Ponies Blair Pessemier 10.75 x 14" 27 x 35cm
Pont du Carousel and Quais Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/line 14 x 19.5 " 35 x 50 cm
Boules Laurie Fox Pessemier Acyrlic/linen 14 x 10.75 inches 35x 27 cm
Tulip Blair Pessemier Acrylic/panel 12 x 12 30 x 30 cm
Dogwood Laurie Pessemier Acrylic/panel 14 x 10.75" 35 x 27 cm
Under the bridge Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 15 x 18" 38 x 46 cm
Notre Dame Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 19.5 x 12 inches 50 x 30 cm
From the Garden at Notre Dame Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 10.75 x 14 27 x 35 cm
Garden le Notre Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 10.75 x 16 inches 27 x 41 cm
Chantilly Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 13 x 16" 33 x 41 cm
Pony Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/wood 6 x 13" 15.5 x 33 cm
Ponies on a wood panel Blair Pessemier Acrylic/wood 4.5 x 13" 12 x 33 cm
Boules Game Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 15 x 18 38 x 46 cm
Flowers at Giverny Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 14 x 19.5 inches 35 x 50 cm
Bridge Giveny other angle Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 14 x 19.5 inches 35 x 50 cm
Artnotes: Week Unique
We spent all this week painting: in our usual workshop haunts, but with the
fresh eyes of a new season. The great
thing about painting is, even in the same place, light and angles and scenes
all look new.
We painted ponies and boules players in the Luxembourg
Gardens. We stood beneath the Pont des
Arts with the added insurance of umbrellas, hung upside down on the bridge
rafters, as we painted the river. We sat
BEHIND Notre Dame, where tourists rarely go, and painted the ever so complex
cathedral – what were we thinking? A man
from Norway, a teacher, spoke to me about his “kids” who wanted to know why
paintings cost so much. I explained a
painting was a unique item, which was the work of a single person, in touch
with the subject, which could never be replicated. It is a single moment in the universe. His wife dragged him away.
Giverny was remarkably sunny – and there we ran into a
friend who didn’t have a reservation for after-hours, but we had an extra
slot. So, photographer Meredith Mullins
took this great picture of Blair’s painting.
Auvers-sur-Oise was a bit rainy, so we just walked
around/drove around, imagining Vincent Van Gogh. At Dr Gachet’s house, we looked at letters
in Vincent’s very own hand.
When Friday rolled around, we brought one guest to the
airport, and with the other, drove twenty further minutes to the chateau of
Chantilly.
Chantilly belonged to the Conde family for much of its
history (the history goes up and down, with the chateau being
destroyed/rebuilt/destroyed/rebuilt).
At one time, it had an art collection which was only second to the
Louvre. Now, it has some very choice
pieces including work by Raphael and Ingres – but I find the collection of
portrait miniatures and the library (which now houses (sadly just a facsimile
of) the Duc de Berry’s “tres riches heures”) to be most interesting. Chantilly’s gardens were designed by le
Notre, and there is an actual water-filled moat. Chantilly, however, is most noted for its
stables.
The seventh prince of Conde built royal stables, which, at
one time housed 280 horses and 150 dogs.
This time, we saw about a dozen horses and a Jack Russell terrier – but
the stables, and the ring (with a 28 meter high dome, hosting daily shows of
dressage at 11 AM) remain. There is also
a racecourse. The prince was convinced
he (and his friends) would be reincarnated as horses, so he wanted to be sure
they had decent digs: they are.
After we dropped our painter off at the airport, Blair and I
returned to paint le Notre’s gardens, under a rainy/sunny sky.
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