Gondola Station Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 18 x 21.5" 46x 55 cm
Cold morning in Venice Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 16 30 x 40cm
Gondolier making a repair Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 16 30 x 40 cm
From End of Venice Laurie Fox Pessemier 16 x 32" 30 x 80cm
Salute/canal Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 16" 30 x 40 cm
Fishman Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 21.5 x 15 54 x 39 cm
Gondolas at Rialto Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 9.5 x 12 24 x 30 cm
Passageway Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 9.5 x 12 24 x 30 cm SOLD
Artnotes: Venetian Blind
“Forget putting on my big girl panties and dealing with
it: I want to rock my tutu and throw
glitter in the air.” A note from my friend
Jim this morning (he loves Venice).
Yesterday we got lost (not the first time) in Venice. It is amazing how many twisting passages and
blind alleys there are. You follow
someone who looks like they know where they are going and poof!you are looking
into the canal. Sometimes people follow us.
Yesterday, we were at the church of Ss. Giovanni and Paolo –
it is where many of the doges are interred.
It is a kind of Pantheon of Venice.
There are paintings by Bellini, Veronese and Guido Reni – not just
canvases, but alterpieces and ceilings.
A huge horse sculpture (Bartolomeo Colleoni) by Verrocchio stands
outside. Sculpted tombs line the walls,
impressive, if not created by the world’s greatest artists. I have been reading John Ruskin’s Stones of
Venice and just have to visit some of the sites he describes. We are expecting guests (staying in hotels)
the last ten days we are here, so we’re saving the blockbuster places to see
with them.
We were lost in an area I remembered being lost in
before. I had planned to spend a month
in Italy on my own, after graduating from Art History school, last century. More than one person thought it unwise for me
to go alone, so Tom came with me. In
fact, I am the last person on earth who wants “protecting”, and I believe he
came with me because he was afraid to come by himself. We cut our time in Venice short, because he
didn’t like it. I realize now, that he
was afraid: afraid of being lost.
The essence of Venice is to be lost. It is unlike any other
place in Italy. It is a city of
juxtapositions: east meets west;
byzantine meets gothic meets renaissance. Arabesque providing some humor to the
Renaissance, not every window is judiciously placed from the outside. Not a place for left brain thinkers.
It is easier to like being lost when every minute doesn’t
matter. It is a luxury to discover
things at a slow pace. I am not sure
whether Iphones don’t work so well here, or other people aren’t worried about just
where they’re at. Any day in Paris I see
people staring at their phones to find the next goal; not so here.
I love being lost because it makes me a little scared. I don’t
want to live in fear (I do not like being the kind of scared that terrorism in
Paris makes me feel), but a little uncertainty now and then leaves that crack
of light in the door that can lead to wonderful stuff. Who knows what lurks around that corner?
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