Artnotes: Harvest

Monte Corone  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  12 x 24   30 x 60 cm

Sassi Painting Workshop  Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  14 x 60   35 x 40cm  BUY

Monte Corone  October 8     Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  12 x 17.5   30 x 45 cm

Painting from il Faro    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  12 x 17.5   30 x 45 cm

Painting October Workshop   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  12 x 12"  30 x 30 cm

Pear Tree   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  17.5 x 14"  45 x 35cm

Apples   Laurie  Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  10 x 14  25 x 35 cm   BUY

Apples on a gold tray   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvs  12 x 9.5"  30 x 24cm  BUY

Harvest

 The Hurricane of Guests has lifted!  at last I can breathe a sigh of relief and start to harvest all the input.

I had some great guests these past two weeks:  a painter from Alaska, a group of four from New England, and three from the Washington, DC area.  We ate a couple of times at the Acqua Solferoso, a local restaurant chock full of marvelous, homemade food.   Large tables with families surround, and one can’t help but feel loved.   It almost feels like church to me, eating all around, visiting, smiling, laughing, praising life – but without the unsolicited advice.    

We have our share of churches here, which dot the Italian countryside like gas stations in America.   We peeked in the chapel at the Sassi, visited the 10^th century Pieve di Trebbio, and actually attended a mass at the parish at Rocca Malatina.    We went to the church at St. Petronius (5 October is his feast day, a holiday in Bologna), the patron saint of Bologna.  

On the recommendation of our Italian teacher, we saw the best ever attraction in Bologna:  Il Compianto de Niccola dell’Arca (otherwise known as the screaming Maries).  It is a sculpture of the Lamentation, executed in Terra Cotta, the preferred sculpting medium this side of Italy.  The multi-character work of art was created in the late 1460s, but its power gives it an almost contemporary quality.  It was shockingly wonderful, deserving an entire article written about it, and the brilliant sculptor.

We have increased our exposure to the Italian language by signing up for “Italian for Foreigners” classes in Vignola.   We went to a mostly Italian-speaking dinner last night.  I thank all the people who put up with my halting, sometimes stalling, conversation.  We are “getting there”.

That said, we picked up six boxes of book donations this week for the English Language Lending Library I am launching at our house.  We advertised (free) for book donation on AngloInfo, an internet expat publication, and drove the 50 minutes south of Florence to pick them up (if you have any books you’d like to donate, here or in the US, please contact me).  Books range from classics like PG Wodehouse to Doris Lessing.   A box of maps were among the lot.

We are socked in by fog today, and I am picking through the forgotten details overlooked in favor of the guests.  Amazingly, I enjoy doing things in my house:  cleaning, primping, arranging.  I formerly hated to clean my house.  I haven’t stopped drinking or quit any bad habits, found religion or lost weight.  I have just started to like home.