Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Artnotes: 99


 Walk in the Woods   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  16 x 24"
Figure in Niche   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  14 x 9.5"

 Renaissance Garden   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 28 x 22"
Tivoli Gardens

There comes a time I just have to get out of the house and see something INSPIRING. Today, Saturday, we drove an hour from our house in Stimigliano to the Tivoli Gardens at the Villa d’Este.  It was a beautiful day with full sun, and up at Tivoli it was a brisk 60 degrees.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Tivoli gardens, they were built during the second half of the 16th century .  The Villa is very lovely, but it is the grounds which are outstanding.  They are the perfect example of the Renaissance Garden, and “the fame and glory of the Villa d'Este was above all established by its extraordinary system of fountains; fifty-one fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls, and 220 basins, fed by 875 meters of canals, channels and cascades, and all working entirely by the force of gravity, without pumps.” (Wikipedia)

You really can’t believe how incredible it all is. 

I had been there 15 years ago, in May.  Blair was with me and he had also been there in 1973.  We were both amazed how differently we felt this time, even though the place was just the same.   We’re evolving.  It evokes thoughts of our necks getting longer and our fingers getting long and pointy for texting. 

We went to a wedding Saturday night, online.  The wedding party, in New York, was a Hungarian/Nutmegger combination (Connecticut, for those not from there) with friends literally all over the globe.  We all participated, the 20 physical people at the ceremony and us 20 or so connected.  It was just wonderful, as weddings are:  people spoke of the bride and groom, bringing new qualities to light and reinforcing just how wonderful your friends really are.  It made me want to travel through the airwaves and hug them in person.  I am sure that is coming.

Our neighbor, who managed our lights in the studio, moved and the new people cut off our electricity.  It seemed an unfortunate development because today I was forced to paint just outside the door.  In fact, a most remarkable man came by and chatted me up – this fellow was 99 years old and had worked for Doctors without Borders.  His territory was Indian reservations in Alabama and Louisiana, USA.  I caught my breath as he said that; we agreed it was a dire situation.  Eventually another neighbor came by to make sure I was ok.  “He’s 99,”  I told Carlo.  He raised his eyebrows.

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