Sunday, April 21, 2024

Artnotes: Miracle

 

Yelow Flower in Spa Bottle  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/cardboard  14 x 10"   35 x 25cm  190.00


Miracle of miracles, after 30+ years of living in the European Union, Blair and I finally got a 10 year visa. We are good to stay until 2033, God willing we are still alive.  It’s ironic, no?  In any case, it is cause to  celebrate, or at least to breathe a long sigh of relief.

It’s a funny feeling, and our first impression is:  do we really want to be here?  We have a permit of long stay for the European Union.    Italy? France?  or someplace else?

I thought at once of a Polish/French friend from Paris, whose family would clandestinely visit Poland, under cover, to see family.  As soon as the iron curtain was lifted, they never visited again.

Shadrak, Meshak and Abednego   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acyrlic/cardboard   17.5 x 21"  44 x 53cm
in my pizza oven

 

I can’t really imagine my life will be so different, although there is a certain peace of mind knowing one can’t be thrown out of Italy without good reason; that I can invest in being able to stay here, or elsewhere in Europe.

Tree Woman   

Today at the Questura, Blair and I were very much the odd men out.  People stared at us, and I realized for the first time, maybe we were the only white people wanting to live in Italy; or maybe the only old people.  I stared back at them, amazed at how interesting we all were to one another.   Black skin, yellow skin, chattering, silent, all of us dressed in Italian clothes, with telephones.  The man ahead of me in line turned and spoke to me in English.  I wanted to take a picture of us, all from someplace else hoping for the same positive outcome.

Blalr's Carved Spoon 10"  25cm long
Times change.  Our best friends in Paris, Thierry and Quentin, have both passed; my girlfriend/illustrator Y, who I painted with almost daily, has moved to the countryside.   A friend we made here in Modena invited us to her house to celebrate.  At 9:30 this morning we were drinking champagne.  Viva Italia!

Life goes on, and new friends and ideas flood our lives.    We take long walks with our Italian dog, Berlino, and eat pasta daily.    Blair is carving wood, I am writing poems.  We’ve made friends from America, online, who have already visited with us in Bologna.   The flowers are blooming and we’re getting ready to barbecue in our yard. 
Is it Dinnertime?  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/paper  17 x 23.5"   43 x 60cm  275.00
My dog rolls in the grass
Smells like the outdoors
He scratchs in the night 
I dream of the woods
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