Artnotes: Happy Just to Be

 

23 October 2022 Stimigliano RI   Italia

Arturo   Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/crayon/music  9 x 11"  23 x 27cm  190.00

We have had an entire week of guests staying with us, and have visited new corners of Italy.   We are down in Stimigliano right now, near Rome, where gunshots are hopefully missing their marks amongst the wild pigs.  I hate hunting more every year, and the arguments about controlling animal population are cutting little ice with me.

Wild Asters   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas/crayon  18 x 14"  45 x 35cm   490.00

Up north, in Roccamalatina, we are enjoying more of nature, the house just marginally closer to the forest than the last.  There is a pheasant who lives in our bushes; we see a family of four roe deer almost every morning.  There is evidence of boar nearby.  Bunnies hop.  On Saturday morning I heard the wolf in the distance.   All of these sights and sounds eclipse those of the hunter.

The Pitcher   Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/crayon/music  9 x 11"  23 x 27cm  190.00

I realize hunting (and fishing, for that matter) were a way men could enjoy the outdoors and still be macho.  One of the locals here in Stmigliano waxes affectionately about the beauty of the countryside, and where the water is warmer, the trees are full of birds:  too bad he kills them.  It would seem walking through the countryside is, in itself, a complete act.

Just Wild   Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/crayon/music  9 x 11"  23 x 27cm  190.00

One of the places we went this week was to a Michelin star restaurant, Zanzara, in Codigoro (near Ravenna).   We celebrated a friend’s birthday there – his 70th.   The food is beyond delicious, as is the locations, on its own little island in the Po Delta.    On the level of the sea, we eat local seafoods, beautifully prepared and presented.  It makes for an unforgettable experience.

Singing Flowers  Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/crayon/music  9 x 11"  23 x 27cm  190.00

Because we were a bit early for our reservation, we visited an abbey we’d never been to before.  Pomposa Abbey dates from possibly as early as the seventh century, the monks having fled Ravenna’s St Apollinaire in Classe.   Pomposa was well established by 874 as a center of Carolingian art.   The outstanding frescoes in the church were painted around 1350 by a Rimini master.  The visit was super-duper for all of us.

Giant Cauliflower  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas/crayon  18 x :15"  45 x 38 cm   450.00

On the way home, there are large pools of migrating birds.  Flamingos, not pink, wade in the water.  Large flocks of storks, who I haven’t seen in ever so long, search for fish.  It is a grey and blue day that matches perfectly with the fading vegetation, and I am so happy just to be.

Halloweeen Blossoms   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/crayon   9 x 11"  23 x 37cm  190.00