This acrylic on canvas board painting is called “Ice Skating in Central Park” and was inspired by our trip to New York a few years ago.  Here is the start of that story if you would like to recap in the paintings blog “I MISS NEW YORK”.

THE ART OF ICE-SKATING

We were in the mood for some ice skating and initially we went and had a look at the ice rink at the Rockefeller Centre but that was standing room only absolutely chockablock  full of people – not that we were planning for any laying down on the ice but you got to have some swing room right?

Perhaps that would have been the perfect place for me to skate as I have a bit of a history when it comes to ice skating.  Just to digress from New York for a moment my ice skating incident was in Melbourne some 10 or so years ago.

The kids and I had gone over there and stayed with friends and smarty pant “moi” thought I would show off a little bit.   I was born in Sweden after all and spent a lot of time skating as you do in a cold climate.  I had my own white skates when I was little and could do all the fancy spins and turns like a regular ice princess.  So I obviously thought that skating was just like riding a bike, never mind the decades that had passed in the meanwhile!

THE ART OF THE SHOW OFF

When we arrived there were some competition skaters practicing and I thought this would be my moment of glory to show off for the kids, so off I went and did my spins and turns like a prima ballerina and the kids were so impressed.  Oh mummy they said; “You are so good at it” and my head swelled even bigger as I copied the fancy turns of the practicing couple.  By now the kids accolades had completely gone to my head and I had thoughts of being asked to join a professional group for the winter Olympics or even a gold medal, the sky is the limit right?  I thought I would do some backward tricks next and that’s when I came undone – fell down HARD on my bum and broke my coccyx.

THE ART OF BEING A STAR

Yep that’s what happens when you get too big for your britches and think that you are a star; you land on your bum quick smart!

It was such a strange experience when I fell as suddenly even my hearing disappeared and it felt like I was enclosed in a glass case with the kids and all the other people outside, I could hear them talking to me and see them but all muffled and dreamlike.  Instead of glory I got 3 weeks of lying on a mattress watching telly instead, waiting for the pain to subside!  Note to self don’t be a show off!

So back to New York and this time the kids and I went skating in Central Park, to the same place where they filmed Serendipity, no showing off this time and we all stayed on our feet and afterwards enjoyed some hot chocolate.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

I really wasn’t prepared for the size of Central Park, it is so big.  We were there during December so there was lots of snow on the ground and most of the trees had lost their leaves.  Another time it would be lovely to visit when it is all green too.  We also enjoyed a horse drawn carriage around the park which was lots of fun and of course reminded us of Kramer and Seinfeld.  Lots of images for artworks and Artworks blogs, how to fit in making all the sculptures and paintings?

Here is a Danish proverb I think fits here

“Bad is never good until worse happens.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all and maybe skating,

Love Marie xxx   (c)

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I miss New York and our New York friends so much today!  Don’t you just love the “Big Apple” the city that literally never sleeps.  Streets teaming with people of every race and nationality and shops and food from every culture.    Talking about the culture – what about all those fantastic Broadway shows and the fact that you can pick up a cheap ticket either in the booth at Times Square  or through the lottery the individual  theaters use.  New York has a multitude of artistic inspirations to which artists never tire of exploring in all art forms, including me of course having done many paintings and sculptures on the subject.

MODELLING AND ART

As I have mentioned before – hubby had promised to take me to New York 25 years prior to our arrival there – you cannot say he doesn’t keep his promises, lol.

In the early 80’s whilst I was modeling in Europe, Bryan backpacked  through Europe where he made lots of friends along the way,  American couple Peter & Amy were two of them,  newly married and on their honeymoon.  Later on when he found himself in New York he decided to look up them up, and was immediately offered a bed, being the gorgeous people they are.    Bryan stayed with Rosslyn & Sol (Amy’s parents) in Paramus which is in New Jersey about half an hour from the city centre of New York.

You know how life goes – they all kept in contact for the first 10 or so years with a letter or postcard here and there, then life got in the way and we would get the occasional postcard from Peter as he circumnavigated the globe on various adventures in his job as Chief Engineer on various ships.

