Artnotes: The Radio

 

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Winter Crocus in a Small Vase   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper 8.5 x 12.5”  20 x 31cm  90.00   We’re between vacations :  on Monday, we are driving to be with friends in the Aix-en-Provence area:  Paradou,  France, to be exact.  We will tour around with them, to places like Nimes, and Arles and Avignon.  We’ve vacationed with them nearly every year in the past decade, from Paris, to Vicenza, to Switzerland.  We are the drivers and cooks; they take us out to a museums and events, and lunch.  It’s ideal.  And, this year, Berlino will have a fenced yard at our Airbnb. The Plow:  after Millet  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic on Canvas, unstretched 8 x 20”  20 x 50cm  290.00   It’s put a hold on our other projects.  I don’t want to start a new campaign if I’ll be away for two weeks.  So we’ve been hanging around.  We just hung a new nightlight – a Chinese lantern (that China hasn’t seen for 30 years), all red and gold and dingo balls.  I am trying to pack a small valise for the trip, because we will pick up our friends at the Marseille airport and all travel together (with two weeks of bags, 4 people and a dog) to our destination. Sculpture Blair Pessemier Stone 9 x 10”  23 x 26cm   difficult to ship/price debatable We were invited to a party last weekend with new friends.  They had a “Festa della Luna Piena”  (full moon) on their little farm near where we walk Bernie in the morning.  The house has lots of little buildings chined together, with stone paths connecting the more remote parts.   There were chickens running about, and little chicks (I was glad I didn’t bring Berlino) and the whole situation was in a word, bucolic.   The kitchen is a large covered space with screened sides – it has always been my dream to have an inside/outside house and this was it.    It was fun to look through the dark and see plates being prepared and dishes being washed.  We tried to take a picture but it was too dark, and a flash would have killed the mood.  The moon rose (breathtaking) as we ate at the  big table, set for 20.   Afterward there was a bonfire and singing, in English and Italian.  On our scary walk back to the car with only a flashlight, I held onto Blair tight.  No wolves. In the Park with the Moto   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 16 x 12”  40 x 30cm  490.00 The dinner idea inspired me to make a Colonel Sanders appearance on Friday.  We made roast chicken for a friend, and his friend, and carried the meal to his apartment in Modena.  He has a birthday while we will be in France, so it’s yet another excuse to celebrate.    I love this chicken recipe:  in a heavy covered pan (ceramic ideal, although mine is cast iron)  a chicken, ½ cup olive oil, ½ cup vinegar, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard:  heavenly.  We made a salad, and bought bread and cookies.  Our conversation covered a giant range of subjects from travel in Europe (Romania, Istanbul!)  in 1966 to my relationship with Claude, my AI accomplice.  I can’t believe how much I use his “brain” from writing formal letters to planning our (golfcart) visit to Chateau La Coste en Provence.  It’s amazing what’s transpired in the last 75 years. I painted this as a vertical, but Blair likes it horizontal:  two paintings in one. Pomegranates   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/newspaper   20 x 27”  50 x 70cm    275.00 I’m sure the other person at the table, younger by at least half, must have been ready to scream.  I once asked Blair’s grandmother what was the most amazing thing that came about in her life and she responded:  the radio.  THE RADIO!   Tempus fugit. Monet’s Radio   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic on Canvas, 9.5 x 13”  20 x 33 cm  290.00   sign up for Artnotes, our weekly art missive, by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com or https://mailchi.mp/341f508cecf8/artnotes 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.  No politics, no sales pitches, please. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 8 PM   NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM

Artnotes: Il Casone

 

Our House in Roccamalatina #73 via Balugani I made a celebratory meal this week.  My sister and her husband were on a trip to Italy with friends, and stopped by Il Casone for a few hours.  Did you know our house had a name?  I never paid attention to it, but my brother-in-law took a photo, and it made me think, yeah, it’s  kinda neat. Five Apples   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper 12.5 x 17"  30 x 42cm  190.00   I made a cauliflower soup (I chose the heartier bacon and hazelnut variation over the rosemary olive oil).  It was a bit challenging to unearth the recipe I had from Epicurious, because I saved it online back when they didn’t have a paywall. Luckily, I found an alternate site that bootlegged it.   The same thing happened with the next course:  Kate Camont’s chicken a la diablo is now inaccessible without a substack subscription.  Fortunately, I had copied and sent it to a friend, and except for the last line, it was intact.  Everything is monetized these days, except Artnotes I guess.  Stupid of me, but really, I  love to share my happy, artistic life with friends.  A free Kissing Booth. Apples in a Wooden Bowl   Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas  9x 13”  22 x 33cm  375.00  I’ve been trying to buy books about food, of which there seems a scarcity, and consequently, some very expensive volumes.  I found a store I’d like to visit someday in New York:  Kitchen Arts and Letters.   They have some terrific books, but sadly not the two I am seeking.  I am on a list.   I know, at my tender age I shouldn’t be collecting more things, but on the contrary, if I want to caress and handle those printed words and photos, now is the only time.  Someday you will stop by to visit me and admire it, and I’ll give it to you.  And a kiss. African Vultures from a Salon Photo   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper 12.5 x 17"  30 x 42cm  190.00each  2 for 250.00  After the soup and chicken and big green salad, we ventured out to the Sassi, the National Park.  The last time my sister was here (4 years ago) we threw my other brother-in-laws ashes over the cliff.  The big restaurant there has been shuttered (I have sort of been thinking of opening it as a coffee shop three days a week – likely a bigger folly than collecting books).  There’s another little indoor/outdoor restaurant among the trees, called the Blast Furnace (Alto Forno).  “Why don’t they open that one?” my sister asks, most logically.   We take photos on a slope so everyone is the wrong height.   Only my sister, who is short, has the advantage of looking tall.   Lev, Teresa, Me,Blair on a slope (normal height, from tallest to shortest, Lev, Blair, Me and Teresa….  After a visit to our gallery and the Eight Immortals art show, we go home and sing Happy Birthday and eat cake.   My family and their friends take off for Lake Garda, and I make chicken soup. Pink Fall Flowers (Sedum) Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper 12.5 x 17"  30 x 42cm  190.00   sign up for Artnotes, our weekly art missive, by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com or https://mailchi.mp/341f508cecf8/artnotes 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.  No politics, no sales pitches, please. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 8 PM   NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM