Artnotes: Nettles and Roses

 

22 May 2022 Stimigliano, RI Italia

Rose in a Tall Vase  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas16 x 13cm   41 x 33cm  450.00

Thanks to our dog Berlino, we are going for marathon walks – usually several miles, at 6 o’clock in the morning.  It gets light out around 5:30, and it stays cool for at least a couple of hours.  We’ve been to parts of town we’ve never seen before. There are houses with wonderful awnings, and flower gardens like I’ve never seen.  I am never sure it’s the Italians, or their soil, or their flower seeds that make the difference. Cactus in outrageous bloom; multicolor petunias; roses beyond the pale.  Outside of town, fields of poppies and all sorts of wild flowers proliferate.

Wild Flowers White Vase  Laurie Fox Pessemier 9.5 x 14"  24 x 35 cm  Acrylic/canvas 450.00

We’ve been driving to Castiglion Fiorentino regularly to improve a friend’s house.  Here’s a before and after picture of the living room.

We delivered artwork to the Relais and Chateau hotel in Cortona today, just a short skip from Castiglion Fiorentino.  It was so beautiful there, I could hardly believe it.  Stone fences, black cypress trees, roses that made you think you were in France – it was like a movie.  It made us think about making a book about Tuscany; not that it’s not already been done, but maybe not so much the way we see it.

View at Castiglion Fiorentino   Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/canvas 12 x 16"  30 x 40 cm  450.00

Bernie had a setback this week, with severe head shaking and then he couldn’t hold his head up properly.  Our regular vet was sure it was “grass in the ear”.  “I can’t get it out,” she told us.  “He may have to be anesthetized.”   We drove to Fiano Romano, with the three lady vets (who are tough as nails).   We heard severe moaning and crying – Berlino is a hound, after all.  Sure enough, they all emerged ten minutes later, bearing a piece of shrubbery I’d be hard pressed to imagine in my own ear.  No anesthesia.  Bernie was smiling.

On Thursday, we walked along a sort of impromptu path in Stimigliano, with a homemade wood handrail.  It is an iffy walk, because at certain times, the path is overrun by nettles.  Not this week.  To get there, one walks along a sort of driveway.  This day, a man was out there smoking a cigarette.  “Come here,” he urged, “you’ve got to see my roses”.  Spectacular.  There were several rose varieties, from a clump of climbing roses as big as a delivery van, old style pink roses, and red roses as tall as me.  It was the reds he loved, and we smelled them.  He then cut me a near five foot long example.  It turned out I had just the vase for it. We pressed on down the nettle path, looking at the roses.

Roses on a Square Canvas  Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/canvas 12x 12" 30 x 30 cm  450.00

INVITING All Artists to present their Work:   Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food.... Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary   How it works: Bring a piece of your ART: that could be visual, like painting or printmaking; or literary, as in poetry or prose; or crafts, like metalwork or knitting; or food, or music...you get the picture.  Something you made, or feel particularly inspired by.  You have about 5 minutes to present, and we'll ooh, ahh, or answer questions you have.  You can also come and see how we work before diving in.  Just show up on Zoom at a minute or two before the hour.    Rome 8PM; NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85625088767?pwd=WldKRk9VbUVITWtRS0FFK2JwdGEwQT09 Meeting ID: 856 2508 8767 Passcode: 887182