Marie Jonsson Harrison » Australian

154 Galah Art

mariejon — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 04:39:18 +0000

PAINTING BIRDS

Galah is sometimes used as a derogatory Australian slang word meaning ‘fool’ or ‘idiot’ or someone dressing in a gaudy fashion, which is where the term “flaming galah” probably comes from. However I can reassure you that the real thing, the parrot is certainly a very clever bird.

THE ART OF SOCCER

I have had my lovely Galah for the last 28 years, her name is Pele named after the Brazilian soccer player, strange name for a girl – well at the time when she got her name we thought she was a boy.

Although I have just recently found out that there is also a connection to an Australian team of footballers that played against the Irish, in a series of test matches of International Rules Football in the late 1960’s which were nicknamed “The Galahs” so perhaps the name Pele, does fit her for many reasons.

Still to this day whenever I refer to her I call Pele “him” even though she has demonstrated many times by laying EGGS that she is a girl!

NAIVE PAINTING OF BIRDS

You familiar with my art would have seen that in most of my paintings there is a galah somewhere and more often than not a whole flock of them. They are such a lovely bird to paint with the distinctive bright pink body with a pale grey to mid-grey back and rump, a pink face and a light pink mobile crest.

Pele picked all her feathers on her chest out when she was very young so she looks a little like a half plucked chicken, LOL. The fact that she likes to tear up and hide in newspapers at the bottom of her cage doesn’t help her looks either as the black from the print turns her lovely color a little dirty too.

Without the warmth of her chest feathers Pele lives in two cages one outside during the day and then I get her to hop on my finger and she comes in to the studio where she has a smaller cage to sleep in. If the weather is very cold she stays inside amusing herself with cardboard boxes and newspapers and toys, rustling around keeping me company as I paint.

THE ART OF GETTING FAT

However a check up at the vet today revealed that she is getting too fat! My Galah is obese with some fatty tumors called lipomas on her abdomen and legs. So now the poor bird has to be on a diet, no more treats of cheese, bread and sunflower seeds, just vegies and special pellets and budgie mix is allowed. Poor darling I know how boring diets can be, well I guess most of us do in the western societies.

Galahs are very loyal and mate for life and Pele thinks we are married and dislikes my real hubby very much, trying to give him a nip if he walks past.

This quote made me laugh as Pele would no doubt love to do to my hubby if she could;

“Birds of a feather flock together and crap on your car.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and bird keeping,

Love Marie xxx

If you want to read a funny story about dogs here is an art blog about that; 28. ART & Sometimes its just about the little noises you hear

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.

127 Easter and Animated Paintings

mariejon — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:56:22 +0000

ARTIST WEBSITE

So it’s the week of Easter and this year my Easter surprise was that my website crashed for 4 days!! Apologies are in order to those of you who tried to unsuccessfully access it, nice to know that it was due to a lot of traffic, so thank you.

EASTER AND ANIMATION

Anyway the story this week is of course about Easter and this will be our third one here by the sea, time flies when you are having fun. The animated painting is of course a scene from my background as a Swede and the Swedish Easter painting is animated and set to music by my friend Susan Flashman. I can sense the confusion on your faces as to what witches has to do with Easter so here is the story about that.

COMMISSIONED PAINTINGS

We Swedes are weird, you know in a nice way, and it wasn’t until we immigrated to Australia that I realized that fact. I was originally commissioned to paint a Easter painting by my American gallery a few years ago. The owner like me is Swedish and I had free reign to paint whatever I choose as long as it was to do with Easter.

Notice something strange about it, what’s with all the witches on broomsticks I hear you say? Well that’s perfectly normal – no little cute bunnies for us Swedes, no we have witches flying around and flying off to Blakulla (the Blue Mountain) to meet the man downstairs, you know who I mean! I think the animation and the naive painting really suits Halloween too.

