Paintings by Blair + Laurie Fox PESSEMIER

 Hummingbird Hawkmoth  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/wood  16 x 24"  40 x 60 cm

 The Italian Teacher   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/wood  24 x 16  60 x 40 cm

 View near Castello di Serravalle  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/panel  16 x 13"  41 x 33 cm

 First Daffodil   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/wood  12 x 16 30 x 40 cm

 View Spring Fields   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  12 x 20"  30 x 50cm

Tulips in February   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/wood  16 x 12"  30 x 40 cm  

Artnotes:  In Search of Paradise

When we brought Harika to the veterinarian for the first time, in La Marsa, Tunisia, Dr. B said, “you must take this dog.  Whatever you do (go back to France or stay in Tunisia), for her it will be paradise.”  We had not yet committed to the care of Harika for life, but wanted her to have some critical vaccines that many animals lacked in Tunisia.  Of course, the rest is history, and Harika does live in paradise, with her two acre yard, and fine meals, and a good night’s sleep every night, yes, on the bed.  She’s adopted the car (the Cream Puff) as her dog house and sleeps in the backseat a good part of the day.

Blair and I often think we are living in paradise, as well.  Just yesterday, we were sitting in the sun eating our lunch outside in the yard – Harika made a start, and a lovely, dark-ish woman came around the side of the house with a “box” of flowers on a ribbon around her neck.  It made me think of the cigarette girl of former nightclub fame – my mother dressed me up as such for Halloween when I was about 8, and I handed out candy cigarettes, in my leotard with white gloves.  This lady was selling orchids, done up with a bit of shrub, and little colored stones, in glass fishbowls.  It was like a dream – we live in a rural town of just 3000 people, and here was a flower lady, a la francaise, oh la la.

Of course, my romantic husband bought me an orchid, and the woman was delighted.  And I thought, THIS IS PARADISE.

I have been painting flowers this week, a daffodil I plucked from the side of the road on our walk, for one.  In that same area were violets growing in the grass – I picked a handful, with two inch stems.   Blair bought red tulips from up the hill in Zocca, and we had them on the dinner table on Tuesday when friends came over.

Our divine and wonderful landlady came by today with the carpenter, and they will make some changes to make our house warmer.   Finally, we tightly shut all the basement windows, replacing a broken one, and even the plants down there don’t seem to mind. 

A hummingbird hawkmoth flew into the living room one evening this week, addressing itself to one of the red metal roses on the chandelier.  It was sadly disappointed, and Blair was able to catch it as it lit on a branch, and then dispatch it into the fading outdoor light.  If you have never seen one, it is an amazing creature:  it looks just like a smallish hummingbird, but with antenna, and it darts around frantically, in search of paradise.