Artnotes: Reach for the Stars

 

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A Day at the Beach   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  18 x 12”  45 x 30cm   490.00 “It doesn’t start until 8,” our neighbor commented as we passed with our so-last century-shoebox-camera,.  I thought the eclipse started at 7:30 (I also thought it was going to be closer to a total eclipse) In fact, he was closer to the truth and it was barely a 60% event. Swimming Trunks   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acryllic on printed paper 12 x 9.5”  30 x 24cm   75.00 each I wasn’t really very excited about the solar eclipse.  I’d seen one TOTAL eclipse, and more than one partial.  In all cases, it wasn’t the eclipse the “eclipsed” me, but the other people surrounding me who wanted to experience this rare and amazing phenomenon.   Here we all are, staring out into the universe, looking for something.  Where we came from? Blair recently said to me, if an alien spaceship landed nearby, I think we ought to go with them.  I initially thought this was a nod to our age/ultimate death, but actually I think it is just that Blair (and I) want to know more, to experience more.    We’re ready, ET. View on via Balugani   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  panel 10 x 14"  25 x 35cm  290.00   We walked up via Balugani.  Around 7:45 the sun was already dipping  too low for us to see. (sunset loomed, in less than an hour).  Our box camera kept telling us -- yes, the moon is passing.  But really, at least part of the time, we just weren’t holding the box straight.  Finally, we called it on account of limited visibility. However,  I did notice, not far away, where we walk in the morning, the sun was still shining. Hats OFF!    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acryllic on printed paper 12 x 9.5”  30 x 24cm   75.00 each We hopped in the car and drove over there.  A man and a woman pulled up behind us.  The man, smiling through a compromised set of teeth, and his lovely lady companion, stepped out of their car.  “Here,” our friend said,” try these,” and he handed us soldering glasses.  “You can look straight at the sun with them.”  I did, just as the moon was passing in front of our star, and felt all was right with the world. The two people moved on as the partial eclipse started to conclude. Blair pointed out to me that he was the man who tended the grapes with such lovingness, that I wrote about a month or so ago.   He lives in the house with the big tree swing.  The ropes must be 25 feet long, and the ground drops away right in front of the swing.  I’ve seen some ecstatic kids experiencing flight right there. The Hat Makes the Man  Pessemier  Acryllic on printed paper 12 x 9.5”  30 x 24cm   75.00 each This morning, at coffee, a man offered me and Berlino his table. First time ever.  I felt so touched that someone actually cared we were there.  It must be the eclipse. Year of the Dog  Blair  Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas panel   9.5 x 13”  24 x 30cm   190.00 HOUSEKEEPING:  We make art to order, including portraits by Blair Pessemier.    Follow us on Instagram @lauriepessemier See all of our paintings at https://paintfox.com Most of our work is available as reproductions, custom sized and framed. Write to me at lfpessemier@gmail.com   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: Sorry About the Air Conditioning

 

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Be a Pepper    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acryllic on printed paper 12 x 9.5”  30 x 24cm   75.00 each There are some things people say that open a whole new horizon for me.   Yesterday, a friend announced, “Why not move when I’m over 80?  If I die in two years  from now I can die here or in the new place.”  It struck me as brilliant.  Blair and I have been itching to go someplace else.  This gave me a  push. Crepe Myrtle — it’s doing so well this year!    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acryllic on printed paper 12 x 9.5”  30 x 24cm   It’s easy to think about moving when the weather has been so terribly hot (118 on the thermometer in the sun on Thursday).  A neighbor gave us an air conditioner.  I know now what I used to hate about institutions:  that cold, dead-ish feeling of heavy, solid, “conditioned” air.    I woke up in a panic this morning, in our airconditioned bedroom, wondering where I was.  I hustled myself downstairs where I normally share summer quarters with a dormouse (he was particularly active last night), and breathed a sign of natural-air relief.   I realize that air conditioning is cool and constant, and therefore desirable. In a sealed building, like our old interior design office, it is imperative.    But for the first time I see why Europeans really dislike it.  My father, who lived until 90, felt the same; I regret pressuring him to use it. Scuba:  listening from below  Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  18 x 24"  45 x 60cm  490.00   I love the feeling of air passing by.   It is almost always a little windy where we swim, and I can alternately smell trees, water, tobacco, marijuana, sun screen, and charcoal.   There were a couple of very enthusiastic North Africans with a karaoke set up singing along with Arab rap music yesterday.  I am always happily surprised when we swim there.   I feel like a bird or a fish, witness to all but part of the scenery. New Swimsuit    Yellow Vase    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acryllic on printed paper 12 x 9.5”  30 x 24cm   75.00 each This week, we met with the host of our Elba house rental.  I knew we’d get along when she suggested we meet on the ”bench with the telephone” between our two houses.  Her boyfriend built a wooden blind at the top of a hill where we walk Berlino.    It has a bench and a wide sill, and an old dial telephone, with cord.   I talk to my father there, at least once a week.  I will tell him I’m sorry about the air conditioning.  Yellow Polka Dot Bikini    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acryllic on printed paper 12 x 9.5”  30 x 24cm   75.00 A Drink on Us   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acryllic on printed paper 12 x 9.5”  30 x 24cm   75.00 HOUSEKEEPING:  We make art to order, including portraits by Blair Pessemier.    Follow us on Instagram @lauriepessemier See all of our paintings at https://paintfox.com Most of our work is available as reproductions, custom sized and framed. Write to me at lfpessemier@gmail.com   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