Artnotes: In Front of the Fan

 

Flip Flops   Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/wood   5 x 14"  13 x 35cm  175.00 purchase

“Afa” is the word for ‘muggy” here in Italy.   I think “awful”; and it is.   Even though it is only in the high-80s here in Roccamalatina, if feels much hotter.   It is so damp, I can’t sweat, and I feel pudgy and ornery.   We had coffee this morning with one of Berlino’s friends, Axel, a Lagotto Romagnolo, whose owner was bemoaning how irritable the dog has become.  Berlino, in solidarity, assumed Axel’s crabby demeanor and insisted on returning to the car. We coffee-ed on.   Axel ate the dog treats, which  lifted his spirits, anyway.

Portrait of Gian F  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  20 x 20"  50 x 50cm  NFS     COMMISSION YOUR OWN PORTRAIT

We’re all leaving for vacation next week, when it’s predicted to reach 95 fahrenheit degrees (35 C) here in the hills.   We are going to spend a night in the Alps (St Gervais les Bains), then to see my painting friend Y, in Tours, France, and afterward for four days in Concarneau, Brittany.   The temperatures drop all along that route, and hopefully we’ll be on the cool side of 80 all the way.   On the return trip we will spend time with a friend just outside of Paris.   Unless someone gifts us some Olympic tickets, we’ll slowly wind our way back to Roccamalatina for the end of the month and maybe a few days with friends learning Russian in Piacenza.

Floating Flowers  Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/canvas panel  12 x 12"  30 x 30 cm  375.00  purchase

My reading is increasing, an activity I can perform in front of the fan.   I have a new app, Everand, which allows me to read almost any book online, just for my subscription fee.  I am reading the letters of E.B.White, who writes cooling correspondence about his life, mostly in Maine.   I am also reading Weiwei-isms* by Ai WeiWei, and just finished Rebecca West’s Harriet Hume, in real book form.  What I would give to be able to read all books in paper format.   There is something about darting back and forth to help me recall who’s who, and when something took place.  I can’t do that easily online, but probably younger people can.  I couldn’t afford all the “analog” books I want to read, in any case. My next undertaking will be the letters of the poet Ted Hughes.   He wrote tons of letters.   Can you imagine there will ever be a book called “the emails of” ?   I can’t.  But I suppose that is what Substack will be for.   *If Shakespeare were alive today, he might be writing on Twitter (2010)

Flora   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/wood wine box  14 x  5 " 35 x13 cm  150.00

Sign up for Artnotes, question, comment  by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com

Artnotes: An Icy Floor

6 July 2024  Roccamalatina MO ITALIA

From the Tree:  Cherries   Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/wood   4.5 x 4"  11 x 10cm  150.00

Summer has finally begun.  On the fourth of July, the classic start date of the season, we met up with friends from California.   We went out to lunch near Stimigliano, and hung around the house visiting with the kids until supper time.   They drove back to their abode in Castiglion Fiorentino, and we basked in the glow of a great day.

We really enjoy being able to visit about life, catching up on American culture.  I love answering kids’ questions about how things work, and getting their input on our artwork. Often, we paint together, but not today.   We keep reminiscence to a minimum, focusing on this time..

From the Tree:  Lemon    Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/wood  4 x 4"   10 X  10cm  150.00

That night, it turned out that our street, via Dante, was having a sagra (community dinner) and about 20 of us sat at long tables in the piazza, eating and drinking while the stars came out.   We talked to people we hadn’t met before, and joked with friends about how we were celebrating Independence Day.

Echinecea  (Cone Flowers)  Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/paper   22  x11"  .56 x 28 cm  275.00

I spent a long time in my studio in Stimigliano, trying to re-find my muse.  Genius lives in the walls, and when electricity was installed in 2022, it drove her away.  So this time, I sat in my chair, willing us to try again.  Sure enough, ideas flooded the place, and I am looking forward to returning in the fall.    It’s such a rare and important thing, one’s muse, art’s genius.   To lose it is a shame.

Making Hay While the Sun Shines    Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  16 x 11 inches   Archive 2018

It’s hot here, but not too hot – just summer hot.   They’ve been “haying” here in Roccamalatina, where we returned after a couple of days.  Our lovely apartment in Stimigliano faces west, and heats up to hellish temperatures by the end of a July day.  We bought that place for a more manageable winter dwelling, and it serves that need perfectly.  Subsequently, we acquired an air-conditioner, which helps, but the electric bill can be sobering.   Berlino loves to lay near the air conditioning, on an icy terrazzo floor.

Figs:  Summer Light  Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/canvas   12 x 20"   30 x 50 cm    Archives  2016

Sign up for Artnotes by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com

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.  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.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402

Artnotes: Covering the News

 

The Little Teapot  Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/paper    9 x 9 "  23 x 23cm  190.00

Somehow I have gotten off the track and have nothing to write for Artnotes this week.   Honestly, time rushed away like the stormwater last week:  we had terrible rain and significant floods.  As I write the studio fireplace smells of water and creosote.  The Fountain of Youth, my touchstone in Rocca Malatina, has all but disappeared.   We are thinking of stopping by again today to try to rebuild some of it.