THE ART OF EASTER

When I was little in Sweden we would dress up as Easter witches, raid mums or grandma’s wardrobe for long skirts. We wore colorful head scarves and painted our cheeks red, and then we would go from house to house in our neighborhood and knock on every door and be given lollies and sometimes fruit. Much like the Americans do for Halloween.

PAINTING BOILED EGGS

We would also spend a day painting boiled eggs which would later be eaten during the Easter celebration together with a smorgasbord feast. We would go and pick small branches and twigs of willow and birch (the ones with lots of soft little fury buds, so cute!) and then we would decorate it with feathers and small witches on broomsticks and other decorations much like a little Christmas tree. Every Swedish household would have a vase of these on the table.

ORIGINAL PAINTING

The original painting was framed with the Easter eggs on the side. Yes we would receive an Easter egg too but not one made from chocolate, instead it was made from cardboard with bright pictures on it or from plastic and usually filled to the brim with lollies and chocolates.

But of course mine was a bit different, always being the eccentric (oh yes I do admit that). So what do you think mine was filled with, something really yummy, that I could not usually eat as much of as I would like of course….a jar of peanut butter that’s what. Weird kid, weird Swedish kid!

This quote by Matt Lauer made me laugh today:

“Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana. The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two but can’t remember what they are.”

Hope you are enjoying your chocolates!

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie xxx

If you enjoyed this one you may also like another art blog on Swedish customs 113 Art & Swedish Traditions, Another weird one

54.Art & The Place of the Ground Frog (All Roads lead to Mallala, part 2)

Marie — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 07:05:47 +0000

ART & FROGS

Unlike this painting, this little country town is actually rather quiet with only a population of 500 and according to Wikipedia the name is aboriginal for ‘madlola’ which means ‘place of the ground frog’. Not that I saw anymore frogs there than anywhere else, but maybe that’s how come I picked up the frog inspiration because I do like to paint them, for you who are familiar with my naive art. Here is another art blog & painting where the detail of the frog above comes from 49. By the Seaside & Art

Below are two different versions of the painting “All Roads Lead to Mallala”.

ARTISTIC LICENCE

At various times in the time we lived in Mallala, there actually were both cows, sheep and runaway horses that raced through the streets, my artistic licence is just that they did not all do it at the same time!

The yellow school bus you see is one that stopped outside our church and took Kai the 10 km in to the local primary school.

A lovely little country school with nice teachers and principal, as a matter of fact the first time I met the principal he was dressed up from head to toe in a purple monster suit, a friendly monster I should add, being the Purple people Eater on a “school dress up day”.

To me that was quite amazing, coming from Sweden where people were more stiff and formal and you would never on your life catch the principal in a dress up costume (well not during office hours anyway, I am sure they have their scandals too just like the British and their polititians in suspender belts and the like.)

The pub on the right is where “Smokey the Chip eating sheep” was raised, and the white ute (pick up truck) in the top picture was Bryan’s car that Smokey came home in, 11. “SMOKEY” The Chip eating sheep Art blog

This pub has been owned and run by several different owners and continues to thrive, now perhaps the most popular it has ever been with delicious meals and often a band rocking the night away, and it is a popular spot for country folk.

MALLALA CAR RACING & ART

Mallala is quite famous in its own right for its Motor Sport Park which regularly hosts national and international car racing.

The Royal Australian Air force originally established their base there in 1939 where they used to train their pilots until they closed down in 1960 which is where the car racing now takes place.

With the Air force in mind here is a quote by Toni Morrison (writer) that I like.

“Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down”.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and maybe I should say happy car racing too,

Love Marie xx

47. Eat, Love, Art & maybe not so much Praying

mariejon — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 02:46:21 +0000

BALI & ART

“Bali, Bali, Bali” is what Gus and the Three Amigos sang as we enjoyed one of our last dinners at Shangrila in Candi Dasa. It is always sad to leave this artist paradise but we finally had to, after much snorkeling, daily massages, eating and drinking cocktails (and eating them out of house and home when it comes to the peanuts I’m sure, as both me and Bryan are self confessed piggy’s when it comes to the fried peanuts with our drinks!)

