ARTNOTES: LUNCH AND DINNER

Iris by the wall    Blair Pessemier   Acrylic on linen   13  x 18 inches 

My early morning writing has fallen by the wayside as we have more and more painting workshops.  This week we went out to the Bois de Boulogne and Auvers-sur-Oise.   Coming up is a day at the Seine and Tuileries, just before the opening of our “he loves me, he loves me not” Flower Art Show on Thursday.

Through the Cherry Tree   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on linen  12 x 12 inches  

We picked up our painter at 9:30 this Sunday morning – traffic was negligible as we headed Northwest out of the city.   We visited the graves of Vincent and Theo van Gogh – Harika snuck in behind us, despite my best intentions to keep her outside the cemetery.  “We in France welcome dogs,” an older woman told me as I tried to catch her, so off she went.  Something about all those bones made me nervous, but it was fine.

We walked through the field where Vincent was shot – it is pretty clear now that he was accidentally murdered by young boys playing with a gun.  I really feel happier about him knowing that.  A path leads from the fields down to the church.  We continued through the town – Blair had hoped to paint in the city park, but there was an event going on.  We continued further on, where our associate visited Vincent’s rooms.

We painted not far from there –on a street overlooking buildings and flowering trees. Harika schmoozed with every tourist that walked by, as well as the locals.   “This dog wants water,” a local woman in a house dress and penciled on eyebrows admonished me.  She could have been Vincent’s model.  “There’s water in the park, where they are serving lunch,” she continued, “it’s the best water in all of Europe.”  I told her I’d be sure to try it.

French Bulldog and friend  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on linen  10 x 7" 

As we finished up our morning painting, we decided to go for the lunch “event”  on the grass.  Salad, bread, duck and roasted potatoes,   crepes for dessert,  wine and coffee.   Eaten beneath a tent, people sang-along to live tunes played on the accordion.

People at the Bois de Boulogne Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on wood  16 x 7.5 inches 

We had lunch of a different sort at our Bois-de-Boulogne session.  We took the ferry across the lake to the Chateau-des-Iles, where we ate a gourmet lunch on the patio.  Men wore jackets and the napery was linen.  I did my best to clean my painted hands.

Lunch at the Bois de Boulogne   Blair Pessemier  12 x 12 inches

There were a plethora of dogs, people and bicyclists at the Bois de Boulogne.  Most played well together, save for an English bulldog who took exception to a fluffy dog (all ended up intact).  We had lots of admirers and our fellow painter was a good sport.

Mid-week, we ate dinner at our house with an old friend from the Cordon Bleu Cooking School here.  I made a Barbue (which I believe is the equivalent of a Sunfish) – more than four pounds of fish, like a giant sole.  I was honored she took a photo of him.

Single Iris   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic on linen   13 x 9 

 Three Story House   Auvers    Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on linen

 Reflections/Boats   Blair Pessemier  Acrylic on wood

The Big Tree   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic on linen

Artnotes: Who has all the Fun?

Laurie Fox Pessemier   Grand Allee, Luxembourg Gardens  Acrylic/linen   11 x 16"    

Blair Pessemier   Grand Allee in the Luxembourg Gardnes  Acrylic/linen  15 x 18"

We are looking to get out of town tomorrow – our days off are so few and far between at this time, the chance to BREATHE clean country air is compelling.  So, I research the trajectory to Reuil-Malmaison and Josephine’s house where we can satisfy Harika’s country needs and our cultural penchant.   By mistake, I go to the Google map feature instead of the Paris heavy-rail network, and find I could walk there from my house in three hours and four minutes, along the route de l’Empereur. Did Napoleon really march from our house to Josephine’s place that way?

We had a big walk on Wednesday, the first of May, at the Bois de Boulogne with Harika.   I love to go there on the 63 bus, passing the Assemble Nationale, Concorde,  Invalides, Pont Alexandre III, near the Eiffel  Tower, Trocadero, the statue of George Washington on his horse, and out to the edge of town.

In the Woods  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/panel  12 x 12 inches  

We descend at the end of the line and cross busy streets over the ring road (peripherique) to the woods.  The fields are populated with immigrants, mostly Philippinos making barbecue.  Little girls in frilly dresses, men playing volleyball, women with babies kibitzing around the picnic tables… in Paris, it is the immigrants who have all the fun.  I believe it is much that way everywhere – my grandmother and aunts and uncles would picnic throughout the summer, something we wouldn’t be caught dead doing now.

Eiffel Tower in the Distance  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/linen  11 x 14" 

Harika  goes off leash and we gambol down to the lake.   Ducks, baby ducks, coots and their tiny charges float in the water.  We sit by the shore and see a hundred shades of green.   I have a lump in my throat it is so lovely and I am here.   We continue our walk around as I notice small droplets on the lake.   They, too,  look beautiful to me, but as they get closer together (actually it looks even better), Harika starts to high tail it for cover.  We have to put her on the leash because she’s so much faster than us.

