Hydrangea and Friends Laurie Fox Pessemier Mixed Media 16 x 12" 30 x 40 cm
Selling Shoes at the Zocca Market Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 16" 40 x 40:
At the Zocca Market Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 12" 30 x 30cm
Lizard with Red Leaves Laurie Fox Pessemier Mixed Media 16 x 20" 40 x 50cm
Zinnias on Black Laurie Fox Pessemier Mixed media/paper 12 x 16" 40 x 30cm
When I was very young, before color TV, I used to spend a
lot of time at my grandmother’s house. I
could go over there, hang out, look out her window across the river to Main
Street, raid the pantry, draw pictures.
I had a host of hang-outs then – the Nelsons, who lived upstairs (I
wrote my first story for them); the Renzas house (they had 6 kids, so it wasn’t
always relaxing); and a converted a section of our garage/barn for reading and
imagining. It wasn’t as if I weren’t
happy at home, it was just that I needed some perspective to appreciate it.
When Blair and I lived in Seattle, before cell phones, I used
to take our dog, Muttie, a Jack Russell,
and rent a travel trailer on the Washington Coast. She and I would fire up the surely dangerous
heater, and make grill cheese or spaghetti on the stove. We’d walk on the beach and I’d talk to
God. Blair never had that same need for a private
venue, but he soon discovered the sheer fun of a new place.
When we lived in Paris, we’d spend our summers at Hemlock
Lodge, in Winsted, Connecticut. It was
as if I were born again, and could see with completely new eyes. In winter, we would spend a month in
southern France, or Venice, painting and writing.
Maybe I am part nomad, but I always remember a Moroccan taxi
driver telling me, “you must get away in order to enjoy the place where you
live.”
Here in Italy, we have the “big house” in Rocca Malatina,
and the little apartment outside of Rome.
It’s less than four hours between them, and although both are in Italy,
they are completely different. Rocca Malatina
is a northern village. People value
work, and education, and are always doing something. Our 90+ year old friend, V, is planting his
garden, painting the fence, putting on dinners at Alpini headquarters. A is managing her Art Foundation. Stimigliano, outside of Rome, is southern
Italy. People visit in the big square. Kids go to school, or not. Cafes are full of locals. There is an acceptance, to the point of
pride, in doing nothing. We are
complete weirdoes there because we get up early in the morning (the light is
best for art), travel to Rome for pleasure once a week, write books, paint
pictures, cook: DO things.
We have gone from being completely deflated last week in
Stimigliano to: painting outdoors at the
market in Zocca; figuring out a new art technique using paper and black;
painting a new portrait; sending out solicitations to take our baseball show
(with a positive response!); spoken, via telephone, to old friends, one of whom
really turned my thinking around; finished my landing page; and Blair applied
for a job in the USA.
What a difference a place makes!!
