Artnotes: "What do you want to do?"

 

White Horse Yellow Field  Laurie Pessemier  acrylic/canvas panel  20 x 16"  50 x 40 cm   .490.00

Well, here we are outside of Munich, in Kranzberg, Germany.  We have launched our Blaue Reiter campaign, painting, and visiting our first museum this week.  It is not quite as easy as I imagined, but we have a month to work on it.   Although we thought there would be many English speakers here, there are not, and that lack of communication presents some challenges for me.  Instead of buying at the meat counter, I am selecting packaged foods.  I am amazed at the translation capabilities of my telephone, but it adds another veil to really getting to know a local. I pick up a word here and there. Bee House  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas panel 16 x 20"  40 x 50cm    490.00 We have painted every day so far.  I am trying to espouse the German Expressionist qualities of painting.  It isn’t exactly a style, but an attitude to put one’s Expression (with a capital E!) right out there.  Materialism be damned, spirituality reigns – paint what your muse dictates.  I am not painting from photos, and if I use them it is only as a guideline.  Hostas in a Beer Glass  Laurie Fox  Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 13 x 8 "  33 x 20   390.00 A friend of mine describes her art struggles like “laying an egg”, and I am feeling that very strain.  I think, in a way this is good, because that struggle strips away the usual way of doing things, and I express myself more fully. Madonna (many religious statues here*)   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  16 x 11"   40 x 27  290.00 There is a little lake not far from our house, where we have been swimming a lot (it’s hot here, too, but less).  Being in the water makes me really happy.  There’s a beer garden on the lake, where the very first day we had a sandwich of herring, onion and a pickle on a hard roll.   The beermeister is very cheery and the fish guy is from Pakistan.   I love it there, amidst throngs of happy German families.   I have been surprised to find out men wear leather shorts, even in the summer, in a natural way.  Today, at the neighboring town of Freising, I noticed leather shorts worn with the saggy bottom effect associated with jeans. Milking Stool   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  13 x 13"  33 x 33cm  390.00 I managed to paint a white horse in a yellow field today   I am so used to using pens and watery acrylic paint on paper, it’s hard to get back into the painting on canvas groove. We are in a very unusual house, with good bones and plenty of room, but with a combination of post WWII and Millenial influences.  Silver plated egg cups in an imitation-Ikea cabinet. Grape Arbor outside my Bedroom   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  12 x 12"  30 x 30cm   390.00 When I write about our trip, I love that it is so multi-dimensional.  I know  I am just supposed to write about fabulous this and that, and those moments are there (I am almost the only person I know who hates a resort vacation).  Mostly, I like  that even through I’m afraid to go to the meat counter, we get to the checkout and Blair’s left his wallet at home – the clerk, who fortunately speaks some English says “what do you want to to do? Dogs and Saint on Vintage Paper Laurie Pessemier Acrylic/paper  8.5  x 11" 21 x 29cm  120.00 each. *  there are so many tiny baroque chapels here, we are making a secondary little study of those.  I know nothing about why they exist, but provide terrific little follies to stop and admire HOUSEKEEPING:  We make art to order, including Portraits by Blair Pessemier. Follow us on Instagram @lauriepessemier If you’d like to visit/take a painting workshop: https://www.pessemierworkshops.com See all of our painting at https://paintfox.com Most of our work is available as reproductions, custom sized and framed, within the USA. sign up for Artnotes, our weekly art missive, by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com or https://mailchi.mp/341f508cecf8/artnotes

Artnotes: Sewing Up a Storm

 