Now it was time for us to move on closer to Kuta and the shopping stage of the holiday, this painting depicts Kuta Beach and the overseas tourists enjoying themselves. I painted this when most of the tourists seemed European or Australian; nowadays I think most of the tourists seemed to be from China or Japan, funny how the different trends go. Kuta is actually looking a little cleaner these days-they have had a rubbish removal program going which is great. Also the economy has improved a little for the local people so walking down the street is not quite as frantic as it can get with the Hawkers now which is nice.

We stayed at a lovely place called Bali Rich, in our own Villa with a private pool and outdoor kitchen, which is new and in Kerbokian close to where the prison is in Bali.

We walked past on our morning walk and were very pleased that we were on the outside, as it did not look like somewhere that you would like to hang out in. Could not help but think of the Bali Nine and Schappelle Corby being locked up in there. Just hope that all the ones that are there, really did do their crimes and are not innocently locked up!

THE ART OF SHOPPING

We shopped till we dropped for 2 days straight- baby girl had sent a list four pages long with her wishes in it, all the designer bags and purses as well as close to 200 DVD’s and lots of other stuff. We ended up being 6 kg overweight even though at this stage we had already left our walking shoes, a handbag, an umbrella as well as some old clothes behind! Thank you very much Virgin for being so understanding!!!

This time we didn’t visit the Monkey Forest but if you want to see an artwork and read a funny art blog about our adventures there here is a link 1. Mmm… First Days Art Blog

I of course drove Bryan crazy with all the walking everywhere, but I cannot think of a better way of getting to know your neighbourhood and at the same time get all that exercise we need. I also have another annoying habit (well I do have an excuse for that being both Celiac and a Vegetarian) which is checking out all the menus as we walk past the different restaurants for just that perfect meal. Hubby is like-“enough of the walking already, let’s just sit down in the very first place we find and eat mmm.. and drink” But it is a wife’s job to drive the husband nuts isn’t it? Lol

So I think this qoute by Benjamin Franklin (statesman)

“Wine: a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy. Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xx

27. Save the Moon Bears, painting for Charity

Marie — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 03:26:46 +0000

ART & THE MOON BEARS

I first started this painting “Save the Moon bears” about a year ago because a dear friend, Joanna Polities was actively involved in the charity Animals Asia.

She has been the South Australian voice for these bears and raised a lot of money for them through various functions and fundraisers that she has organized over several years. In any case I put the painting aside when I was half way through as I had some urgent artworks that needed delivery.

So there I was sitting in my studio working away on various projects whilst I listen to the radio as I always do (usually an ABC channel with current affairs and news of the day, magazine style you could say) when Simon Bryant a well know chef, who up until recently had his own cooking program on TV starts talking about his passion for the moon bears and I am yet again reminded of the half finished painting.

So again I am back painting some more on it until another deadline looms. Sometimes this is how the paintings evolve with other more urgent artworks coming in between, and as my work is so detailed it does take quite a long time to do each piece.

ARTWORKS AUCTION

To cut a long story short, the painting was auctioned at a major fundraiser at Adelaide Zoo July 2010, together with many other donated items. The crowd fell silent when Jo and her husband Richard took to the stage to announce that the total amount raised from the event was $125,000 and every penny of that would go to the Moon Bear Rescue. An amazing result and the highest ever raised for Animals Asia in Australia from one single event.

The invite is below and if there are some people that would like to donate just call 1800 666 004 or go to the Animals Asia website.

I cannot bare to even write about how these gorgeous bears suffer other than to say it is barbaric and atrocious to say the least and it makes me so totally depressed, so instead if you are not across the details of their plight please look up Animals Asia (the link will take you there) and see their website and get ofay with their terrible situation so we can all band together and stop this cruelty.

Here are some wise words from Henri Frederic Amiel (writer) about grace under pressure.

“It is dangerous to abandon one’s self to the luxury of grief; it deprives one of courage and even of the wish for recovery”

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting everyone!

Love Marie xx (c)