Trippa   Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  9 x "  9"  23 X  23cm  190.00

I’ve painted lots of pictures this week, mostly to cover up the news – I really love painting over the papers with joyful, happy images. See?

Alfred Gratien Champagne  Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/paper   22  x11"  .56 x 28 cm  275.00

Berlino barely set foot outside for two days, only under the direst urgency.  One of our walking roads was washed out, but has since been restored (the beauty of a dirt path).  The sun has since come out in full sauna force creating rare and unusual forms, like this stinkhorn mushroom.  I thought it was some sort of toy Berlino unearthed, but no, it’s a real mushroom.   It’s great to have a dog to blame for anything out of the ordinary.

Clathrus Ruber

The fruit crops are remarkable this year, with the first figs coming on.  I am working on my “tree” wall, with branches, leaves, fruits, birds and insects.  It will be our next show at the little gallery.  I actually made a sale there last week.  Hip hip hooray.

FIG   Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/wood  4.5 x 4"  .12 x 10 cm  125.00

We’ll see old friends this week.  We look forward to swimming with them  in Lake Vico, so next week I’ll have more to talk about.

Gosset Champagne  Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/paper   22  x11"  .56 x 28 cm  275.00

Sign up for Artnotes by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com

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.  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.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402

Artnotes: Firefly

 

Fireflies      Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/paper 17 x 23.5"   43 x 60cm  275.00

Berlino (our dog) decided on Wednesday night, to act out.  He was angry because we took a day trip,in near 90 degree heat, without him.   Feigning the need to go out again after dark, he dashed into the yard after dinner and hid.  I went out to find him, and lo-and-behold:  FIREFLIES. Banda di Castello di Serravalle   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas   8 x 20"  20  x 50cm  425.00   This has been a week of late nights.  Last night we heard  a 2 band concert in the main piazza here in Roccamalatina.  The first band, a jazz group of about 30, played snappy numbers from North America and Europe, with an exceptional performance by saxophone and flugelhorn.  Two lovely young women sang.  The second band, slightly larger, was more traditional and opened with a John Phillip Sousa march, waking us from our jazzy stupor.  They had a fantastic conductor, decked out in a white linen suit, setting off his jet black hair and swarthy, gangly stature.   I talked with the woman beside me, from Castello di Serravalle, who had a daughter, a clarinetist, in the group.   We had a marvelous time. Our guests of this week had left.  I am not sure they would have enjoyed the concert as much as we did, anyway.  It was truly local fare, and most of our visitors are set on fulfilling their “bucket list”.   But really, the band concert demonstrates the fast disappearing Italian culture.  Blair and I are here to witness it.   I am brought to the brink of tears by the sincerity of what people do. Sketches at Ravenna   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/cardboard 10 x 7"  25 x 17.5cm  75.00 or 2/100.00 I marveled at the musicians, and wondered how one musters a band in a city of 500 people.   It made me want to play an instrument – how social music can be, opposed to the solitude of painting.  Once, in Paris, my nephew talked to me about how he could “jam” now, as we sat by the quay of the Seine near some musicians.  I think it must be like having another language, on yet another level.  Paris had been quite a musical place, with the Fete de la Musique, music all night, all over town on 21 June. The Jackdaw  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/paper 17 x 23.5"   43 x 60cm  275.00   Usurped by the impression the fireflies made on all of us, Berlino slinked into the house.  His escapade fizzled, our attention drawn elsewhere.  To have three days of conversation, very little about common friends or subjects (we haven’t lived in Seattle for more than 25 years), was thrilling and exhausting.    I found it interesting to be locked in conversation, after years of social media.   If I don’t want to respond to email, or Instagram, I don’t have to.  But when I am face-to-face and someone says something, I must reply.  Unless, of course, a firefly passes by. Yellow Wagtail  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/wood  13 x 4"  33 x 10cm  150.00   Sign up for Artnotes by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com 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.  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.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 8PM; NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM

Artnotes: Au Revoir, Poseidon

 

The Tree:  Sloes     Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  11.5 x 19.5"  30 x 50cm  375.00

