Artnotes: Hopping Around

 A Village   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/newspaper  17 x 24″    43 x 61cm

 Blair Pessemier  The Tiber in the Distance  Acrylic/canvas  15.5 x 19.5   40 x 50cm

 Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on newspaper  17 x 24″    43 x 61cm

                      Grasshopper  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on newspaper  17 x 24″    43 x 61cm

  Narcissus on Blue   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on newspaper  17 x 24″    43 x 61cm

 Narcissus on Violet  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on newspaper  17 x 24″    43 x 61cm

  Forsythia   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on newspaper  17 x 24″    43 x 61cm

 Seated Badger  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on newspaper  17 x 24″    43 x 61cm

Badger Turquoise   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on newspaper  17 x 24″    43 x 61cm

The Badger  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on newspaper  17 x 24″    43 x 61cm

We made the jump from Rocca Malatina to Stimigliano again;  friends from America are visiting Rome, and we’ll take them on a tour of the Sabina region in the coming week. We will see olive trees and hill towns; churches and the Tiber.  It is as green as Ireland in Italy this spring.  It rains regularly.  It puts a crimp in our outdoor painting, but the paper pictures are thriving.

While we were in Rocca Malatina, we changed our doctor.  I was surprised how easy it was – I had practiced my explanation, in Italian, for leaving Dr. Damore, but it wasn’t asked for. I left him because he told me the reason for my burning stomach was the moon.  La luna.  I must have looked incredulous when he said it, because he repeated it in English:  the moon.  When I asked when the moon would get better, he said June. I couldn’t wait.

We drove up to Zocca (where the healthcare office and pharmacy are) several times.   On the way there was a dead badger in the road.  Coming from America and living most of my life in the city, I had never seen a badger in person until recently.  I liked “Badger” in The Wind in the Willows, and have been delighted to see them (well, the living ones) in Italy.  They are kind of like flying carpets, very hairy, with a big body and hidden legs. Their feet are quite human-like, with a sole.  I liked seeing this badger because I could really study his look.  He was lying at the curve of the road and we couldn’t really pick him up.  I sometimes collect specimens for the deep freeze in our basement, but most of my finds are limited to birds or insects.

Today, outside our door we saw the largest grasshopper I’ve seen (again, deceased).  I picked him up and placed him with the hawk-moth I found at the Farnese palazzo recently.  The grasshopper had all his wings and antenna; the most remarkable thing was the “hairy” back leg (only one remained) where he could play his music.  The saw blades protruded quite prominently.

I am really happy to be living in the country.  Me, who used to say, “three days in the countryside, maximum.”  I am thrilled to see the change in the trees, the arrival of the swallows, the rising and falling of the river.  I am never bored, as long as I can go outside. 

There are countless changing elements, in color, texture, size.  The tree isn’t the same in December as it is in June.  If you don’t like this picture, just hop across the road.