Artnotes: If the shoe doesn't fit...

Dancing Shoes (with gold)   Laurie Fox Pessemier  12 x 16"    30 x 40cm   

These shoes won’t fit.   Every few days I try them on again – if my feet were really, really cold they might slip in.  I trim my toenails very close. 

Sometimes no matter how hard I try I can’t be the person I think I should be.   I am not always the painter I want to be, the salesperson, the hostess.  I wish I were thinner, didn’t drink so much, didn’t let people get on my nerves.  I want to speak Italian right now, laugh more, see the bright side.  I want to know the answer (and it better be good).

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Grape Vines in the Back Yard  Laurie Fox Pessemier 12 x 18"  30 x 45cm  

My friend Y and I visit every Wednesday morning on Skype.  I look forward to it.   We try to improve ourselves.  We are suckers for self-help, and we spend a certain number of minutes every day trying to reach our goals.   I know that works, because I have two musically gifted nephews who learned multiple instruments, under the eye of my sister, practicing 15 minutes a day.  If they can do it, I can master Italian, write, paint, and promote our artwork -- and, oh yeah, exercise.    Y sells calendars for her 3 and 30 day goal materials on Etsy.  I use them.

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Grape Vines at Castello di Serravalle   Laurie Fox Pessemier   12 x 24"   30 x 60cm  

But, no, the shoes really don’t fit.  I can’t even get them on, much less walk in them.  I got the shoes at the flea market at Savigno.  I didn’t pay too much.   They are Italian shoes, beautifully made, with little rubber divots in the heels to make them last.   So I there’s still time to figure it all out.

View from Castello di Serravalle  Blair Pessemier  12 x 16"  30 x 40cm

I can paint the shoes…maybe someone will come along who likes them as much as I do and they will fit (a man’s size 8).  Or, I can plant posies in them, carnations maybe.   I have thought of constructing a “dancing” mobile.  I have terrifically high ceilings here, and a mobile could be just right.   Top hat, gloves, shoes, a record hung from a shiny black cane…a swoopy chiffon scarf?   Just don’t step on my toes.