Artnotes: Time to Remember

 

Butterfly Bush (in the shade, no butterflies at the moment)  Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/canvas  22 x 15"  53 x 38    550.00

We have been back in Roccamalatina for a week, but my mind is still in Paris.  I missed seeing several friends, and know I must make another trip before two years, like this one.  Paris is “returning home” for Blair and I.  I don’t regret our leaving because Italy has given us a new chapter; but France will always be where we discovered who we are.

Aristotle (Stoic series)   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  10.5 x 16"  27 x 41cm  450.00

I’m on book three of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, and it encourages me to take the time to recall certain things in greater detail.  Proust’s book is so much more than just a read – it is really a suggestion of how life works.  I can’t read too much of it at one time, about 15 pages a night is all that I am capable of.  Luckily, it is a relaxing book and I can read it before going to bed without getting wound up. On this trip, we visited Proust’s childhood summer home from the first volume of his series, Swann’s Way.  The town, once Illiers, dubbed Combray by Proust, is now called Illiers-Combray.  Aunt Leonie’s house is just as Proust described it, and the church is only two blocks away.  We were there on a perfectly silent Wednesday morning, and the lack of 21st century people made it all the more imagineable.

Daschund Puppy Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas   SOLD

Our own memories of Paris are triggered by the Luxembourg Gardens, where we painted in 1994, lived adjacent to from 2001 onwards, and walked Harika nearly every day from January 2010 until June 2016.  She recognized the neighborhood (we were staying a distance away) as soon as we got off the bus. Harika is the last dog standing from our days there, as far as we could tell.  The funny thing was that we met new characterful dogs, one a Covid rescue, retrieved from the abyss of heartworm and a broken leg; another Jack Russell puppy; and numerous other dogs.  I could have slipped into new friendships, as could Harika.  Dog walking encourages interaction, not only by the dogs, but by the owners.  Where one wouldn’t think of speaking to people on the street, at the end of a leash in the Luxembourg Gardens, no holds are barred.  And you can be sure who you are speaking with has at least one soft spot in their heart.

Peppers  Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/canvas  15 x 22"  38 x 53cm  550.00

The coffee kiosks change (we couldn’t find our friend Christine) and some trees have been replaced.  There are some new sculptures and some new old ones.  There were very few guards, and a plethora of new model boats in the Basin.   I can look at paintings of the Luxembourg gardens over time and realize that this was and will hopefully always be the same.  That is SUCH a French “thing”.   And if I come here once a year, I can watch the cookie melt in my champagne.

Epicurus (Stoic series)   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  10.5 x 16"  27 x 41cm  450.00

INVITING All Artists to present their Work:  Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary Rome 8PM ; NY 2 PM; LA 11AM https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85625088767?pwd=WldKRk9VbUVITWtRS0FFK2JwdGEwQT09