Cat (from the archives) Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 13 x 16 33 x 40 cmn SOLD
The White Rabbit Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 16" 30 x 40cm
The Way Out Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 10 x 14" 25 x 35cm
The Top Hat Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 12" 40 x 30cm BUY
The Whole Magic Show
A Greek-Cypriot-Brit who we worked with in London would
say: catching the rabbit isn’t so
difficult, it’s holding onto him that’s the thing. This was an analogy for finding work and
keeping it, as well as commentary on his early life in Cyprus. This was the case with Ludovico and the white
rabbit: he had him by the scruff of the neck, and tried to stabilize his
legs. Luckily, we got the fellow down to
the grassy part of our yard, and boom, the cage was placed over him.
I really wanted to paint the rabbits. I’d hoped to paint a large canvas of a group
of rabbits, but based on this experience with one, it seems I might have to
depend on photos. Ludovico, our
caretaker, has many rabbits, but the idea of all of them in the yard is
impossible. I think they must know their
ultimate fate, and routinely plan an escape.
The chickens, on the other hand, run free, and miraculously stay out of
the road.
We’ve been having a casual show of paintings here at our
house. It’s an excuse to get together
with people we know, eat cookies, drink prosecco (THIS is the best one I have
ever had), and sell a painting or two.
We had a dozen guests on Saturday, and plan on more today.
The Castagna (Chestnut) festival is going on today in Rocca
Malatina. Chestnuts are significant here: they were the staple of a farmer’s food
before the turn of the last century.
Most farmers worked the land on behalf of their landlords, and were
required to surrender 70% of their production.
So when little vegetables were left for them, chestnuts became their
bread. It wasn’t until after World War
II that things changed: farmers went
into town to work, and farms, at least here, were less common.
We live in the “working” part of Italy. Ceramics, cars (Ferrari) and motorcycles (Ducati)
are made within 50 kilometers of
us. It makes for a fairly happy
population who have enough money to buy a painting from time to time. I do a lot of work here, too: now that summer
is finished, I’ve been sewing (a new hat) and putting up fruit and vegetables. I’ve learned more about how to fire my terra
cotta figures, thanks to a woman who came to our show.
Someone asked me if I get nervous having people come to the
“mostra”… I had to think about it for a
minute, because I used to go bananas with anxiety when we had a vernissage in
Paris. Here is more like just inviting
people in – it is a much easier crowd.
And friends bring their friends – which greatly increase the chances
someone will relate to my paintings.
There are many people who like my work, because they like me, or like
Blair’s work because he really captures the feeling of Modena or a Paris
waiter. But it is a rare and special
situation when my heart, my work, touches someone else’s heart. I had
that happen yesterday, and am thrilled to the core.
