Paintings by Blair + Laurie Fox PESSEMIER: Artnotes: Conversation and Silence

The Yellow Window Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 20 x 8" 50 x 17cm 395.00

Hay fever: this year is the worst I have ever had. It isn’t bad enough I am trying to look healthy and alert when I go out into our newly reopened society, I am sneezing like crazy. People eye me like Typhoid Mary. I’ve taken all the non-drowsy antihistamines known to Italy. I sit around with teabags on my eyes. I am about to embark on the honey cure (a tablespoon of honey made from plants near our house). It puts a crimp in our outdoor painting forays. So, even though I CAN go out, I am staying very close to shelter.
I’ve been experimenting with masks. I don’t mind so much wearing one because it keeps the pollen out of my nose, as well as containing germs. I have been using a muslim approach, a scarf-y affair, wound around the lower face. It can even look a bit provocative. Anything but the blue medicinal mask is an improvement; and I don’t really like the conical affair sewn up in cotton (washable) prints.

Tugging Away Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 13" 42 x 33 cm 375.00

I can’t seem to get the song “Come Fly with Me” out of my head today: llama-land, and Acapulco Bay… Frank Sinatra seems comforting, too, with his stingy brimmed hat and confident manner. I listen. It might have to do with a powerful urge to travel. Meanwhile, I am nervous to go across the street to get a cup of coffee. Otherwise, I have big travel ideas in mind: Lukus in Uzbekistan to see a fabulous collection of Russian Avant-Garde Art. I want to spend 3 months in Tangier. Blair is painting boats “from his head”. A jaunt just to Venice is in the offing, once we can leave Emilia-Romagna.

Roses in the Garden Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 10 " 30 x 25 cm 330.00

I have realized many things about human contact over the past few weeks. First, just having someone saying “buon giorno”, as we pass on the street, is wonderful. Next, I have learned that other people have different thresholds of fear about this virus (and other things, too), and they have a right to follow their own counsel. I haven’t always behaved this way, but after having been bullied by someone else, I got the message. If one has a “feeling” about something, it should be respected. Finally, I have learned just how important friends are. Whether next door or on the other side of the world, they appreciate and encourage how Blair and I think. I have experienced the most wonderful conversation and silence with my friends, these last few months.