Artnotes: Peonies for Painting

Buttercups in the Yard  Lauire  Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 18 x 22"  45 x 55cm   425.00  I just about had Artnotes all written, but we moved up to Rocca Malatina this week and much changed.  It was a marvelously uneventful trip – hardly any traffic, no police controls.  It was wonderful to see our house, open the door, savor all of the things we left behind (not including refrigerator experiments).   Harika didn’t believe we were really here for the first 48 hours. I, too, woke up in the middle of the night, wondering why the window was over there. Our yard was two acres full of buttercups, a sea of yellow punctuated with clumps of wild pink and purple asters.  There are the occasional daisies and frightfully long grasses.  Butterflies are flying in the sun, and birds hover and drop into the meadows.  The swifts are taking care of mosquitoes. Geranium  Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/canvas   16 x 12"  40 x 30 cm   275.00 We tried our wings at once, going to the open air market in Zocca, buying tomato plants, sage and seven geraniums.  We got a fish, a mess of squid, and vegetables.  All, of course, wearing our masks and gloves.  The Alpini, that ancient mountain branch of WWII services, monitored our social distancing.   Iris  Blair Pessemier    Acrylic/canvas  15.5 x11.5  "  34 x 28cm  sold It seems really pretty good in Italy, with infection levels lower than before they announced the lockdown. Restrictions are still in place, but we were able to get a to-go pizza on Tuesday. By Friday night there were people lined up, 6 feet apart, transporting the same. Up here in the mountains, I haven’t seen too much laxity in rule following, but I can’t say the same for the cities, particularly ones which should know better.  It’s hard for younger people to imagine an invisible enemy, or a visible one for that matter. It was a subdued VE day (Victory in Europe) here in Italy.  Aside from a few banners, there were no gatherings or celebrations.  We’ve experienced this day here and in France, and it has been testimony to what people endured just a little more than 75 years ago.   I could  almost feel our veteran friend, V, wanting to celebrate.  He had to be satisfied decorating his yard  with signs. Peonies  Blair Pessemier    Acrylic/wood   12 x 9.5"  30 x 25cm  sold We are thrilled to have a yard to sit in.  We’ve eaten lunch outside every day the weather allowed.  As if on cue, the Iris burst forth the day after we arrived, and Ludovico’s yard has peonies Blair snipped for me to paint. Would you like a special picture painted by one of us?  send me an email at lfpessemier@gmail.com, Was this email forwarded to you?  Sign up for your own subscription to Artnotes.