Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Artnotes: A Week in the Gallery

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Boat on Sea Grass   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on linen   9.5 x 14 

Open your doors on a busy street and you’re bound to have lots of interaction.  I have had one woman come back three times to the gallery:  she looks at my work to help her improve her own.  How DID you make that boat?  I give her my best brush in hand gesture.

Blair has spent the most time at the shop.  He likes it better than I do, and is a better French speaker.  I have also been having a problem with asthma because Paris has had such terrible smog.    The smog is so bad that they have made all public transportation free in the city, to discourage burning gas.

The doctor recommended we leave Paris because my blood pressure high on account of struggling to breathe.  So we rented a car, which we drove within the newly imposed lower speed limit, out to the Baie de la Somme -- a quick getaway before our painting lessons begin on the first day of spring this year with six new painters.  I can’t wait!

Even though the park is grossly polluted, I painted some cherry blossoms and hope to get back there for more before this post is sent.   Blair dashes next door for a portrait of Lola, who owns the Salon de The, with magnificent desserts.

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Cherry Blossoms   Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/linen   11 x 18 

A psychologist came in while Blair was there, and spent a long time looking at all the paintings.  After her, another said how much “emotion” our work carried.  She had friends who were well-known painters, but their painting seemed academic in comparison.   


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Portrait  Blair Pessemier   14 x 11 Acrylic/linen

I bring Blair his lunch each day in a tiffin.  Harika and I test it earlier, I make a few adjustments and voila!  I love to cook, and envision having a real supper club one day, in a grand apartment (we might have to move abroad, from France, that is) for artists and musicians, performers and patrons.   It’s good to have further plans.  Despite the sale of more than 20 paintings, the prospect of bringing the other 30 or so home is discouraging.  Food doesn’t pile up in the hallway like paintings do.   On the other hand I look at the unsold masterpieces as my retirement fund .  I hope I don’t have to fake my own death to live.

A woman came in while I was there, on next to the last day.  She talked about how her uncle was a prisoner at Auschwitz during WWII, and she sketched what she remembered him talking about.  She talked about how there were artists in the camps who made pictures of the beauty they saw there.  She talked about poetry, which, at times, was amusing.  Artists of all sorts were able to find beauty where others only saw horror.  She liked the happiness of our work.

We packed up our pictures, brought them home, and took off the next morning for the Baie de la Somme.  It was great!

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Beach at la Somme Blair Pessemier   Acrylic on wood  6.5 x 13 inches   

Laurie and Blair Pessemier 

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