So we plan our first trip together to the USA and although I had never met them I have spent the last 25 years hearing all about the great time Bryan had and the wonderful friends he met and now the search is on to try to reconnect.

Boy what a saga that was, endless searches on the internet and phone calls etc, but finally a bit of luck through the maritime college in New York where Peter used to teach, and bingo they got in touch.

(Below is my acrylic on board painting of the apes at the Bronx zoo, a must in the sightseeing schedule)

THE ART OF FRIENDSHIP

What came as a complete surprise however was the incredible warmth of these lovely people.  As soon as Amy heard that we and our children were coming their way, we were offered a bed with her parents in Paramus.  This is 25 years later mind you and for all she knew we may have turned up on her doorstep as Riff Raffs, lol but she had no hesitation and we spent 2 fantastic weeks there.

We spent 14 days on wonderful adventures in and around New York sometimes with Amy & Peter and also on our own investigating the city.  Met more of their family and friends too and spent a combined Christmas/Hanukkah as that year, the 2 celebrations fell on the same day.

Oh and what a feast that was.  Amy does not do things by half, the table was laden with goodies such as various finger foods; meat or vegetarian, platters of roast beef and other meats, vegetables in all their colors, a French dish made from filo pastry stuffed with cheeses and jam (to die for) a glorious Mushroom Pie (dead again,lol), olives, nuts, chips, crackers dips, pâtés, cheeses, fruits, bagels, pumpkin pie, cakes, biscuits and cookies in every shape and form.  Our eyes truly boggled and when I asked Amy how come she had bought and prepared so much food enough to feed an army, she said; “Well you got to have a choice, don’t you!”  It was one of those days where you ate and drank from midday to midnight and couldn’t possibly do up your pants or they would bust.

It is a Christmas that we will always treasure, so a big salute and cheers to our New York friends and I leave you with another dear New York friend,  Bob’s favorite quotations, he is funny as a fit and we met through Amy & Peter.

“Some people are like Slinky’s – not really good for anything buy they bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs..”

“Why don’t you slip into something a little more comfortable….like a coma”.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting everyone,

Love Marie xxx  (c)

If you enjoyed this art  & travel blog you may also like this one about New York: 137 ICE SKATING IN CENTRAL PARK

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

If you have just joined my art blog recently, you may want to check out numbers 6 &7 in the Blog archive for the start of the San Francisco travel tales.

You can’t go past the wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde who quotes; “It is an odd thing, but everyone who disappears is said to be seen at San Francisco.  It must be a delightful city, and possess all the attractions of the next world.”

ARTISTS INSPIRATION

And yes it is, utterly delightful and full of interesting places and people; you can even surf under the Golden Gate Bridge, but only for the most experienced!  These images are details of my San Fran painting and going here has really inspired me as an artist, the ideas are swirling in my head of future sculptures in mosaic & ceramic and lots of paintings.

A day after we went on our Golden Gate Bridge bike ride, we decided to go down to the bay and catch the boat over to Alcatraz which we were told was like a village where some Prison guards and the Warden and his family lived and the kids went to school there too.

ALCATRAZ THE ART BLOG

What an experience that was, the prisoners long gone but their former home just as eerie as if they were still there. In one way they still were, because as soon as you got up to the main prison building, you went to the place where the prisoners used to exchange their clothes for the snazzy black and white numbers.    We were handed a set of head phones, whereby the former INMATES, PRISON GUARDS and WARDENS started talking to you, about their trials and tribulations.

Now I should tell you that I’m not one for old houses and museums as I’ve said before I’m a party kind of gal with a penchant for dancing, so Bryan did well to talk me into this and besides as I had already painted Alcatraz, I did feel the need to see it in real life and I did not regret that for a second.

They walked you around the whole prison and it was absolutely fascinating. We were perhaps 400 people wandering about totally in silence engrossed in the Alcatraz tales.

