Artnotes: Making Dessert

 

Large Crow Fall Berry Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on large paper (arrives rolled)  56 x 36"  142 x 9y 2cm  375.00 A trip to Venice is always nice – Tuesday was one of those glorious deep blue days, sky and water shimmering.   We sat on the back deck of the vaporetto and met the nicest people from San Antonio, Texas.   They really wanted to talk about life away from the USA.  They loved to travel, but hated being away from their family.   I felt the same that day – we left Berlino at home, and I feel sad doing things without him.   Never mind he’d likely trade me for a hamburger. Commission of Boston Church   Blair Pessemier

We were in Venice  to check out the Architecture Biennale there.   We are working on a project, “ReuseIT”, to renovate a ruin near Bologna.  I thought we should bone up on current architectural ideas, terms and presentation.  In fact, the show was rather a bust – it struck me like an end-of-the-school-year project.   The photos and presentations I’d already seen online of these projects were superior to the real thing, in all cases.       Blair Pessemier  acrylic/canvas  15 x 18"   37 x 45cm   475.00     This was also the least crowded I’d ever seen Venice.  There were very few people on the vaporetto, and even less at the show.  I had a bench all to myself in the park where I sat sketching people (I dropped out of the architectural tour).  It was the first time I really noticed that parts of Venice are never visited, and other parts generally overrun.    The best part of the day was a very good lunch at a little restaurant near Giardini.  Fall Nuts  Laurie Pessemier  acrylic/canvas   12 x 16.5"    30 x 42 cm   195.00 Being in that part of Italy made me rethink my idea to document the Danube into a project to document the Po, the longest river in Italy.   The Po starts as a small spring in the Piedmont and irrigates the grand plain of Piedmont, Lombardy and Emilia Romagna.  It floods the rice fields (think risotto), welcomes migrating birds and spawning fish, and dumps into the Adriatic.  I look for motorboats to facilitate parts of the trip.  In the Fall   Laurie Pessemier  acrylic/canvas   12 x 16.5"    30 x 42 cm   195.00 It’s quite cool here in Roccamalatina right now.  The heat is running, the door open for the convenience of Berlino.   I hear different birds than I did in the summertime.  They are cutting trees next door to us – trying to save what they can of the umbrella pines.  The air is mildy foggy, but the sun still comes through all sparkly, and creates sharp color and shadows.   We are going to a birthday luncheon today, featuring Indian food.  Blair is making dessert. 4 drawings 5 x 8"  12 x 24cm  by Laurie Pessemier  100 for the group HOUSEKEEPING:  We make art to order, including portraits by Blair Pessemier.    Follow us on Instagram @lauriepessemier See all of our painting at https://paintfox.com Most of our work is available as reproductions, custom sized and framed.   sign up for Artnotes, our weekly art missive, by contacting me at lfpessemier@gmail.com or https://mailchi.mp/341f508cecf8/artnotes 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, no sales pitches, 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: 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: The Beautiful Future Ahead

 

