Octopus's Garden

 ​Harika in the Octopus's Garden   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas

 Spring Hills with Monte Cimone   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/wood  17.5 x 23.5  44 x 59cm  SOLD

 Laurie at Lerici  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/linen  14 x 19.5"  35 x 50cm

 Trees on a Winding Road    Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas   11.5 x 15.5"   29 x 39cm

 Red Poppy   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  12 x 12"  30 x 30cm

Woods near the Field     Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  11.5 x 15.5 inches  29x 39cm  

I'd like to be under the sea

In an octopus's garden in the shade

By Ringo Starr

One of my earliest memories of Harika, our dog, was of her playing with an octopus on beach in La Marsa, Tunisia.   The octopus would throw an arm at her and she’d scamper away.

We went to the beach on Tuesday this week – Lerici, on the Mediterranean between Spezia and Pisa.   When I go to the ocean, I feel as though I am a fish back in the water.   I feel the tight spot around my heart unfurl, and my lungs fill with sea air.   I am almost brought to tears, as I feel myself close to the supreme force.   Ecstasy.

The sun was broiling hot, and the sea was turquoise, like the water on the Italian Riviera is supposed to be.  It was fabulous, but too much for Harika who sought relief in the “sewie pipe”, the outfall hole, on the beach.   She sat in her “octopus’s garden”, snatching back her paws as the sun advanced.   Blair and I persisted, both tried to go swimming but the sea was too strong and too cold.  So we sat in the sun and thought:  this is GREAT.

Lerici is a wonderful location, where Lord Byron spent time and ultimately, eternity, as he slipped from a boat and died in these waters.   We are always looking for our winter hideout for next year, and this could be it…  there was plenty to paint, a few restaurants, and decadently decayed fancy hotels and villas.   It was our second trip here, the last in October 2015.

We ate lunch at an outdoor café, near a man and a woman with remarkably similar hair. Blair pointed out, “it’s like Donald Trump”.  It was uncannily so, bleached blond, with some golden streaks, combed in ways hair would never normally fall.  “They must be hairdressers,” I said.    I wonder if Trump hair will catch on, in the way people started wearing afghani style hats, or droopy pants.

We got into the car and drove on, seeking other beaches.  We had to take the autoroute to go south, and just outside of Lerici I noticed white mountains.   I realized this could not be snow, sweating as I was (the air conditioning in our car is gentle). In fact, this was white Carrara marble.  Glistening white patches covered the lower regions of jagged mountains.  And on either side of the road, chunks of marble as large as my Paris kitchen sat ready to be shipped out or cut.

We eventually reached Viareggio, which is a more standard Italian beach.  That is, there are entrances to the shore, through gates with names like “Amore”, “California” – and one pays for a spot with a chair and for slightly extra, an umbrella.  This is not our scene. 

We took the long and winding road through the mountains toward home.    We rode with the windows wide open, until it started to get dark, when the cool mountain air blew us back to Rocca Malatina.

Your Painting Minute: Red Poppy

Artnotes: Sundial

View with Cypress   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  12 x 19"  30 x 50cm

​A multitude of vintage cinquecentos (Fiat 500s) from some 40 years ago made their way by our house and up to Zocca today.  I remember hitchhiking in 1976  in Italy, and having to get out of the car so it could make it up the hill, driver only.  The new models seem like they are on steroids, at least twice the original size.

We spent a lot of time this week organizing our show for the Maserati unveiling in Tabiano, Parma, Italy.   I love driving around in Italy (wouldn’t mind doing it in a Maserati, either):  we find so many interesting things to see/do.  When we head back up to pick up any unsold images, we will “take the waters” – the salty, thermal baths in that area of Salsamaggiore.

Countryside in Springtime   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  12 x 16"  30 x 40 cm

Even the 70 minute sit-still-traffic-jam on the highway we experienced on Thursday was surprising:  everyone got out of their cars and visited with one another.   Complete strangers, laughing, joking, smoking, and then poof! Back into their cars and 130 kilometers an hour in 60 seconds.  Actually a man in our lane fell asleep.

I am so impressed with communication in Italy.  Everyone TALKS – maybe even to excess, but it is utterly enjoyable from our standpoint.  Sure, there are plenty of cell phones, but you are much more likely to see people on a corner talking, loudly, with their hands, and ample laughing.  I would describe Italy in a word:  communication. 

​Communication at the Cafe   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/panel   10 x 12"  25 x 35 cm

I have been dreaming and waking up thinking in Italian.  Blair and I always revert to English at home, which hampers us. Italian conversation with Antonella takes back up on Monday, so we will be in the progress mode again.  I am further along here than I was in French after one year.  That old wives’ tale about how much harder it is to learn languages the older you get is hogwash.

We’ve been walking in the Parco Sassi di Rocca Malatina, the big woods, near our house.  I like to get views “in” before the trees get all of their leaves and one can only see green.  Right now, purple flowers are in bloom, from violets (finishing) to grape hyacinths, wisteria and lilacs.  There are houses built right up to the giant rocks in the park, and dirt roads for miles.  We’ve been planting herbs and cosmos, marigolds and nasturtiums.

Trees up the Hill   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/wood   11.5 x 23"  29 x 59cm   

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Ludovico and Fabio, in jerseys and caps, were working around the yard, fitting cuttings from the lower trees (suckers, we called them) into their belts.  The sticks looked like arrows, and they resembled Robin Hood.  “For tying grapevines”, Ludovico announced.   Nothing is wasted, all is used one way or another.  The giant haystack grows in the yard.    The two have such a romantic look around the grounds, snipping and pruning.  Today they are dressed in bee suits, corralling a swarm from the plum tree.   Although the bees are not aggressive, I wait inside.   They show Blair the swarm, in a plastic bag, destined for a new hive.

