Ed Pickard   Blair Pessemier  acrylic/canvas  12 x 16"  30 x 40cm  550.00 “[I’d trade] my kingdom for a map”, I tell Blair as we listen to GPS send us down another impossible road.  Granted, the town of Spoleto is medieval in its layout, and GPS doesn’t like all this stone.  30 minutes later (spouting “I’m never going anywhere with you again”), we exited the car. Figures Alive  1 , 2  Laurie Fox Pessemier  Acrylic/paper  90.00 ..read more

  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 ..read more

  Swimmingly  Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/paper  8.5 x 11"   22 x 28cm   90.00 I had one of my very best meals in Italy this week, after a trip to the beach at Santa Severa.  It was our third choice of restaurant, the first one never getting their act together (at 12:35 the waitress insisted it was 12:20 and could not seat us.  We showed her the phone time, to no avail); restaurant 2 was in a shopping center; finally, we arrived at Ristorante Rosetta.    It was a giant banquet ..read more

  16Lips  Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/paper  17x 23.5"   40 x 63cm   275.00 The press is comparing Italy’s San Remo Music Festival to the US Super Bowl.  Puccini would be proud.  It’s interesting what countries value.  America is like Greece at the time of the original Olympics, or maybe like Roman Empire at its heyday with the gladiators.  Strength (and strategy?) above all.   Maybe it is more a function of that country’s place in the world at the time.  Japan had Samurai ..read more

Here Comes the Sun  Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/paper  17x 23.5"   40 x 63cm   275.00 The wisdom of old age isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.  What one takes for wisdom might just be the scales falling from our eyes (that can be good or bad), or heaven forbid, depression.  The passion of my youth is wavering.  I have had to limit the time I spend reading the news – or I will truly believe things won’t work out. Deckhand  Blair Pessemier  Acrylic/canvas  &nbs ..read more

  Winter Foliage in Italian Pitcher  Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/ paper 17 x  23.5"   43 x 60 cm   275.00 We spent a week of rain and sun in Roccamalatina, Italy.   Normally, we are in the Rome area at this time, but with Berlino’s leg repair and my tooth/jaw ache, we’ve been up North.  Doctors are traditionally better in this area -- in Bologna, particularly.   The University of Bologna and its medical school was founded in 1088,  the world's oldest uni ..read more

  Here Comes the Sun  Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/watercolor paper 20 x 27.5"   50 x 70cm   375.00 I love winter.  I love its harshness, unpredictability, contrast.   I walk Berlino in the very early morning (well, it’s still dark out) and the sun fights the darkness to emerge -- in the direction of our walk.  It’s different in summer, where the sun just slowly peeks over the hilltops, slowly, warmly.  Winter sun is like light bursting out behind hungry trees. Piazza dei ..read more

  View from the Bench Seat  Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/paper 17 x  23.5"   43 x 60 cm   275.00 It’s been a slow January week in Rocca Malatina.  Berlino cut his leg on one of his 30mph jaunts around the yard – needing stitches.  The vet, his assistant and the two of us managed the operation (on the 65 pound hunting dog) with only a local anesthetic.   We’re trying to spare him the “cone of shame” (the buster collar a foot wide around the neck), but it’s taking constant ..read more

   Bulbs  Laurie Fox Pessemier  acrylic/canvas 15 x 19"  38 x 48cm  450.00 Perhaps my favorite book of all times is the Diary of Samuel Pepys.   Pepys wrote the diary between 1660 and 1669.  I prefer reading letters and diaries more than any other kind of book, because the writer is honest (at least from his point of view) about what is happening and how he or she feels.  Pepys was far from perfect, and makes no bones about it. Why am I writing about Samuel Pepys?  Because he recorded ..read more

  Berlino's Epiphany    Laurie Fox Pessemier    Acrylic/paper   10 x 17 "   26 x 63cm  250.00   or I'd paint your dog! I just love this time of year.  Italy is on vacation (I’m not), and we still have a few more days before we get back to work.  The Epiphany is Monday, 6 January and the Befana (witch) brings toys and candy to all good children.  It’s all harmless fun here: I am for that. It's still Christmas at our house Meanwhile, I review the ..read more