It’s been two week of holidays, events and extremes.   We had a workshop-lite companion over the last extended (Easter) weekend – a challenging event because her suitcase never arrived (we picked it up at the airport as she left for the next leg of her journey)!   I shared my clothes that were too small on me – herself being about 6 inches shorter than me. Geranium, Trees dark Trees light  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  11.5 x 8"  90.00 each We managed to paint a few good canvases.  I worked on acrylic on paper heralding the flowers of springtime.   We visited the Palazzo di Te in Mantova, reveling in the room of the Giants.   The highlight of the trip was a day in Venice.  It was shortly after that Blair came down with E. Coli.  It is not clear it had anything to do with Venice; we have a dog that eats many untoward things one must pry from his maw; and a garden that used to be a horse yard.  Blair is looking brighter today. Apple Blossoms  Laurie Pessemier acrylic/paper  10  x 14"   25 x 35cm   125.00 We hadn’t been to Venice in five years or so.  Since our last visit, the Campanile at San Marco has been reunovated so one can climb it  (we didn’t).  The cruise ships are gone, which is quite a relief.   The Vaporettos were crowded, our visit coinciding with Pasquetta, or Easter Monday, the “lay” holiday in Italy.    Mostly, we rode around on on the deck of  the boat,  had lunch with the orchestra playing at the square of San Marco, and building and people-watched.  There is nothing more beautiful than those Byzantine arches alongside their Renaissance counterparts.  I so want to live in Venice, where people from all over the world have sat elbow-to-elbow since the days of Marco Polo.    The glockenspiel wasn’t active, as the Pope had just died that morning.   Many Italians take his passing very hard.  He was the last voice of compassion in a dog-eat-dog world.   Friends are going to the funeral today. Deep Purple Iris    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  11.5 x 8"  90.00 We had a second guest on the heels of the first – his flight was severely delayed and with Blair’s horrible condition (4 days in bed and counting), it was a mighty stretch for me to be a good hostess.   Of course, Berlino loves company and uses it to his advantage to spend as long as possible outdoors, requiring a chase to render him indoors for the night. My sewing machine arrived, and I made curtains (not very good) for the guest bedroom.  I’ve been sewing up a storm between meals and laundry and dog-walking.   I am thinking of sewing up a collection of flowers. NOTES: All of our work is now available as reproductions, on paper, canvas and framed.    Also, I am sending this out as a "salon" reminder.  If you don't want to receive Artnotes, please let me know and we'll figure out something else. Sign up for Artnotes by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com INVITING All Artists to present their Work:   Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food.... Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary   How it works: Bring a piece of your ART: that could be visual, like painting or printmaking; or literary, as in poetry or prose; or crafts, like metalwork or knitting; or food, or music.  Something you made, or feel particularly inspired by.  You have about 5 minutes to present, and we'll ooh, ahh, or answer questions you have.  You can also come and see how we work before diving in.  Just show up on Zoom at a minute or two before the hour.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented.  NO POLITICS please. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 8PM; NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM

Artnotes: Enough for Everyone

 

Oh Istanbul   Blair Pessemier  acrylic/canvas  12 x 16"  30 x 40cm  450.00

I wake up every day with worry.  Early.  Berlino, sensing perhaps my chagrin, shakes from his bed in the living room.   We tell him, no, three o’clock is too early, and he rests until 4.  We try again to calm him before Blair eventually takes him out for his morning jaunt:  5.    Jumping IN   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  90.00 This is a difficult winter, literally and figuratively.  Blair and I lived our whole lives as grasshoppers, painting and entertaining others, the best life on earth.  And we saved a little, and paid into retirement by the urging of our government.   We live a modest life in Italy, pretty much on the money we invested in Social Security.  Now, we are worried.   Not only is Social Security threatened, but the looming tariffs on European goods endangers our art sales.  It is scary, and there’s nothing scarier than being awake at 3AM. Relaxing in the Drink   Laurie Pessemier acrylic/paper  25 x 17"   63 x 40 cm   275.00 I used to think that the world would just get better and better, when I was in my late teens and early twenties.  Equality was on the rise, and I believe possibly we all loved one another.  I had somehow extrapolated that to how great it would be when I was 60, 70 – taking our love and flowers out into space.  Ha. New Home for the Genie  Laurie  Pessemier  Acrylic/paper   17x 23.5"   40 x 63cm   275.00 I like to be generous.  It is more blessed to give than to receive.  An old communist friend from Paris (since deceased) used to say, “Laurie, it feels so good when I give someone else my seat on the bus.”  He’d never been to Catholic school, and only learned this as an adult.   My catholic school, St. Anthony’s, closed a few years ago.  We learned to help one another – where do people learn that now?  Another friend of ours, of the grasshopper ilk, urged us to entertain, and later colonize (in the positive sense).     Italy is a generous country. Pasta is cheap, and everyone wants to buy us a coffee.  As Italian friends in Hartford Connecticut used to tell us, “we may only have spaghetti, but there’s enough for everyone.” Cellist   Laurie Fox Pessemier acrylic/paper  12 x 9"  29 x 20cm  SOLD Sign up for Artnotes by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com INVITING All Artists to present their Work:   Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food.... Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary   How it works: Bring a piece of your ART: that could be visual, like painting or printmaking; or literary, as in poetry or prose; or crafts, like metalwork or knitting; or food, or music.  Something you made, or feel particularly inspired by.  You have about 5 minutes to present, and we'll ooh, ahh, or answer questions you have.  You can also come and see how we work before diving in.  Just show up on Zoom at a minute or two before the hour.    No selling, no networking until after everyone has presented.  NO POLITICS please. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88093708954?pwd=M04zNHB4dFZkREp3bThweUd1YnVDZz09 Meeting ID: 880 9370 8954 Passcode: 886402 Rome 7PM; NY 2 PM; LosAngeles 11AM  (NOTE -- we are accomodating the US time change this week )