Along the Seine  Blair Pessemier   Acrylic/panel  12 x 12 inches  

We painted along the Seine on Tuesday, after a day in the Luxembourg Gardens on Monday.  I am in serious admiration of our participants’ paintings.  I try to remember how I painted, so fresh, so spontaneously, before I painted all the time.   I want to go back and paint like I once did, before I tried to paint the way a teacher told me.   I am careful as a “teacher” not to teach, but to help extract what is natural to the person I am painting with.

Girl in red coat   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic/linen  15 x 18 inches  

 Tree, Tuileries   Blair Pessemier   Acyrlic on linen  14 x 11

 Purple Tree   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on linen  12 x 16 inches

Pont des Arts 30 April   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on linen  12 x 16"

ARTNOTES: Unexpected

 
Trees Auvers  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on linen  11 x 14  

ARTNOTES:  Unexpected

 

Harika ran around in circles, rolled in the grass, jumped in the air when we got to Giverny on Monday.   She doesn’t  care about the gardens, where she’s not allowed, but loves the air, the happy tourists, the smells of nature. 

Street in Auvers   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic on linen  13 x 16 inches    SOLD

Friends from Tunisia stopped by last Sunday.  They brought a sugary dessert and a tanagram game. We’d not seen them in nearly a year.  “There’s a brocante (yard sale) in our neighborhood,” they announced.  “If you’d like to come back there with us.”  We had a rental car that day, so we all piled in and drove to Maisons-Alfort.  They were impressed with our rental van – a new Volkswagen model, with a retractable roof and wind baffle.  We used the GPS.   “I sure wish they had GPS in Algeria,” our passenger commented, “we’re always get lost there”.  I had visions of driving through the desert, plugged into a satellite.

The sale was enormous, covering four large streets, crossing in the center.   We were in the market for vases and flower-y paraphernalia for our “He loves me, he loves me not” show coming up at the gallery.  We found vases galore, for one, two and three euros.  Blair bought a 1960s flower embroidery, framed, for the Retro gallery downstairs.  I got a marvelous umbrella, dull puce on the outside, but filled with flower print on the inside.   We came away with a giant haul for twenty euros.   And best of all, it was unexpected.

Blossomes on the Hill Giverny  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on wood  10.5 x 8 inches

The flower theme was the perfect setting to our week, with a trip to Giverny on Monday.   We had two painters who had spent the weekend out there, and painted with us Monday afternoon.  They were thoughtful painters, who studied exactly what they wanted to paint that afternoon:  both chose the bridge across the water lily pond.  

Giverny Bridge    Blair Pessemier  Acrylic on canvas panel   12 x 12 inches  

It was the earliest I’d been to Giverny to paint, in terms of blooms:  the flowering trees, the pansies, and tulips were out.  I picked one scene outside of the park with apple blossoms and soft green grass.   The next day we went with an Australian woman out to Auvers-sur-Oise, where she completed a nice painting of a Van Gogh street, and we painted around her. 

Harika loved that trip, too, spending the entire day lounging on the grass, save for lunch, where she regaled with the regulars at a traditional restaurant the proprietress had been running for 52 years. When we entered the restaurant we asked if Harika could join us.  “Excuse, me, “ the owner announced, “does anyone object to this dog eating here?”

Street in Auvers-sur-Oise  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on linen 12 x 12 

Blair and Laurie Pessemier

 Early Day at Giverny   Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic on linen   12 x 16 inches

 Tree Blooming Auvers sur Oise   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on linen  12 x12 inches

Rhododendron and Magnolia, Giverny   Blair Pessemier   Acyrlic on linen  14 x 11 inches

Paris Painting Workshop

Artnotes: A Walk in the Woods

 St Sulpice Plaza April 2013  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on linen  10 x 13.5 inches

 Tulips 2013   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on canvas   15 x 18 inches

Magnolia in the Park   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic on wood  10 x 14

Artnotes:  A Walk in the Woods

I found a large tuft of platinum blonde hair (I hope it was just an extension), and a cheap gold hoop earring.  An inexpensive handbag was thrown in the bushes, with nothing of merit inside.   I pocketed a kind of nice madras plaid hat which I’ll wash and use for summer.  I’d been looking for a new painting hat.  Blair isn’t keen on  it, but I can see the potential.    We were on a walk in the Bois de Boulogne this spring Sunday  morning.

