Grand Palais, Petit Palais Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 10.5 x 16" 27 x 41 cm
Sunny day beach March 2015 Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 13 x 16 33 x 41 cm
Kids at the Beach Laurie Fox Pessemier on wood/panel/acrylic larges 13 x 15; smallest 10.5 x 9"
Chateau Ecouen Blair Pessemier Acrylic/linen 13 x 16 33 x 41cm
Artnotes: the Everyday
We’re back to the everyday life in Paris. Everyone thinks, “oh gosh, living in Paris,
incredible” but it gets boring just like
any other place. So yesterday we
decided to go for a little escapade outside the city walls.
“ A walk through the forest leads to the fairy-tale setting
of the chateau of Ecouen, with its collection of Renaissance treasures,” the
book read. Off we went. We took the subway to Gare de Nord to board
the line H train. The approach to
Ecouen, twenty three minutes from its half hourly departure from Paris was less than bucolic. But it is March after all.
We alighted at Ecoen-Ezanville. We immediately recognized the map as “iffy”. Fortunately, there were signs for the chateau.
There’s a thrill to walking through the woods, dappled light, fresh air –
exercise fanatics, some fellow doing pushups on a picnic table, kids
balancing on branches. I never felt I
could fall into the hands of the fairy tale witch, like Hansel and Gretel. Incredibly fit men dashed by: one guy made the 200 meter uphill dash in 19 seconds.
I wheeze.
This wasn’t our only foray this week – we also went to the
beach -- in the car. I needed to expand my lungs and clear my
arteries.
As time passed, I realize I left the house just after noon,
and didn’t get to the door of the museum until almost two. I had company coming for dinner. Oh, well, we could always go out for pizza. Harika would just have to cross her legs – I
considered bringing her, but one never knows what it could be like. As it turned out, once we got to the Chateau
grounds (you passed through a little gate), no dogs allowed.
The Chateau was a little funky, but with certain fabulous collections. They had the best Iznik ceramics (Turkish
dishes) I have ever seen: I love that
sort of thing. They had incredible tile
floors from the Renaissance, and I particularly enjoyed a room full of scenes painted on Italian wedding chests. There were wall paintings from early days of
the chateau. This chateau, built in 1555
for the very wealthy Duke of Montmorency, made it unscathed through the
Revolution. Napoleon converted it into a
girl’s school. There were more guards
than visitors. At 3 o’clock there would
be Renaissance music.
I opted to go
outside to paint just before that. I
painted a quick panel – and made the trek back down the hill to liberate Harika
hopefully before 5 and put the roast in the oven.
Our guest, Richard, of “eye prefer paris” fame, came early
so we were able to get in three games of cards and enjoy dinner. I folded early, not winning at all. I explained how tired I was from the walk. “Oh, I meant to tell you when you mentioned
that book “an hour from Paris” – the times are notoriously underestimated.”
