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From the Deep: Carp Laurie Fox Pessemier Mixed media17 x 25" 41 x63cm 190.00
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| I am compelled to write about my life in small town Italy this week: I have received so many concerned emails, greatly appreciated. Yes, there’s a lot of worry here about the Corona virus, but I am not anxious. My greatest fear is about what will happen when the doctors, nurses, and pharmacists get sick; I can imagine a skeleton crew at the grocery store; I really want to see those Raphaels at the Vatican museum in this, the artist’s 500th anniversary. Will they close the galleries? Blair is scheduled to go to the USA on 17 March; a guest arrives from Seattle on the 22. The CDC just raised the warning against non-essential travel. The fact there is no vaccine and no real treatment is the issue. |
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Meat Man: Stimigliano Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 24 x 17" 60 x 41cm 475.00
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| We’ve been sashaying our cart (normally we don’t have a cart, just a hand basket) up and down the aisles of the Conad, buying pounds of pasta, rice and beans. Luckily, our tastes differ from the Italians: they love Borlotti beans, we prefer the Cannellini. Plenty of white beans remain. Canned meat is virtually non-existent here, and I have never seen a can of crabmeat. I make a mental note to look on Amazon. |
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Orange and Ranuncula Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylicanvas 13 x 18" 33 x 45cm 250.00
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| We’ve not let this epidemic, concentrated up North, cramp our style. We went to a fabulous lecture at the Notre Dame (Blair’s alma mater) Center in Rome on Monday. Matteo Sanfilippo spoke about “Rome, a City of Immigrants from Antiquity to the Present”. He began with the Aeneid (really Rome was founded by immigrants), and brought us clear up to the present. There were periods of time during the middle ages when there were half a million immigrants in the city of Rome. Pilgrimages to the center of the Catholic church contributed to influxes, along with Italian colonies in Africa. It was an all-round interesting speech and gave me much to consider. Life is flux. |
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Fuoco Giocoso Barbara Presinska Photo/Acrylic/canvas 101 x 66 cm
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| On Thursday night, one of our French painting workshop participants, a woman from Bratislava, had a show at the Slovakian Center in Rome. It was very chic and her work was wonderful. Nearly 10 years ago, she prepared her portfolio for entry to art school, while painting with us in Paris. It is amazing to me what art can do: engage people from extraordinarily different places, ages, and backgrounds. |
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From the Deep: Sole Laurie Fox Pessemier Mixed Media 17 x 25" 63 x 41cm 190.00
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If I feel sick, I can call 1500 and the health care people will come to test and treat me, for free. It is possible Italy has so many cases of covid19 because they do test.
My food hoarding has prompted me to make new dishes. Beans are my new caviar. My first “staple” foray, meant to last two weeks, was half gone in 3 days. I need to practice.
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MAYBE I WILL CHANGE MY "BUY ME A COFFEE" TO "BUY ME AN ASPIRIN"? Thanks.
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