Artnotes: Smooth Road

 26 June 2022 Roccamalatina, MO Italia

This Week's Only Painting:  Still Life Roses    Laurie Fox Pessemier 24  x 20"  60 x 50 cm  Acrylic/canvas  600.00

Smooth Road, Clear Day…why am I the only one travelin’ this way?  Bill Evans  
“Detour Ahead” best sung by Ella (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frxssz-hk0w&list=RDFrxssz-hk0w&start_radio=1 )

I need a smooth road to paint a picture.  No bumps, no interruptions, no pressure.  Much of this week I couldn’t paint.  There is something about MOVING that really throws one off: in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it’s a basic.

So this week, instead of paintings, I’m offering a couple photos of our new house. It used to be a stable for a horse.  It has a big fenced yard, and inside there is about 1500 square feet.  We move a couple of boxes a day, or a Persian rug (I’ve been washing them myself), or a piece of furniture we’ve bought.  Before this, our house was furnished, perfectly, but we owned none of it.

I am feeling sad about leaving this house at the end of the summer, but I know the heating costs could bankrupt us.  Here in Italy, they are talking about severe fuel shortages (this week, airplanes have been sitting on the Italian tarmac for lack of jet fuel), and natural gas is  our only form of heat at Villa Loris.  At least the new place has wood burning potential.   And it’s romantic.

We’ve launched a new Instagram account, “Poetic Fences" @poeticfences – Blair’s idea, actually.  We post poetic themes, mostly photos, of fences and other edges.   Out walking to the ends of the earth, or at least the limits of Rocca Malatina, with Berlino, we see beautiful scenes in the morning light. When the painting picks back up, we’ll continue on Laurie Pessemier.  Who says we can’t have two sites?  With a smooth road, anything is possible.

Artnotes: Never Wash a Dish Again

 

18 June  2022 Roccamalatina,MO Italia Pomegranate Blossom  Laurie Fox  Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas   10.5 x 7"  25 x 35cm  375.00 Well, nuts!  Blair went to Castiglion Fiorentino for the week and Bernie and I were stuck here in Roccamalatina.  It’s impossible to get work done where Berlino is present (he’s just TOO much fun), and the pressure is on to finish our renovation in CF before the 2 July.    What I didn’t know is that they are having a Palio there on Sunday, and on Thursday, they started marching the horses into town. Blair awoke on Friday to hooves on the cobblestones, and a town arrayed with flags.   He took pictures. It wasn’t all bad here in Roccamalatina, actually.  Every morning we went out for coffee and a walk.  The dog is very gentle with me; he knows he has an old mother.   He hangs in the backyard while I pack and paint, and mop my sweaty brow. Rolls of Hay   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  10.5 x 16"   27 x 41cm   450.00 I installed the pavilion out front and sat beneath its shade to paint the hay rolls gathered from our yard.  The roses are currently “over the top” and I filled our big copper basin with their blooms.  I picked them before a predicted thunderstorm, which actually knocked out our power, a challenge to restart.  I was amazed at how much more difficult life was on my own and developed a greater appreciation for the “single mom”.  Without a car.  In 90+ degree weather.  In the country. Geranium Sketches    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/cardboard  10 x 14"  25 x 35cm  pair 350.00 By the time Friday rolled around, I wondered how people manage when one partner travels for work.  After 42 years (our anniversary was 8 June), we have really gotten into a groove of delegated tasks.  I hope I never have to wash a dish again. Three Colors of Pansies  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 9.5 x 14"  24 x 35cm  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

Artnotes: 50 Cents a Lawn

 

11 June  2022 Roccamalatina,MO Italia

Nightfall on the Lake  Laurie Fox  Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas   12 x 12  30 x 30cm  450.00

As we drove down the hill from the Roccamalatina house, the valley was full of billowing white rectangles:  all of the fruit trees were covered in anticipation of the rainstorms to come. It was a beautiful sight, reminiscent of my childhood home in Connecticut, where shade grown tobacco was cultivated (since 1640-ish), for cigars.  There, miles of billowing white sheets provided shade for the smooth, unblemished leaves that wrapped cigars made in Europe and Cuba.

