Artnotes:  The Time Machine

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'Was it any surprise my first book out of the library after vacation was “The Time Machine” by H.G.Wells? Blair and I just spent a month in the US visiting our families. There is something about being back in the “old country” that confounds and frustrates. Maybe it is because we are in the process of easing transitions for the old folks: from independent living to something more manageable; from this world to the next. Regardless of how upbeat I tried to be – playing water baseball with my tween nephews – life was difficult.

 

I feel like I made the voyage in the Time Machine itself – I am tired and dusty. The French word “rentree” refers to this time in September when we go back to work and school. More appropriate for me would be the term “re-entry” -- onto the planet.

 

Our trip did have some extremely high points, including playing in the lake with the family. We spent a day in Washington, DC with Whistler’s Nocturnes at the Freer Gallery. The Freer/Sackler is one of my favorite spots: Blair and I share a favorite painting there – Childe Hassam’s “Chinatown -- Portland, Oregon”. We dash through the Sackler tunnel to the Freer to see it. The most beautiful dining room in the world is there: Whistler’s Peacock Room, featured perfectly intact and breathtaking.

 

It’s easy to forget about visiting beautiful places. With the advent of child/user friendly museums, the sophisticated impressions go wanting. In any case, it gives us more room to see things. On Sunday, we’re having dinner with a friend to plan our museum visits this fall.

 

We’ve lots of plans for this “rentree”: I am going to compile my Artnotes into an ebook (or two – I’ve been writing them since 1998); I am painting bigger – several large canvases in the US, and two 16 x 20 inch since our return; Blair presses on with his engineering service sales. A good friend just rented a historic building in Italy which needs a resident artist.

 

When I turn my mind back to the US, I feel agitated: I want to move forward in life. I am armed with the tools of a bygone era, when America was “on top” and there was no such word as “can’t”. The past is never returning, regardless of how many rich Americans want to restore it. I am trading in my heavy old tools for lighter, brighter, more practical devices: an open mind and a hand on the lever of the time machine for the future.

 

 

  

Eat this?    Laurie Fox PESSEMIER    Acrylic on canvas   20 x 16 inches

Dogs in the Park    Laurie Fox PESSEMIER    Acrylic on canvas  20 x 16 inches  SOLD

We're painting today, 15 August on the Connecticut shore, for the Wet/Dry Auction at the Stony Creek Gallery.

Geranium Charlottesville Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 11 x 14 inches



Looking out my back door Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 14 x 11 inches

Rosey Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 11 x 14 inches

Iris Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 11 x 14 inches

We'll be showing work at the Madison Art and Antiques Fair this 14 August!!! Come see us.

Ireland Landscape (COMMISSION) Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 60 x 48 inches

M. Blair PESSEMIER IRISH LANDSCAPE (COMMISSION PIECE) oil on canvas 60 x 48"

Trees behind Hemlock Lodge Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 30 x 12 inches

Orchestra Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 36 x 18 inches (on hold)

Garden Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 13 x 8.5 inches

Straw Hat LFP Acrylic on canvas 12 x 15 inches

Bassin Luxembourg Gardens Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 16 x 9.5 inches

Purple Tree Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on wood 4.5 x 20 inches

Cooling off Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 9.5 x 9 inches

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Artnotes: Mischief

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A man sat beside us I nursed my “Vittel Citron” and chatted with Blair and a friend. It was too early for lunch, and I couldn’t see through to have another cup of coffee. The thickly featured stranger settled in, casually hanging his jacket on the handle of our companion’s suitcase. “Hey,” our friend protested; then the fellow tried to switch suit jackets. His cell phone rang and he charged out of the café. It was clear the suitcase zipper had been opened, but luckily, nothing was lifted.

At Gare du Nord yesterday, the gypsies were numerous. Opening taxi doors, offering “assistance” -- I had been watching from my perch inside the brasserie, feeling immune to their advances.

“Why do they always wear those skirts?” our friend asked, gesturing to the women, “ Isn’t it just a tip off to people that they are gypsies?” I explained it was a cultural thing with them – gypsy women always wear skirts. I didn’t mention how I was admiring that very item: a flower print skirt with a sport t-shirt and a tight yellow vest – Kenzo, eat your heart out. Once, in the Tuileries, a gypsy asked if she could BUY my skirt – I was flattered at such a compliment.

Blair and I have learned to never make eye contact – once you’ve engaged a gypsy, you’re the victim. We do know a number of gypsies around town, and they don’t bother us anymore. We’ve even shared our picnic dinner with one who feigns a limp. I know the “ring” trick and various others, and we always have a hearty laugh when I tell them so.