Harika was also on the hunt – there was evidence of rabbits and moles, which she sniffed for, to no avail.  Finally, she came upon the strangest of prey:  a football sized prickly mass that simply would not move:  a herrison, or hedgehog.  I am sure she never saw one before – growling at it, jumping around it produced no response.   Blair thought it was dead, but I pointed out it was very successfully “playing possum” – it did wriggle when he gently poked it with a stick.   It was a find we were all happy with:  Harika, the great huntress,  obviously subdued it, and we didn’t have to worry about blood.

We were in the woods because we have a rental car: a big van-like contraption so there’s room for our painters and paints.    Our painting workshops begin in earnest this week – on Monday we will paint like Monet in Giverny, and on Tuesday we’ll be alongside Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise.  I believe I am the most enthusiastic workshop participant – I can’t wait to go.

We’ve passed the cusp of frigid winter – now it is frigid spring. A mere 50-something degrees Fahrenheit (13 or so Celsius)in the morning, but sunny.  It is my favorite time of the year, with the introduction of green leaves but not the full, shade-producing cover.  It’s all about light and dark, or light and movement, which brings me to the show “DYNAMO” which we went to at the Grand Palais this week.

At first, we thought the show was in the big glass-covered Palais, so we didn’t get there until after dinner, 8:45 or so – in fact, DYNAMO occupied huge space in the official gallery side of the Grand Palais – it was nearly  40,000 square feet!  It was too much to get through in an hour, but I had the sense of being in a 1960s wild, hypnotic, spinning wheel  atmosphere as urgent-looking guards would say, “you’ve three large rooms to go!” Like Patrick McGoohan in “the Prisoner” I had to make it to the outside by 10PM.  And EVERYONE was so HAPPY at the end of the show – smiling attendees who just didn’t want to leave.

Classic artists like Vasarely, Agam, Flavin, Turrell opened the show.  But there were also people I was not familiar with, including Carlos Cruz-Diez who created big rooms of light produced color. 

It made one think about art differently:  not painted on a canvas, or sculpted from a block of wood, but our participation was required to make it be art.  I would call the show a blockbuster just for the fact is was so different, so thought-provoking.  I liked it very much and will go back to look in greater detail. 

I sat outside the gallery in a chair this week, it was so warm. On Saturday,  I was painting outside with Harika at St. Sulpice.   A crazy woman in apparently normal French dress appeared with her dog, a shepherd of somesort,  and a big playground ball.  She throws it up in the air and the dog bats it back with his nose.  There are about 100 people in the square, I am sitting on a bench.  Several people are hit by the ball.   Harika is having a nervous breakdown – for her,  we may as well be in Syria – the sky is falling!  She hides under the bench.     As I am painting the trees, the ball bounces off my very wet paint-filled palette, onto the painting.  The woman doesn’t apologize, makes some comment like it is my fault.  She must need the attention or just  a walk in the woods.

Artnotes: Sand

 Sandcastle   Blair Pessemier    Pencil on Paper  8 x 10 inches

 Sketch in the Park April 2013   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on wood  7 x 20

 People on the Trouville Beach   Blair Pessemier   Acrylic on panel  11 x 16 inches

 Cherry Tree April 2013   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on wood  8.5 x 14.5 inches

 Sketch on the Trouville Beach  Laurie Fox Pessemier   3.5 x 14 inches

Hoards on the Beach   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on linen  11 x 16 inches

ARTNOTES: SAND

I felt like Paul Bunyan in the desert this morning – we were walking on the beach in Trouville with Harika, observing sandcastles from the day before in various states of ruin.  Is that the Ishtar Gate? 

On Sunday the sand was packed with families of all ages and mixes, having fun on the beach.  I enjoy the increasing cultural diversity in France.  It used to be I was the odd ball in Normandy, with brown eyes.  Sunday we sat beside a Russian/Chinese couple with two French children.   The daughter staged a coup on someone’s abandoned sandcastle, built by two English girls.  A woman passed by in an Arabic dress, black with bright pink sport stripes down the sides.  

People ask me, isn’t it too crowded?  I LOVE all the people, at ease, in various stages of dress.   I also like the beach without people, when we can see forever.   This morning was clear and blue, the sky reflected in huge puddles the tide had left as it receded nearly a quarter mile.     We picked up shells and rocks.  I found a piece of corroded iron that looked like the nativity, but not quite enough.  

Harika barrels along like Babe, the blue ox, knocking over castles and hiding in the moats.  Some are large enough that she can disappear in the hole entirely.  Her friend, Milou, the restaurant dog, pees on the tower.

Razor clams make great crenulations.  One fort incorporates a human sized chair lined with razor clams – it is impossible to capture in drawing, especially after being routed by Harika.  There are entire villages laid out, in square, round and kidney shapes.