Berlino Chewing on a Stick  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 10.5 x 16"   27 x 40cm   400.00

I am a little homesick for Connecticut, and the USA.  I miss summers at Hemlock Lodge, on the shores of Highland lake, swimming in the clear waters in the warm golden sunshine.  I am mostly nostalgic, I think, for dinners with my family around the grand table on the windowed porch. Doing puzzles.  Playing badminton.  Painting pictures.  Porch art shows.   We would spend many a day with my dad, especially if it were rainy – and all go out for Chinese lunch.  It’s time to start up those fun times here, at the new house (I am painting horse pictures).

Horse Picture in Progress (borrowing from Degas)  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  24 x 35"   60 x 90cm   750.00

Hemlock Lodge on Highland Lake was my favorite house, ever; we spent 20 summers there.    It was elegantly ramshackle.  The town of Roccamalatina is having a referendum to relocate the school to the old parish hall.   They tore down the old school in favor of building a new one.  Like so many public projects in Italy,  illicit contractors took the first payment, tore down the building, cleared the lot of any growth (hundred year old trees), and poured too much concrete.  Now there is an abandoned building site where there were once leafy shade and childrens voices.

Children's Voices (Highland Lake) Laurie Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas panel  13 x 18"   33 x 45cm 450.00

I think the kids will like the old hall.   Children aren’t as focused on new as adults are.  I remember loving the fact all of my aunts and uncles went to the same school, St. Anthony’s, as me.  I loved the polished wood floors and transom windows we opened with a pole.  The window panes were slumped and distorting.

The Push Mower   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/carton 20 x 28"  50 x 70cm  375.00

We dug the hand push lawn mower out of the basement this week.   I had the lofty ambition of sharpening it, but as I read the directions I realized maybe just adjusting the grass height setting (for bumpy lawns) could take care of our problem. The night before, I was visiting on the phone with my friend Sal, telling him about the mower He recalled mowing lawns with that kind of mower (50 cents a lawn) and we talked about that whirring noise it makes.  I tried to do an imitation.   I could smell the grass.

Ladies Sunning (Highland Lake)  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  16 x 20"  40 x 50cm  550.00

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

Artnotes: Spaghetti

 

4 June 2022 Roccamalatina, MO Italia

Rose Behind an Oriental Grill  (and inspiration) Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 11 x 13cm   27 x 33cm  450.00

I have been FORCING myself to paint this week…I got out of the groove some time ago, and it is tremendously difficult to get going again.  Roses abound in my garden.  I have been pleased with the result of painting again, and my mental attitude is greatly improved.

Pale Roses  Laurie Fox Pessemier 14 x 24"  45 x 60 cm  Acrylic/canvas 575.00

It was a holiday here this week:  Republic Day.  In 1946, Italy voted to be a democratically-elected republic rather than a monarchy.  Although the victory was clear (54% voted for the republic), it wasn’t unanimous, which surprises me.  Formerly, the House of Savoie ruled Italy.  There are parades and fireworks, mostly near Rome.  We are having spaghetti for dinner.

Tropea Onions (my fave Italian onion) Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  15 x 24"  38 x 60cm  575.00

We went to Ikea this week to buy things for the house we are decorating.  I can’t think of any store I’d rather not go to.  The plan is so convoluted, one can barely get around (it must encourage people to buy more); and the people who work there are absolutely draconian.  Blair asked for a cart, and the woman behind the desk shouted as he started to take the carriage (you aren’t allowed behind here!) and an enforcer took charge.  Just then, the otherwise perfectly behaved Berlino peed in the aisle. Of course, we don’t encourage that behavior. Harika used to do the same thing if one of us were threatened.  I recall a particular instance at the airport when security confiscated a silver pin I was wearing – she made her feelings known. Berlino is out at the crack of dawn, and we are on our big walk about 6:30.  We run into an old nun with a blind, diabetic miniature doberman.  "We’re like the postman," she says this morning; "same time every day".   We usually take a path through the woods after that – sniffing out the wild boar and the badger’s nightly forays. Berlino nets twice the exercise as he darts into every nook and cranny.  The sound of the birds is breathtaking – a real cacophony of nature.  On our way back we pass Arturo, a sort-of-Norwich terrier.  He may only weigh 10 pounds, but he can really take his owners on a ride.  Today we consult about vaccinations and riding in the car; and how this terrible humidity makes a walk exhausting.

Pink Roses Glass Vase   Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/canvas 11 x 13cm   27 x 33cm  450.00

We have been moving, bit by little bit, to our new house.  I brought over some herbs that I planted in the garden.  We are selecting light fixtures.  Berlino loves going there because he can run free in the yard.  And sometimes he just lies in the grass.

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