It is windy and very beautiful at the moment.  We take our lunch outdoors, but wear slippers on the still cool tile floors.   Sometimes I want to slow down the time we have here in the sunshine.  I’d like a dial to speed up time at the dentist and slow down the luxurious lunch in the sun, but my flowers might never come up.

Trees and Rock  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 12 x 12   30 x 30 cm

Your Painting Minute: Getting Started

Your Painting Minute: Adding color

Artnotes: A year in Rocca Malatina

Flowering cherries from Window Above  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas   12 x 12"  30 x 30cm

Brightening up the landscape   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas   16 x 12"  40 x 30cm

 Montecorone with Cherries   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/wood 11.5 x 23    29 x 59cm

Monte Coronne Light and Shade  Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/wood   18 x 23"  45 x 59cm

 At the Sassi   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  10 x 14"  25 x 35cm

 Montalbano from Verocchio   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  18 x 15  46 x 38cm

Trees together   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas   12 x 16 inches   30 x 40 cm

Spring at the Sassi  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas   12 x 12"  30 x 30cm

Cherry Blossoms Garafalo   Laurie Fox Pessemier   acrylic/linen   11 x 14  27 x 35cm

 Through the Trees at Verocchio  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/linen  16 x 12"    40 x 30cm

 New cherry  Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  16 x 13   41 x 33cm

 House at the Sassi   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas   16 x 12"  40 x 30cm

By the road in Garafalo   Blair Pessemier   acrylic/wood 8 x 16   20 x 40cm

Cherry Blossoms on Turquoise  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/linen 13 x 9  33 x 22cm

A Year in Rocca Malatina

It was just one year ago we signed the lease for this wonderful house in Rocca Malatina, Italy.  We looked at it and fell in love at once – when that happens it is hard to see things any other way.   I was sitting out on the grass with Harika today, thinking WOW, this is my yard!

This week we had a painting workshop with just one painter.  She was the perfect companion – we painted beneath both grey  and sunny skies, drank wine and dined at our table, and visited a couple of inspirational places.

It is always with mixed feelings we open our home.  It’s one thing to have a painting workshop, another to host someone.  We’ve had some doozies at Rocca Malatina in the one year we have been here.

We started out strong, painting the enormous rock outcroppings up at the Sassi di Roccamalatina.   Even I find it a daunting subject – rocks are, well, HARD.  But we powered through, and came home for lunch and a nap.  That set the precedent for the next two days of painting.

We painted trees and skies, towns and landscapes.  Mornings and late afternoons.  When it gets a little warmer, I look forward to night paintings. 

After three days behind the easel, we needed a break, and went to the castle at Vignola.  It is a masterpiece of decorative wall painting – even in the “women’s prison” tower.  Estes’ colors abound: red white and green.   You can sense the door opening to the Renaissance there.    Someone let us in to see a stairway being restored – the first round stairwell built without a central support – it was a predecessor to a grander one at the Vatican.  

We felt inspired enough to paint from the tower in our house that afternoon, looking out at trees and houses below.

The next day we went out to Salsomaggiore – and saw the positively BEST art nouveau building I have ever seen!  Salsomaggiore was a spa resort frequented in the first half of the twentieth century.  The Berziere Spa was a feast for the eyes, with hand painted walls, jewel encrusted pillars, and outstanding art nouveau brass details.   We didn’t take the waters, but may go back for that soon. We are having a show in Tabiano starting the end of this week,  for a local car company.  Tabiano is also a site for healing thermal waters.

The sun is shining this afternoon, and we look forward to more sunny days in the garden.

Artnotes: Way to go, Universe!

Commission   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  18 x 12   45 x30cm

Nuclear Plant Commission   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  16 x 24"  41 x 60cm

 Pear Blossoms   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  12 x 12"  30 x30cm

Dinner Included   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  32 x 47  81 x 119cm   

The Universe must have been reading last week’s Artnotes, when I talk about not feeling included:  we have had a multitude of engagements this week.    One was completely in Italian language, one half and half, and today we spoke English with some of the most sophisticated people I have ever met.  Right here in greater Rocca Malatina, Italy!

Our Italian lunch was at a great house only to be found in Italy – it was an old vinegar factory, with a grand porch that was ever so slowly renovated into a beautiful entertainment room.  I love the scale of houses here – big square spaces.  This family had some of the most wonderful paintings I’d seen in a long time, and it inspired me to come home and paint.   Too bad I ate so much lunch it had to be postponed until the next day.

I got out my biggest canvas and set up the dining room like a dinner scene.  I invited people over who cancelled the last minute (actually they told me it might not work out), so now everyone in the scene has the gestures of Blair, or friends from pictures years ago.  The ideal dinner party:  drama, refinement, beauty and ease.   We now have 7 pounds of coq au vin, and are steadily working on it.

We had English guests to dinner, who came to our show over the last weekend (did I tell you I was a success?  Last minute someone with a hotel showed up and bought 4 small works).  An Italian English couple joined in, and we ate and drank with abandon.

Today we went to a house in the area for tea.  The man is a great collector with interesting objects from Central and South America, Turkey and Afghanistan.  Of course there were fine Italian paintings, and lovely furniture, again in in a house built in that marvelous, grand square Italian architectural style.   I felt a bit of a fool for bringing my 10 cent print of Monte Cimone, but the thought was there.  They were planting a jasmine tree, guaranteed to smell delicious on hot summer nights.

Blair is busy with commissions, which he really likes.  He painted someone’s mother, and a nuclear power plant in Saudi Arabia (this is the rejected one, which I actually liked the best).  

 I was outside painting blossoms and talking about negative space on your painting minute this week, anticipating a workshop student this coming week.  Way to go, Universe!