Support Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 20" 40 x 50cm
Black Chicken Running Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/panel 10 x 12" 25 x 30 cm
Orange Chicken Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/panel 10 x 13.5" 25 x 34 cm
White Chicken Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/panel 10 x 12" 25 x 30 cm
Grass in the Breeze Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/linen 15 x 18" 38 x 46 cm
Diana
Viktor
Artnotes; Not too Seriously
A friend jokes about
how his writing often goes unread:
"I got a letter from some guy threatening to sue me for what I
wrote. I thanked him for actually
reading it."
Our first guests at
Villa Loris spent three days with us, visiting, laughing, cooking…
We drove around,
they hiked, and the discussions over the dinner table was fantastic. Viktor is a writer (I will make the cover for
his book), and Diana is his mate, muse, great supporter. We are not 100 percent in accord on all
topics, but really that is what its all about.
We had thoroughly
opposing views about a number of issues,
including people rights/roles (you can imagine the banner I raised) ; the
Marshall plan (all it did, he contended, was create consumerism in Europe --
did you ever even think of that? I
didn't, and thus towed the benevolence line, which sounded silly to me in the
end); and the inability of people in America to communicate warmly/comfortably
(like Italians) on account of social media, cars, and other 20/21st century
inventions. I finally got so burned up,
I took Harika for a walk in the late night rain to squelch my fire.
While I was out
there, I thought, isn't this a wonderful thing?
The reason we have people with opposing view points is that they make us
re-confirm our own beliefs, or they bring us information that makes us see things
in a clearer way, and they encourage us to discover more. As Harika pulled on the leash towards the
house (are you crazy, mom? It's raining out here) I thought, this is why I
cannot eliminate people with a different point of view from my life. I need them for me to see what else there is.
We need disagreement to have progress.
I returned to the house ready for more, but everyone went to bed.
Blair drove to Paris
on Tuesday, packed more boxes, sold a half-dozen paintings, got his
"codice fiscale" from the Italian consul on Wednesday, and drove back to Rocca
Malatina on Thursday. Harika and I
rattled about in this giant house, with her following me around like a
shadow. This is a house that needs
people. A new guest is coming today,
for a longer sojourn. She writes, and
will paint with us.
We painted portraits
of Viktor and Diana. This house is full
of old portraits: individuals who were
in some way involved in the development of the country, or just this life. It's my intent to make a portrait of everyone
who stays here -- to add to the wall.
The one thing we did
agree on was: we shouldn't take
ourselves too seriously.
