Paintings by Blair + Laurie Fox PESSEMIER: Artnotes: Speaking English

Trees in the Morning; Paradou Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 13 x 11” 33 x 27 cm 490.00

On Friday, we drove to Saintes Maries sur Mer. I have always wanted to go there. It was an overcast, somewhat foggy day. We set out for the ornithological center – this is a place where migrating birds proliferate. I love the idea of migration – Blair and I migrate often. We arrived at what Blair thought was the parking lot, but in fact, we were in advance of the center by 100 feet. No problem. I saw the mosquitoes outside the window: a lot of mosquitoes, as in hundreds. Darn – I forgot my mosquito spray. I’d been using it daily at the house we were staying in Paradou, which has its fair share of the little monsters. We stepped out of the car, and started walking in the direction of the marshes. I felt like Katherine Hepburn in the African Queen. “Look at her back!” our companion exclaimed. I was covered, almost completely, by mosquitoes. Despite wanting more than anything to be here, I was forced to turn back. We did manage to see one fantastic heron before the run for the car. I brushed off the bulk of them, but we still spent the next 20 minutes swatting flying insects. I still noticed one or two, a couple of days later, on our drive back to Italy.

Les Alpilles LauriePessemier Acrylic/vintage map paper, 6.5 x 11” 20 x 27cm 190.00

Things don’t always work out the way we plan. Our entire, rather surreal, trip to Provence was like that. Our companions arrived a day late. The Airbnb house, while pretty, was entirely faulty: we spent three days with an extreme water leak; 5 days with no electricity in the kitchen, intermittent electrical problems elsewhere. The only serious tour we booked for, at Chateau La Coste, bumped us twice – the second time after a 250 euro lunch (thanks, friends, it was wonderful, in any case). Blair and I drove away two weeks later, unscathed, but our companions spent an extra day at the airport on the way home. The lesson here? Patience? Or should we just protest the breakdown of our systems, like the French and Italian youth are currently doing?

Pont du Gard Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 11x 16” 27 x 41cm 490.00

That’s the $64,000.00 question – what the heck is going on? In all the major cities we visited: Aix-en-Provence, Arles, St. Remy, Nimes, we saw police preparing to impose order amidst the protests of French youth (not immigrants). At our salon that weekend, one of our contributors reported from a book she read – that Americans under the age of 35 have spent much of their adult life under the Trump influence. Young people in the greater Western world have only known extreme climate conditions, disproportionate wealth/poverty, social media, and surveillance, all the time not knowing what to believe. They are protesting because these issues need to be addressed – could it be time for us old folks to get out of the way?

Paradou House with Loggia Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 17 x 18” 42 x 45cm 590.00

We visited the studio of Cezanne while we were in Aix-en-Provence. It was recently restored to its original glory. In fact, we had seen it 25 years ago, much the same, but now cleaner and able to accommodate more visitors (old folks and grammar school classes). The improvement of the grounds – he had a lovely woven willow covered bridge, for one thing – is really an addition. For the first time I could see where his soft, clear, impressionist colors came from. On the same note, another day we visited the newly opened “room” where Vincent Van Gogh was hospitalized while in the South of France. Again, it was possible to identify exactly where and what he painted. The facility featured paintings by current local artists.

Two Views from Mouries coffee shop Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/paper 11 x 8” 27 x 21cm 90.00 each

Of course, Blair and I painted a few pictures. It is such a beautiful area, albeit “rarified” and affordable mostly to rich retirees. A neighbor, from whom we bought a chair, told Blair she was leaving because here daughter no longer wanted to be there. In front of the town hall, Blair and I met an author, Gino, writing about the “myth” of St. Tropez and Southern France versus the “reality”. He and his photographer, Ian, were drinking beers in front of the Mairie. “There’s the image, and there’s how it really is.”

Chairs Laurei Fox Pessemier Acrylic/black paper (front) 17 x 12” 41 x 30cm 250.00
side view 8.5 x 12” 21 x 30cm 90.00

The only younger people I saw worked in local businesses. I talked to the young clerk at our neighborhood Spar market. “You speak very good English,” I told her. “Well, my boyfriend is Italian, and I speak French, so together we are speaking in English.”