We went to the beach, the Dog Beach, at Porto Garibaldi, on the Adriatic coast this week.  Our happy clam of a dog ran down to the beach, looking here, there, sniffing.  I have to remind him its me on the other end of the line – he’s capable of dragging me, bodily, along with him, but refrains.  Luckily he is afraid of the water (what kind of bird dog hates water?  A field dog), but loves digging in the sand. The beach is eerily deserted, except for gazillions of chairs and tables in neat rows, accompanied by umbrellas.  The Italian coast is full of these “concessions”, where one must pay and pass through a doorway to access the sea.  These are not the romantic canvas Deauville umbrellas, either.  These are plastic chairs and tables in hideous bright colors so after you visit the water, you can be sure to get back to the appropriate blue-green “peacock” campground, number 68.  We are in luck today because the tide is low, and we walk alongside the water, Berlino careful not to moisten a toe bean. From our Romantic Canvas Umbrella, Deauville   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas   13 x 16"  32 x 41cm  575.00   There are big breakwaters, to minimize beach erosion and insure even if you’re only 3 feet tall, you won’t drown.  Beyond that I picture Poseidon and the Tritons, Mermen (fish tails and human torso) blowing  shell horns to calm or incite the waves, wishing instead they could use their pickaxes to knock down the breakwaters.   Poseidon is too far away to see. The Triton  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/paper 17 x 23.5"   43 x 60cm  275.00   It is a hazy day, which I actually prefer, to blazing sunlight.  This is my favorite beach for colored, pastel light.  There’s maybe two miles of beach, then we cut back through the town, much shorter to the car.  We’re keen on coffee, and Berlino is in desperate need of fresh water.    I spot a place with a mean looking man chewing a cigar, walking with a mini-doberman.  I hear a snarl (was it the man or dog?) Closed. The next place doesn’t serve macchiati (espresso with a "stain" of milk).   I am so surprised these folks are so bitter.   Four years of my own youth was spent serving customers at an art gallery on Cape Cod, where my colleages and I loved the ever smiling tourists and vacationers, hell-bent on a good time.  We felt lucky to spend a summer on the beach. Poseidon's Easel from the Sea  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  17 x 23.5"   43 x 60cm  275.00   Eventually, we arrive at a place with other customers, and I sit down with Berlino.  Immediately someone snatches away the other chairs.  I protest, “my husband is just inside getting coffee”.  Blair returns, with a single scoop ice cream cup of water for Berlino, who drinks it in two laps.  We refill it four times.    I am convinced this must be the training ground for Gulag personnel in the off season.  It’s a good thing really.  I am not tempted to rent that place by the sea.   Au revoir, Poseidon, see you in the fall. The Tree:  Owl  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/cardboard  13 x "  33 x 23cm  325.00

Artnotes: Life Looms Large

 

Green Hat, Blue Flower  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/paper 17 x 23.5"   43 x 60cm  275.00

This Tuesday we made it up to the Zocca market; up being the key word, as  Zocca is just up the hill from us, at 759 meters (2500 feet).  It’s slightly cooler, in summer or winter, with more snow and sunshine (it’s often above the clouds, and we are too, just not as often).  It’s an ok place, attracting many hikers and cyclists.   Our German friend, Lutz, keeps a place up there, and we know a couple of other people in the neighborhood.  It’s more of a town than Roccamalatina;  Zocca has a main street, and a city hall.  We’ve had some art shows in Zocca, and there are regular events.  There’s an art walk in the woods. We buy fish and vegetables at the Zocca market.  I’ve also gotten flowers (my best pansies ever) and clothes and household supplies.   Salad Set carved by Blair Pessemier. I got some great vegetables at the Zocca market this week:  a crate of 26 full sized eggplants for 4.99; and a normal flat of cherry tomatoes for the same price.   Of course, we can’t eat all this at once, so we’re freezing things.  I slice and cook the eggplant in the oven, put them in freezer bag portions;  I freeze the cherry tomatoes as is.  Both the eggplant and tomatoes are great fresh, but there is a limit.  Italy is a country of “seasons” – certain things are finished at certain times.  Asparagus is on the wane, as tomatoes are coming on.  The tomatoes are outrageously good right now.  The Agretti (a grass like vegie, known as the priest’s beard) is finished, but the zucchini, with or without flowers is terrific.  Cherries are in right now – the province of Modena (our province) grows most of the cherries in Italy, and they are fabulous.   Apricots can be found, too.  Shell   Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/cardboard   10 x 14"  25 x 35cm  175.00   We bought dark red cherries which I will freeze with red wine and sugar.  I defrost them to accompany duck breast, on the menu for Friday next.  We’re entering our entertainment season – friends from all nations.  The group after this is vegetarian, which presents a bit of a challenge for me --  I live in the Grasso region of Italy (no Mediterranean diet here).   We are famous for meats and cheeses.  As the saying goes:  “Bologna - La Dotta, La Rossa e la Grassa”  (Bologna -- the educated (the oldest university in Europe, since 1088), the red (roofs) and the fat (food)” .   Even the bologna (mortadella) is delicious, with its pistachios nestled within.  The kitchen is buzzing with preservation – of the green sort, to the dismay of our carnivore.  The Turtle  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/paper 17 x 23.5"   43 x 60cm  275.00   It feels like home to us here in Roccamalatina, despite certain allures of the Stimigliano/Rome house.   We spend the summers up here, eating outdoors at the table under the giant pine tree, listening to the birds, putting up friends.  It’s Berlino’s yard, and he’s tailored it to his liking.   We’re on the brink of swimming in the fountain of youth, and are planning a foray to the Venice biennale:  life looms large.  Wild Flowers in Glass Vase  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/cardboard  14 x 19.5"  35 x 50cm  225.00   Sign up for Artnotes by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com 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.  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.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 8PM; NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM