Hillside terraces Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 16 x 31.5" 40 x 80 cm
Black Cypress Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 24" 30 x 60cm
Two loving pines Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas12 x 16" 30 x 40 cm
In the Olive Woods Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 15 x 18 38 x 46cm
Sea through arch with Boats Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 24 x 20" 61 x 50
Cervo through the Pines Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 18 21.5 46 x 55 cm
Olives terraced Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 16" 30 x 40 cm
Cervo from the east Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 20" 40 x 50 cm
Artnotes: With Lemons, you make Limoncello
Today we did a “dry run” of our art show. We set up the easel near the street (we live
in a pedestrian town, on a 45 degree pitch, so people walk slowly by our house,
the Palazzo Calvo. Blair taped the
poster to the building and I hung paintings on the stairwell. It occurred to me the steps hadn’t been swept
in some time, so I got out the broom.
As I made it clear to the ground floor, I heard a door
open. It was the first floor neighbor. Buon Giorno, I said, with my best Italian accent. I pointed out our sign. Just then, Blair arrived. He tried to explain the show, too.
“Let me show you ‘la cappella’”, the neighbor insisted. We’d heard there was a chapel in the
building, but had never seen it. He
fiddled with a bunch of keys till he found the right one. Sure enough, there was a little chapel tucked
into the side of the building. There was
an altar, and upholstered chairs. To the
side, was grillwork – “behind there is where the lesser people sat”, he
explained. We checked it out.
When I try to look up history of Cervo, I don’t find much on
the Internet. There is general
information about Liguria, and even specifically the Imperia region, but I
would like to know who built this building, and why. It has a chapel, but not a liturgical seal
over the door like so many here in Cervo.
Maybe the seal was just eradicated. We
know the building is from the 17th century, and the town is actually
medieval. It was its own little city state.
The winding stone streets, incorporate the natural stones of the hillside.
Our neighbor came up to the third floor to see our show,
although he seemed more impressed by our frescoed ceilings. On the way, he pointed out the window,
“that’s my lemon tree”. I had been
lusting for those lemons for some time, and not missing a beat, told him how
exceptional they looked. Come on, bring a sack, I will give you some lemons.
His apartment was modest, but very nice. He took the 17th century tiles
from the floor and put them on the kitchen walls. One room still had the original floor. His backdoor opened to the neat little
courtyard. The tree was supported by a
jack and some pipes – too many lemons, he told us. I took about 15. I told him I would make marmalade. How about limoncello? he laughed.