2/5/22 Roccamalatina, MO Italia Doges Palace, Venice  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  21 x 60"  55 x 150 cm  1800.00 “Think of the beautiful future ahead”  Ricardo. When I say that out loud, I almost laugh.  It seems nothing like what I have been doing for the past two years, staying home; clip, clip here; put the idea of following the Silk Road out of my mind; clip, clip there.  On the other hand, I have found other marvelous activities:  clay, lithography, zoom art salon (a real city salon is much more difficult to develop); walking in the countryside (so, so – I’d prefer to see shoes in the shop window). Two January Lemons  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 18 x 11"  45 x 27.5 cm  450.00 Ricardo’s thought encouraged us to travel a little this week.   So, we drove to Chioggia, a town (considerably)  north of Ravenna, “across” from Venice.  In fact, it is officially part of the metropolitan city of Venice.   It took as long to drive there as it did to drive to Venice proper, but the drive was really a terrific part of the trip -- the last third on a narrow roads perched next to the numerous waterways leading to the Adriatic.   The early morning and late afternoon sun at this time of year imparts a wonderful rosy golden glow to whatever it illuminates.  The trees without leaves allow us to see birds in the great distance (we saw two ibises). Venetian Mirror  Blair Pessemier  acrylic/canvas 24 x 14"  60 x 35cm  490.00   Chioggia was much like Venice, but smaller, zero tourists. There was a market that day so the streets along the many canals were busy.  There were lots of wooden boats, and their reflections in the water were really fabulous in the sunny, Adriatic light.   In a sidewalk café, we ate baccala and little octopi, with that delicious white wine of the Veneto. So much fun. I spoke with a friend this week who has lived in Italy for 30 years.  He’s not too young, and has just about given up travel.  But, as he said to me, “there are many places to visit right here in Italy!” Church Tower    Dragonfly   Lithographs  5.5 x 7"  14 x 18cm  85.00 each INVITING All Artists to present their Work:   Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food....  read us a poem, tell us a joke? Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary Rome 8PM ; NY 2 PM; LosAngeles  11AM https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85625088767?pwd=WldKRk9VbUVITWtRS0FFK2JwdGEwQT09 Meeting ID: 856 2508 8767 Passcode: 887182

Artnotes: Surprise

 

Stimigliano, RI Italia

Gondola Lamp  Laurie Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  9.5 x 13"   24 x 32cm  375.00  “How did you get all those lemons?  My tree doesn’t have any,” a neighbor kibitzed.   Yellowjackets  --those pesky stingers ate the mites off of my trees and now the lemons are ripening.  Sometimes a bad thing can be a good thing.  For example, mosquitoes protecting the rain forests and wetlands:  poor dears didn’t do enough, and Hadrian’s Villa was built anyway; the Suez and Panama canals continue to flow.  And now we’re genetically modifying mosquitoes.  I can somehow see a frightening result:  who said it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature?  In Stimigliano    Blair Pessemier  acrylic/canvas 10 x 18"  25 x 45cm  450.00 Lately, I’ve been making lithographs using household materials (aluminum foil and coca cola).  It’s an imprecise science for me, and enjoyable as such.  I loved printmaking when I was in art school, but because there were so many chemical mixes and processes involved, my practice fell by the wayside away from school. Contrary to the “ideal” of printmaking (that is, making identical perfect pictures), for me there is an added dimension:  unpredictability, surprise, genius.   A less than perfect plate introduces a ghost in front of the town hall.  My muse has the possibility of hopping into the picture.  Lithographs:  Tree, Commune, Flowers    Laurie Fox Pessemier 6 x 4"  15 x 10cm  75.00 I like that about life, in general.  A friend wrote recently about how she took a class, and it wasn’t what she expected, but BETTER.  After we get through the initial shock of things not being what we expect, we are fresh and open to outrageous enjoyment. Giuseppe's Peppers   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas 16 x 9.5"  40 x 25 cm  450.00    My trip to Corsica was that way.  I sputtered and groused – but in the end it was more wonderful than I had imagined.  I did come away with a cold, that led to a cough.  It kept me inside, working on art.  There was much hanging around our apartment this week.  We expected a delivery of two easy chairs on Monday They are wonderful chairs, sorely needed, as I have been reading in a reclining position for ages.  Harika used to like that I’d lay next to her on the bed and read, but now that she’s not there, it’s just weird.  With these chairs, I sit up and read, and can even throw a leg over the arm, Napoleon style. Fall Weeds    Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  19.5 x 12"  48 x 30cm  450.00 I love how the universe works. And when we get lemons, we’ll make Limocello! The Orange Tree  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/canvas  10 x 10"  25 x 25cm  350.00 INVITING All Artists to present their Work:  Pessemier's Sunday Salon Weekly on Sunday  No Reservation Necessary Rome 8PM ; NY 2 PM; LosAngeles  11AM https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85625088767?pwd=WldKRk9VbUVITWtRS0FFK2JwdGEwQT09 Meeting ID: 856 2508 8767 Passcode: 887182