Paintings by Blair + Laurie Fox PESSEMIER

Church in the fields  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  16 x 23.5"  40 x 60cm

 Red Roses   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  12 x 16"  30 x 40cm  

 View from Castelletto  Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas   12 x 20   30 x 50 cm

 View of the hills   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  8 x 18  20 x 45 cm

 Rooster  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  12 x 14"  30 x 35 cm

 Haystack  Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas  16 x 16   40 x 40 cm

Baroque   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  8 x 14"  20 x 35cm

Artnotes:  Laying an Egg

It's been a hot and sunny week here in Rocca Malatina, Italy.  We've been near 90F/32.2C many days, a bit cooler than nearby Modena and Bologna.  I am actually looking forward to our trip to Paris next week, to set up our show, and pack up the rest of our apartment.  I could stand a day or two of the cool, grey atmosphere.

Everyday I get up to sunshine and roosters crowing.  Harika is "up with the chickens" as they say, and she goes out to inspect her yard.  The yard has changed tremendously this last week.  The large farm mower came and cut all the buttercups (since faded), clover and knee high grass down to size.   Two days later another machine came to spread the grass for drying.  Next day, a machine came to line the grass up in neat rows, as one sees wheat in a field.  Finally, the most unusual machine arrived to vacuum up the straw and deposit it, like an egg from a giant chicken, in rolls.   Everything has disappeared.

We've been exploring the area in detail around where we live. We've painted the hills, the baroque-looking church in the field, visited the tiny theatre near the river.   We made a foray to Bologna and ate at the Amadeo restaurant, where the workers eat, and everyone is wished "buon lavoro" (good work) upon their departure (this had a bit of a red twinge).   I really like Bologna, a city of loggias, and we walked beneath arches and vaults, on different terrazzo sidewalks.

I have been studying Italian like mad, and we've managed many small conversations -- we are most proud of our communication with Ludovico, our gardener who just looks at us in wonder as we pronounce our Italian