Oleander on the patio Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 16" 30 x 40cm
Plums Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 16" 30 x 40cm
Keeping cool in the shade Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 20" 30 x 25cm
It’s been a rocky landy here in Italy. We had to drive ourselves from Milan to
Rocca Malatina (3.5 hours after our overnight flight (9 hours)) in our
un-airconditioned car on Tuesday, and the house, while intact, was not the way
we left it. I actually had to use the
anger-management app on the Internet to settle myself down. A healthy dose of scotch whiskey didn’t hurt,
either.
It’s the weekend of Ferragosto, a big Italian holiday – last
year we met new friends on this day, and are forever thankful. This year, we’ve dragged all of our paintings
onto the front lawn (how many people do you know with 16 easels?) and have hung
our ArT flag. We have met artists from
Naples and Rome, a sculptress from just 5 miles away, and a few other curious
souls. I love doing this – do you
remember Hitchcock’s “The Trouble with Harry” (Shirley McClaine’s first role) We’re about to be discovered.
Last evening we went to a picnic at our Italian teacher’s
house, with all our fellow students. We’re
the boring ones – they come from places like Mali and Burkina Faso, the Ivory
Coast, Morocco… they played drums and danced, and I felt like I was far, far
away.
There will be fireworks tonight. I wonder if they will be the new silent kind,
meant to not disturb animals? My animal
doesn’t care for them, but is not as traumatized as some. Our Jack Russell, 30 years ago, required
sedatives.
We had a new dog over here yesterday, Blanca. She’s a white German shepherd, a “Swiss”
shepherd from Serbia. I think she weighs
about 30 pounds. Our friend dropped her
into my arms, and she had that soft puppy feel and smell. I am happy to be part
of her early life – we’ll always be friends now.
Harika remembers everyone from her early pack. On our trip to the USA this year, we visited
K and L, who were the first people Harika met in America. She’s crazy about them, and we are too. We were only in the DC area for a day, but saw: the new Immanuel Chapel in Alexandria, Virginia
(fabulous! No expense spared, down to the candle holders); the National
Cathedral in Washington, DC; and the Phillips collection, where, incidentally,
the directors wore pinstripe suits.
Each of those experiences deserves a full paragraph, at least. At the Phillips Collection, we sat before
Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party”, feeling like we were there. There is a Milton Avery room at this lovely
little museum, an absolute delight.
Marjorie Phillips’ evening baseball scene (the Washington Senators)
hangs in the stairwell. A woman
interviewed us, wondering if we would like to have a special “app” to better
understand the museum: NO NO NO we told
her – nothing could improve the spark that Renoir left for us.
We have one foot in the USA and the other here in Italy, but
we’re leaning into this side. Benissimo!
