Cefalu Pier Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 15.5 x 23.5" 40 x 60 cm
Cefalu Fisherman's houses Blair Pessemier 12 x 12" 30 x 30cm
Sketch, Point Cefalu Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/paper 8 x 11" 20 x 27cm
Sketch, Cefalu pier Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/paper 8 x 11" 20 x 27cm
Lady at the sea Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/paper 5 x 5" 13 x 13cm
Segesta Temple Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 15.5 x 23.5" 40 x 60 cm
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View at Segesta Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 12 x 12" 30 x 30cm
Red Domes Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 8 x 12" 20 x 30cm
Boat at Aspra (Bagheria) Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 15.5 x 23.5" 40 x 60 cm
Via Giovanni Meli, Palermo 12 x 19.5" 30 x 50cm
By the Sea Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 12 x 12" 30 x 30cm
View of my neighborhood Laurie Fox Pessemier 9.5 x 12" 25 x 30cm
From our window Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 19.5 x 12 50 x 30cm
Red domes Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 12 x 12" 30 x 30cm
On the way
home from Cefalu, we stopped in the little fishing town of Bagheria. It is actually a part of Palermo, about 7
kilometers from the city center. We
stopped to see a museum/gallery, a kind of villa “squat” of a contemporary
artist.
I have had
an aversion recently to museums, and at last minute we didn’t go into this
one. I am trying to find my inspiration
from other “things” rather than seeing someone else’s artwork. That said, I did do another “gold mosaic”
painting today.
We drove
into the downtown of Bagheria, a bay full of old wooden boats and
fishermen. This is not just a theme
park, but a smelly wooden boatyard by the sea.
The colors were fabulous, enhanced by bright sunlight. What a difference the sun makes, the pure,
clear sun, not the refrigerator white haze of so many cities now.
We walked
around, Harika attracting the attention of a stray boy dog her size and
look. She was not amused, but he was,
and the four of us walked around, taking photos. It isn’t easy to be a dog: either you are the enemy, a potential suitor,
or in rare cases, a playmate. I feel it
is a little like that for people here in Sicily as well. The boys all bulk up, and are almost cruel to
one another; all girls are potential relationships to them (and vice-versa);
and once in a while you find someone you can relate to.
We found
such a person yesterday, walking around looking for art supplies. I took Blair and Harika on a forced march (I
have no fear here, having grown up in an East coast, USA, Sicilian city – under
all the machismo is a soft center), and we found ourselves in a rummy courtyard
with large bookcases covered with blue plastic. They were, in fact, bookcases, and this was
a LIBRARY! There were books of all languages. We fell in with an Earl Stanley Gardner
mystery. But the proprietor was the
thing: “take a book,” he told us, “and
pay me whatever you like”. That gave me
an idea for my own library (I told him about Laurie’s English Language Lending
Library). We got on like a house
afire. He’s open every day but Sunday,
sitting out on the sidewalk with thousands of books in at least a dozen
back-to-back grand bookcases.
This makes
me think about the wonderfulness of a city.
I am considering a hole-in-the-wall apartment in some city, someplace. Just so I can bump into new things once in
awhile. And then run home to Rocca Malatina to put my
pen to paper.