Later that afternoon, I see from my balcony, on rue de Rennes, a group of four handicapped people straighten up, start twirling their crutches: a passerby screams. The gypsies head for home on the metro. In this weather, home is usually a collection of trailers alongside a minor highway. From time to time they’ll hook up to a water line, and you’ll see a washing machine in their midst.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before the gypsies are such named because they were thought to come from Egypt. In fact, they were entertainers imported from India to Persia. Eventually expelled from Persia, half went north to become the “Rom” people and the other half to Egypt, where they lived in the desert as the “Dom”.

In any case, they are modern day nomads, inhabiting virtually every corner of the globe. They provide a certain relief to an otherwise predictable life in Paris. Don’t get me wrong, I am not about to take up petty thievery as a living, but society (and its mores) is a completely man-made thing. Our own rules seem equally absurd to me sometimes – when did it become OK to say “it’s just business”, or to destroy someone else’s livelihood in the quest for petroleum? Harika will never comprehend the idea of eating slowly, and I, for one, will never understand why men wear ties.

The guards at the station joke with three pretty young girls as they toss them out off the terrazzo and we escort our friend, spared from the clutches of their mischief, to his train.

Feeding the pigeons Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 7 x 12.5 inches


Umbrellas: Luxembourg Gardens Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 14 x 9.5 inches



Tangerine roses Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 16 x 20 inches SOLD

Playing in the Park Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 23.5 x 10 inches  SOLD

Drummer Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 12 x 16 inches

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Artnotes: Cool Generation

This sweltering Thursday evening, my art opening was sparsely celebrated. Among the attendees were my friend S and friends, from Tunisia. I refer to the four as “women of the desert”: a mere 90 degrees farenheit didn’t bother them.

Paris has very little air-conditioning. We only experience two seriously warm months here, and then more than a week of really hot weather is rare. So we open and shut shades and windows, use hand fans and tolerate a little body odor. Things slow down. I actually like the fact I can feel the heat when it’s hot out. I don’t get those air-conditioning headaches like I do in the US. Seattle formerly didn’t have so much air-conditioning either, but the last twenty years of development have put them into the HVAC league. Just try to air condition an apartment with French windows.

We’ve been spending lots of time in the park where I sit in the chair and Harika lies on the ground. Even though it isn’t grass, she finds the tamped earth much cooler than the macadam which surrounds us. I have been painting pictures of musicians there, and enjoying the bonus of free entertainment.

Not all the musical groups have been good. I heard one recently which bore resemblance to a broken music box. At one point, I thought it intentional, but after the third or so song like that, I knew it couldn’t be. How could they be that bad and have been selected? They had a color poster (well, printed on letter paper) and everything.

The winners for me this week were the Wisconsin “Ambassadors of Music”, performing such diverse works as Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever and a bucket number from Stomp. They played a Belgian march and an Andalusian favorite we all know but I am not sure of the name (it’s a little like the old Marlboro theme, with a Spanish mariachi twist). The musical entourage had 180 members, including a large choral contingent who sang the Star Spangled Banner. Everyone stood up.

S is moving back to Tunisia, along with her friend, R, an artist. Paris has become decidedly less generous in its quality of life: there isn’t as much to go around in the way of jobs and money. I am not the only one who notices. French friends have said to me “it is very bad here”. They are raising the retirement age to 62, amidst serious protest. And my Tunisian friends, after 28 years in the French capital, are taking the plunge back “home”.

Harika, Blair and I are enjoying our French summer. Harika encourages us to frequent cafes (especially those with cool tile floors), and we order “Perrier Citron” or some other summery mix. On Thursday and Friday the market strip was planted with ten-foot neon flowers celebrating the opening of the “Mini Cooper” store on the corner, and we hung around making believe we, too, were part of the cool generation.

Orchestra Park Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 36 x 19 inches SOLD

Fiddlefern Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 11.5 x 16 inches

Lux Garden Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 16 x 9.5 inches

Exposition: Laurie Fox PESSEMIER

at the

Petit Lux

29 rue Vaugirard

75006 Paris

July, 2010

Market Scene Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 24 x 15 inches 61 x 38 cm SOLD

Fisherman Dieppe Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on wood 5.5 x 12 inches 14 x 30 cm
SOLD

Pier Dieppe Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 9.5 x 14 inches 23 x 34 cm

Ship Dieppe Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on wood 20 x 5 inches 50 x 13 cm


Hanging out at the port Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 14 x 9.5 inches 34 x 23 cm
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DISCOVERY

“Please close door after entering,” the sign read. We stepped into a room where we could hear people talking and see at least one painting on the wall. Otherwise, it was a room full of smoke. One could barely see the person one entered with. I was immediately reminded of a Sherlock Holmes episode: obscured.