Half way through I stopped my recording, took off the headphones and to my amazement,  you could have heard a pin drop.  Never have I ever been with that many people at one time, where not a sound was uttered.

Here is a saying which you can contemplate by Charles Bukowski (writer);

“If you want to know who your friends are, get yourself a jail sentence.”

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting everyone!

Love Marie xxx  (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

On this detail below from the painting “I love San Francisco”, you can see Golden Gate bridge and here is a link to the whole artwork and the art blog called 6. San Francisco where this tale begins,followed by 7. More tales from San Francisco and if after you read this and still want more here is the last installment in this paintings blog 17. The Jail Bird in Alcatraz (the last bit of the San Francisco tales).

FOOD IN MY PAINTINGS AND IN MY STOMACH

So after all that stuffing of our faces, we had to get some exercise in,  so of we trotted up and down nearly every street of this fair city, and zig zagged down  the crookest road in the world, all the while with one eye behind us (well…the Muni Stabber..remember!)

I had to see firsthand all the places that I had previously painted and found Pier 39 and after a little walk-about there,  decided to bicycle across the Golden Gate Bridge, found ourselves a very Happy Chappie who enthusiastically sold us on the idea of using his company, a bike each and helmets (yuck hat hair).So we were ready to go with a water bottle, map in hand, when the Happy Chappie  told us the entire bike ride from the pier across the bridge to Sausalito and then the ferry back would be no more than one and a half hours max.

THE ART OF THE CON

Yea Right!  We were skeptical before we set off, but hey nothing ventured nothing gained right? So off we go, and boy I am glad we did, fantastic experience, peddled our butts off and had so much fun, but even without more than a couple of photo stops it took 3 hours to reach Sausalito.  What he had also neglected to tell us was that the ‘you beaut’ ferry only went a few times a day and the next one was not due for another hour and a half, and by the time we got on it, it was pitch black.

The saga didn’t end there either for this little ferry did not go back to Pier 39, oh no this one went to the SF Harbour proper, with a 20 minute bike ride in the dark.  So 6 hours later we finally got back to the still very enthusiastic hire fellow, as luck would have it, ran a 24 hours a day bike return, although funnily enough we had to pay by the hour!  Well what could you say apart from, Thank you, we had a lovely day! Lol  There certainly are many more paintings & paintings blogs inspirations here!

Here is another quote I like from J.P. Donleavy(writer);

“When you don’t have any money, the problem is food.  When you have money, it’s sex.  When you have both, it’s health.  If everything is simply jake, then you’re frightened of death”

How True!

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting everyone,

Love Marie

(To be continued)                                              (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

]]> http://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/9-bike-ride-over-the-golden-gate-bridge-continuing-tales-of-san-francisco/feed/ 0 http://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/7-more-tales-from-san-francisco/ http://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/7-more-tales-from-san-francisco/#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:35:25 +0000 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=555 HAPPY AND GAY HOTEL

In this art blog I will continue with our San Francisco travels and the inspirations for lots of artworks to come.

So we finally got to Hotel Carlton, a Joie de Vivre Hotel (and it was too) but at first we thought maybe a little too much as it had a distinctive gay feel (not that that would worry us in the slightest, some of our closest friends are gay) no I thought we may rain on their parade not being gay.  That feeling soon went away as we were welcomed very warmly as everybody are to this establishment, a delightful boutique hotel that even has a Happy Hour for the guests in the afternoon, so Happy in fact that all the wine is free, together with entertainment and encouragement for the guests to mingle, needless to say we got Happy every afternoon.  So much so that we had stopped our sightseeing activities and  rushed back not to miss it!

