Artnotes: Grass Stains

 

 In the Tuileries  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/panel   12 x 12"  30 x 30cm

 Senat with Shrub   Blair Pessmeier  Acrylic/linen  14 x 20"  46 x 38cm

 Senat  Lauurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/linen  11 x 14"  27 x 35 cm

 House at the Bagatelle   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/linen  9.5 x 13"  24 x 33 cm

 Queen in the Shadows  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/panel  9.5 x 13"  24 x 33cm

 Allee at Giverny  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/linen  15 x 18"  38 x 46cm

Rose Garden Bagatelle   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/linen  15 x 18"  38 x 46cm

Rose Arbor  Giverny   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/linen 18 x 15 "  36 x 48cm

Artnotes:  Grass Stains

We’ve worked the last two weeks with nary a day to ourselves.  To be free today is such a luxury – don’t tell anyone    Mundane chores have never seemed  so pleasant.   I’ve actually TIME to write artnotes today.  

I am getting better at appreciating the free time we have.  On Thursday afternoon we drove our rental car (from a previous night at Giverny), out to the bois de Boulogne, where I saw one of the best trees of my life.  We didn’t go out to paint, but to sit beneath that tree.

We’re were on TV in Chicago this week, thanks to Debi Lilly and “off the registry-wedding-gift-ideas”.  Our paintings were prominently displayed, and our names mentioned, in the proper French pronunciation.  Who knows, maybe we will be famous someday.   http://wgntv.com/2014/06/26/off-the-registry-wedding-gift-ideas/

The tree in the bois de Boulogne is located near the Bagatelle and a little stand where we ate French fries and drank little bottles of cold rose wine.  The tree is more than five hugs around – that is, if we put our arms around it,  it would take five of us to enclose the trunk.  At about twelve feet the trunk splits into five huge branches, which eventually branch  again and dip clear down to about four feet above the ground, providing comfortable seats for kids.

Blair is writing an introduction for our art Auction, taking place on JULY 25TH 2014 from 6:30 - 8:00 PM at The MADISON VINEYARD   9640 W BROAD ST, WEST JEFFERSON, OH 43162.    If  our own auction purchases were  to inspire others, we will have great success. I am thrilled about this whole thing, orchestrated by Blair and one of our painting workshop participants, Grant Zerkle, of Geoff Smith Auctioneers.

The tree looks out to other big trees and a large field.  Dark skinned men in working clothes sleep in the shade; five girls taking selfies sit giggling on a big green blanket in the sun.  Couples slather sun-tan lotion on one another, smoke cigarettes, and gesticulate wildly with their hands, discussing modern music.  People undress; a flabby Englishman exercises his white legs, like a windmill, in the sun.    I hear the wind in the trees, distant peacocks calling, a dog in a car (in the shade).  There are hundreds (Blair says a thousand) different bugs.

Our second renter has been unfortunately called back home for the month of August, so our bohemian apartment with a big Paris view is again available.  We would entertain any reasonable request to occupy the place, water the plants and leave a small donation in the kitty.  Let us know soon, if you are interested.

Harika rolls in the grass, overcome with the joy of being outside in nature.  I look at my white clothes and think of grass stains.