Another building, from medieval times, had several video installations: no screening room necessary as we stumbled down a dark, circular ramp. We saw sculptures and fresco, prints and paintings, performance art and videos. It was the final exhibit at the Paris school of Beaux Arts.

I can’t believe I’ve lived here this long and never gone there – it was a giant complex of classic buildings and spaces chock full of new ideas. It changed my attitude toward art.

We went because I hired a woman to help me translate some furniture descriptions into French. She is an architectural student at the school and suggested we visit. It was terrific!

It’s been a long hot week here in Paris – our sixth floor view apartment with seven windows has no air=conditioning and our window coverings are feeble. We spent a couple of days in Normandy, at Dieppe, on the beach and the harbor. It was breezy and beautiful: the three best days we’ve ever spent in Normandy.

Dieppe is a town which is part working and part touristique. We may have driven through there once before but never stayed. Harika walked free through the little town, situated on a spit of land in the English channel, facing the ocean beach, but also facing the port, where our hotel looked out. I painted from our hotel window, as well as out on the pier: fishermen and ships.

There were a multitude of restaurants – our first choice was closed, and our alternate choice served the best fish stew I’d ever eaten: in a sauce of langoustines and cream.

We drove our rental car to Treport (very touristy), St Valery-en-Caux, an exceptional fishing port full of boats and a stony beach we sunned on; and in-between Dieppe and le Havre a multitude of tucked-away beaches where we played and relaxed.

Our trip to Normandy changed my thoughts about tours: the best thing about travel is discovering new things: I found a yellow sweater with sewn on pearls, a new restaurant serving delicious fish; a whole new color for the sea. Harika discovered she could have fun off the leash. When things are planned it is difficult to discover. Naivete is paramount.

So it was with the art, as well. I realized not all art must be beautiful to be good. Some art just makes one think differently. It is a process of discovery, and applying that discovery to one’s own point of view.

Junkyard Tuxedo Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on wood 7 x 12" ; 18 x 31 cm   SOLD

Reader Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on wood 7 x 12" 18 x 31 cm
Lounger Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on wood 7 x 12 " ; 18 x 31 cm  SOLD


ARTNOTES: DEFENSE

“This entire drawing only takes up 8 kilobytes,” the man operating the computer tells us. Strictly by using mathematical equations, he is able to instantly generate a highly detailed drawing that a conventional computer-aided-drafting program would take minutes and megabytes to create with polygons and triangles.

I might have learned more had there not been guns blazing directly behind me. Blair and I were at the Eurosatory Defense show at the Paris Exposition Hall this week. It was frankly unnerving to be among so many weapons and their accessories – I couldn’t even walk by some of the vehicles (the size of my living and dining room combined) without worrying a wheel might fall off and kill me. I never imagined I would see a drone, but hey, look over there. I opted out of the show after a couple of hours and have had bad dreams ever since.

The cutting edge of technology has always worked hand in hand with the defense industry. Some of the smartest engineers in the world are in the business of, well, destruction. I tell myself computer tools we are seeing could also be used for peaceful purposes, but the immediacy of the weaponry was overwhelming. Why couldn’t I find a spiritual stand, chaplains or something? How could this terror be mitigated? I needed a drink or six.

At home, I flew into a flurry of painting: creation versus destruction, seeing things in a colorful way. The defense show was strictly shades of grey and camouflage. Wherever I am, I think of how I might paint it.

At the park , it see the broad strokes of the landscape: distant turquoise trees – pink and purple sand on the paths. The people are massed together in chunks, rarely individuals. The chair isn’t solid or rickety, but a line from top to toe.

Flowers are a mass of colors. I paint the yellow eyes of the cat on a black square. The outdoor market isn’t just food, it’s stripes, and an array of boxes, red tomatoes and green lettuce. I overlook the minute details: the gesture of passing money from hand to hand I see, but never the coins or bills.

Madly I paint and I feel much better.

I have been reading about a Marine, Michael Fay, who drew and painted in Iraq, and now that he is retired, is off to record Afghanistan. He must see these war situations in the same way I see the market or the park. Of course, he acts in his role of soldier, as opposed to mine as shopper, stroller, housefrau. I love the drawings and paintings he makes, and I can pick up the same thread I feel in mine. It is as though we are the eye, in the great living body of humankind.

Harika on Guard Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on wood 20 x 6.5 inches; 50 x 16.5 cm

Black and white Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on canvas 10.5 x 12.5 "; 26 x 32 cm

Bench: early morning Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on wood 20 x 6.5" ; 50 x 16.5 cm

Early morning color Laurie Fox PESSEMIER Acrylic on wood 20 x 6.5 " ' 50 x 16.5 cm