CHINA TOWN & PAINTING

As you can see in this close up of the SF painting we were just a stone throw away from everything, China Town was nearby as were Little Italy, Union Square and many other interesting places to explore.  Happily we wondered about enjoying the sights and smells of this city with not a care in the world…… well that was until we caught the news on the telly and found out there was a so called Muni Stabber on the loose (so called because his first victim was stabbed on the Muni Trams) at this stage he had attacked 6 people (I think it was) in broad daylight.  Just sliding up on the quite like ( like a fish, for you fans of the movie Chicken Run lol)  What gave us the Heeby Jeebies is that  only a few days before we arrived, he had snuck up on some unsuspecting soul on the street we were staying on and stabbed away.  So now me and Bryan became very concerned about who was walking behind us,lol.

FOOD IN MY PAINTINGS

I always love painting food too so for research sake mind you, we ate our way through this city (I do like my food) and went to many fantastic restaurants and had, Chinese, Indian, Iranian, Mexican, Italian and our hotel had a fantastic restaurant serving Arabic fusion cuisine, delicious!

(To be continued)

I do agree with this quote from Tommy Lasorda (baseball manager) from the book ‘Don’t forget to sing in the lifeboats’;

When we win, I’m so happy, I eat a lot.  When we lose, I’m so depressed, I eat a lot.  When we’re rained out, I’m so disappointed, I eat a lot.

Me too!

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie xxx                                                                     (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

Sometimes I paint from personal experience and sometimes I paint and then experience and that is what happened here.  Some artists that I know hate doing commissions, I feel the opposite entirely, and I love doing them.  I think it is because it makes me take a look at a subject that I may not have painted otherwise and I strive to please the client, however I have been very lucky and most of the time get just guide lines and then my imagination can roam free.   The hard part is that you have to research the subject matter, but at the same time you then acquire knowledge and you never know where that can lead to.

This painting of San Francisco was a commission again for my US gallery and ended up being bought by an interior designer.  I had so much fun pouring through travel books and coffee books on SF, that I felt I had really been there, and finally last year we went.

THE ART OF TRAVEL

Our daughter went to Ecuador, son flew in from London and went to San Diego (we were to meet up later in LA) and me and Bryan hired a car for the drive from LA to SF.  What we did not realize was that it was the Thanksgiving Weekend which is the busiest time of the entire year on the roads!  So what should have been a 5-6 hour trip took us more than 12 to complete.  It was amazing to me that we got there in one piece as the multi lane highway is very scary not to mention they drive on the opposite side of the road, luckily Bryan felt confident to drive (and had been there and done that before anyway)  I on the other hand nearly held my breath the whole way and almost relished the traffic jams so that I could rest a bit.

MORE IDEAS FOR ARTWORKS

All experiences find their way into my art blogs or paintings in one way or another!  Anyway we finally arrived in San Francisco but then were unable to find our hotel, so after a lot of map looking and going on and off the freeway, we decided to ask in a liquor shop for directions (the idea being; get a bottle of wine for the hotel room and some takeaway Thai as now it was nearly 10pm and too late for a hotel dinner).

Bryan went in and I stayed in the car, but it wasn’t long before I realized this may just be the seedy part of SF as I had a passing parade of girls in miniskirts and people decidedly worse for wear walking past.  I tried to busy myself in the car (trying not to make eye contact) paying great attention to the contents of a rather boring handbag.  I was getting a bit worried I may soon get a job offer from some unsavoury characters and besides that there were 2 fellows drinking out of paper bags  right  outside the liquor shop were Bryan was.   I was trying to call Bryans mobile as 25 minutes had passed by and I couldn’t go looking for him (might get dragged into a dark alley lol) but that did me little good as his phone rang beside me on his seat!

Thought at this stage maybe Bryan had been pulled into a dark alley himself, however when he finally got back to the car, he also had a long tale to tell, with a handful of directions on several bits of paper.  The funny thing is that all of those directions differed from each other, the store keeper gave one version as did his wife, then a customer had called his wife as she worked close to the Hotel, and someone else said that was not right and gave another version.  Finally a totally legless man had come in and said they were all wrong and given his version.  Would you believe the very drunk mans directions were spot on, and the others did not have a clue, as it happens!

(to be continued)

Here is another saying I like by Ernest Hemingway;

“Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk.  That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.