And, it’s finally warm enough to sit ON the beach.  Harika sunbathed as we painted and the rest of the world real and imaginary, played.

Artnotes: In the Game

   ARTNOTES:  In the Game
Chess men Spring 2013  Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic on Linen    10.5 x 16

We had a delightful painting session in the sun on Tuesday  – watching the chess players on an early spring day.  When I haven’t looked for a long time, it’s hard to SEE.  But the longer I sat, the more I could see the hat, the gesture, the slouch in the chair, the look of interest in the eye by lookers-on.  I could feel myself reaching my own stride as the chess players did, changing chairs, changing tables -- a smile, a handshake and a game.   It’s like a moment out of life – I have been reading how Vladimir Nabokov became maniacal when he hunted for butterflies – he’d walk 12 kilometers (about 7.5 miles) a day searching for butterflies.  He couldn’t feel the limit – it’s how I feel with the painting or the chessplayers feel with their game.  No matter I have painted that scene fifty times, Nabokov would go over the same territory, like the chess players sit with the same pieces every  time.  It changes, it’s new.  And when this day is over there is another one.

Chessmen Bundled Up  Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic onlinen 12 x 12" 

I can feel that way a little with writing.  I have a new article in “A Perfect Event” magazine, where they also feature pictures of our home: http://issuu.com/aperfecteventmag/docs/spring2013_1/31     (if that doesn't exactly work, we are  on page 30)

Rue Vaugirard from the Park  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic on linen panel  12 x 12"  SOLD

We went out  on Friday to make a portrait of a woman and her children, in the park.  I wasn’t sure the proximity to the playground was a wise idea, but in fact, the closeness to the lollipops was a bonus. They were a lovely family, from Holland (where it’s colder than here – the forsythia is not yet in bloom).  Blair and I both painted them, in just 90 minutes – small pictures.

.

The daughter, almost three, was very interested in the painting process.  She’d place face and nose close to the palette – to look deeply into those colors and smell the paint, then watch me put the brush to canvas. It was charming and inspiring, and makes me feel lucky to have such an intimate experience with someone so young.  Maybe someday she will be a painter, too.

I painted again that afternoon with a family of three,  in the Luxembourg Gardens.  Because the Senat (which adjoins the Gardens) has been debating volatile subjects, our bags are checked each time we enter.  With painting supplies for four people, I worried I’d be there all day, but the guard recognized me and waved us through. 

Forsythia   Laurie Fox Pessemier   Acrylic on linen panel  12 x 12 inches

Laurie and Blair Pessemier

http://www.studiopessemier.com/tours-workshops/

Artnotes: they call it Easter Monday

 Easter Azelea   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on linen  10.5x 16 inches

  Yellow Ranunculas   Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic on linen  10.5x 16 inches

Violets   Blair Pessemier  6.5 x 8.5 inches   Oil on linen 

Artnotes:  they call it Easter Monday....

Today is Easter Monday, a strange holiday in my book:  it’s based on a religious event, in a “lay” country, and it isn’t ever on the holiday-day.   Oh well, it gives a lot of people a three day weekend.  In some countries, like Australia, they get Good Friday and Easter Monday off.   In Paris, many people take advantage of the three day weekend and leave town.

We celebrate Easter on Easter.  It was one of my mother’s favorite holidays, and I try to keep up the tradition with an Easter brunch.   This year, I had seven guests, one just arriving that day from New York, and we made a late brunch of it.  We had: two crown roasts of lamb, marinated trout, fois gras with figs, duck and pistachio pate, cumin potato salad, Moroccan carrots,  beet and mango salad, white asparagus with blood oranges, olive tapenade, breads, cheeses, fruit and chocolates; washed down with champagne, red  wine, apple juice, water, tea and coffee.  It was too cold to go for a walk afterward, but we sat around and visited for ages, Harika cadging food wherever possible.   

At least half dozen people (besides Blair and I) makes for varied conversation.   I like to lurk in the kitchen listening to people discuss Nabakov;  the quality of work done in France; toll booths on the Golden Gate bridge; FEDEX; and concierges.   It is wonderful to be a noodle in humanity soup.

There’s been very little business at our gallery, because it is still so cold outside, I think.  Here it is, April, and the chestnut trees have nary a leaf, let alone a blossom.  My painting student of last week cancelled, with early morning temperatures below freezing (-2C/28-30F).   Harika and her dog friends are spending less time in the Luxembourg Gardens, because their owners have freezing fingers and toes.   Without leaves on the tree the sun can peak through, at least and I position my chair accordingly.

The Easter Bunny brought us a hen and chick we used as a centerpiece.  Guests brought me an Easter basket and a big chocolate bunny, which we’ve been consuming madly.  One of the best things about having a party is leftovers:  food and memories.