Olive Trees with Painted White Trunks (near Farfa) Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/paper 17 x 25" 41 x 63cm 160.00
House Portrait 4 Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 6.5 x 9.5" 17 x 24 cm Commission (one of four small portraits)
As if on cue, our studio here in Stimigliano became our
gallery. Last week, I waxed on the idea
of a gallery connected to my home, in a chic little town in France. Paint in the morning, do some internet
marketing, sit in the gallery in the afternoon.
We came back to Italy early because we were invited to show
at a local caffe this weekend. It turned
out to be a bomb, for a variety of reasons.
So we rolled the production down to our studio, at the Piazza Roma in
the Borgo of Stimigliano.
Blair had just finished up our lighting project in the
cantina/studio. The biggest (and
heaviest) possible car battery powers my chandelier and lamp. Between the two, it’s a warm, romantic light,
boosted by a hideous “emergency” light, I recharge, along with the battery, in
the house. I kind of feel like I’m “off
the grid”, certainly glad I didn’t have to pay the electrician 700 Euros to
extend the cord across the street, or pay 30 euros a month for new service. It’s not bad; good even.
I turned the gas heater onto high, flipped on the lights
(actually they turn on slowly, like you can see the electricity edging up the
cord), and I was in business. Immediately, a new guy, Marco, who actually
grew up in the house across the street, appeared at the door. It was my library that initially attracted
him, along with the giant butterfly painted on my door. This is wonderful, he went on. He told his wife, and mother, who were
preparing for a luncheon party. “Can I
bring my guests over this afternoon?” he asked.
A half dozen doctors and their wives appeared, oohing, aahing
and taking cards. An Italian man,
speaking English, was the leading expert on the Sistine Chapel. He’d toured the Clintons and other
dignitaries through the Vatican, and brought us his book on the subject, which
he signed to friends Laurie and Blair.
The party wrapped up as darkness fell, everyone pleasantly
surprised by how the universe works. When
you wish for something, you should look around.
Maybe it is already there.
