Church in the fields Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 23.5" 40 x 60cm
Red Roses Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 16" 30 x 40cm
View from Castelletto Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 20 30 x 50 cm
View of the hills Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 8 x 18 20 x 45 cm
Rooster Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 14" 30 x 35 cm
Haystack Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 16 40 x 40 cm
Baroque Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 8 x 14" 20 x 35cm
Artnotes: Laying an Egg
It's been a hot and
sunny week here in Rocca Malatina, Italy.
We've been near 90F/32.2C many days, a bit cooler than nearby Modena and
Bologna. I am actually looking forward
to our trip to Paris next week, to set up our show, and pack up the rest of our
apartment. I could stand a day or two of
the cool, grey atmosphere.
Everyday I get up to
sunshine and roosters crowing. Harika is
"up with the chickens" as they say, and she goes out to inspect her
yard. The yard has changed tremendously
this last week. The large farm mower
came and cut all the buttercups (since faded), clover and knee high grass down
to size. Two days later another machine
came to spread the grass for drying.
Next day, a machine came to line the grass up in neat rows, as one sees
wheat in a field. Finally, the most
unusual machine arrived to vacuum up the straw and deposit it, like an egg from
a giant chicken, in rolls. Everything
has disappeared.
We've been exploring
the area in detail around where we live. We've painted the hills, the
baroque-looking church in the field, visited the tiny theatre near the
river. We made a foray to Bologna and
ate at the Amadeo restaurant, where the workers eat, and everyone is wished
"buon lavoro" (good work) upon their departure (this had a bit of a
red twinge). I really like Bologna, a
city of loggias, and we walked beneath arches and vaults, on different terrazzo
sidewalks.
I have been studying
Italian like mad, and we've managed many small conversations -- we are most
proud of our communication with Ludovico, our gardener who just looks at us in
wonder as we pronounce our Italian
