I watch children
and their nannies, like Degas painted. J isn’t as happy today – we are painting the
trees – next time she wants to paint portraits of one another.
It was a week of happy surprises. We had a French painter with us on Tuesday,
Blair’s birthday, and she turned out to be just great. It was our first French workshop participant–
we usually have anglo-saxons, on vacation from the US, Australia, or England. Friends made Blair a birthday cake! On Wednesday we painted with a delightful
young woman from Seattle – studying political science here. It brings to mind Hollande and his foibles,
DSK, and Sarkozy, but I must remember there was Charlemagne, the Louis’,
Napoleon. And, of course, there was
deGaulle.
Thursday was Victory in Europe day, a holiday in
France. It’s hard to imagine that was 69
years ago. They’re using the same
typewriter at the police station.