Artnotes: Touched to the Heart

 Montepulciano   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas   8 x 20"  2 x 50cm

 Montepulciano in the distance   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas   12 x 20    30 x 50cm

 Cortona Italia   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  18 x 14    45 x 35cm

Lucky Gypsy Plants   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/antique ship log   8 x 14  20 x 35cm

 Harika in the Yard    Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/wood   7 x 9.5"   18 x 24cm

Sunrise with Ludovico's house   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas   14 x 18"  35 x 45cm

Artnotes:   Touched to the Heart

As we pulled up to park at our Italian lessons on Friday, there was a horse on the sidewalk adjacent.  She was a beautiful white horse, with a whiskery chin and delicate spots.  She had  three or four extra long eyelashes around her eyes.  The man, who looked like he had been with her a long time, stroked her head, reassuring her.  He kissed her on the nose.   I sat in the car while Blair made a run up the street to the Centro di Frutta, to buy juice.

The rider told me he never used a car.  “I am horse” he told me, in an oddly accented English.  I asked if she were an appaloosa.  My friend in Montecorone has appaloosas and I imagined she could be related.  “No” he answered, “she is part Romanian and part Andalusian.  I leave her free on my land.”  We chatted a bit about the area, animals.     I felt the luckiness of the horse and the man, and could faintly smell her grassi-ness.   He started singing a song to her about a “cavallo” (horse, in Italian).

Blair returned and I wished them Buona Sera, proceeding into the community center at Zocca for the lesson.   It was too hot to use the conference room so we sat in the entry way, with an assortment of tables and chairs.  Students trickled in.

Kone arrived and handed me a plastic bag.  Kone is a tailor, looking for work, living in Zocca, hoping someday to bring his wife from Mali.   We copy off one another's’ papers from time to time.   He speaks and understands Italian better than I do, but I am a better writer.

I looked into the bag.  He made me a shirt/dress!   It was of green flowered fabric with a deep purple-red striped lining.  I held it up.  It fit!  Thank you, thank you I told him: a million times thank you.  It was such a surprise, and I was touched to the heart with his kindness.  I honestly don’t know when anyone ever made me such a nice present.

Sometimes, at school, I have the impression these young people think of us as parents.   I am so honored by their respect and friendliness.   I think we all go to class as much to see each other as to learn Italian.

We missed class on Monday, when we drove to Cortona (south of Florence) to talk to someone about tutoring a painting workshop.  It was a wonderful trip, and made me sure we would be teaching painting workshops once again, here or there, or a variety of places in Italy.   Our video and a link to our painting workshop site follow. 

This morning after coffee we ran into Piero, one of our early friends here.  “Do you think you’ll stay much longer?” he asks.  At least seven more years, we tell him.

Pessemier Workshops - ITALY https://vimeo.com/181006410

Laurie and Blair Pessemier