Artnotes: Angels We Have Heard

 

The Juke Box (Abruzzi Pizza, Seattle)   Blair Pessemier  acrylic/canvas 12 x 16"  31 x 41cm  450.00

We made it through Christmas and the New Year is upon us.  I no longer know the proper greeting for the season in Americanese, so I haven’t sent cards or wishes.  Instead, I send you this love letter every week. We had a marvelous celebration on 25 December with new friends:  an American-Jewish man who grew up in Iran, and his Romanian wife.  We brought half of the dishes (Turketta and Tortellini in Brodo), and ate at their house here in Stimigliano.    We can say Merry Christmas or Peace, or whatever we like, and kiss them both – they are artists, like us.  We don’t have to make believe. Wreath on a Gold Ground  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  12 x 16"    30 x 40cm  475.00 I am 70 years old today.   I can hardly believe it, and am hoping for 20 more trips around the sun.    On the way to buy a newspaper this morning, we found a package in the little local lending library – “look,” I said to Blair, “a birthday present”.  And it was, a (fake) Valentino wallet and scarf – it made me think I’ll be getting rich this year (and staying warm – it’s barely above freezing).  Our friend who stocks the library insisted on making me another special present – a necklace.  I feel very lucky.  We made a foray to Perugia this week and visited the National Art Museum of Umbria.  It was the perfect Christmas visit – medieval Madonnas with gold backgrounds.  I was surprised to see dates on the paintings as early as the 1200s.   There was a show  called “the age of gold” and it spanned from the 1200s until the present.  Fabulous. Seattle in the 1980s    Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas 18 x 12"  45 x 30cm  450.00 I have been celebrating this birthday for a month – it makes up for all the years we don’t celebrate at all, sandwiched between Jesus’ birthday and the birth of a New Year.  Meanwhile, I am rushing through my Christmas CDs in the car, the only place I still have a CD player.  In the 2000s, Blair and I used to drive around the eastern USA peddling paintings out of the trunk of a rental car, decorated with a wreath on the grill, listening to Soul Christmas music. One of my favorite songs ever is “What Are You Doing, New Year’s Eve?”   I sing  “Angels We Have Heard on High”, at the top of my lungs, with only the slightest provocation.  Ask Berlino, who cringes. Catalog (selected pieces) of the Maypole Show.  Click to open