Marie Jonsson Harrison » Fathers day

150 ART TRAIL & FATHERS DAY

mariejon — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 16:30:10 +0000

Happy Fathers Day to my darling Daddy and to all you wonderful fathers out there. I wish you a wonderful day.

Father’s day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June in many countries, but it is also celebrated on other days and here in Australia it is on the first Sunday in September. If you fancy reading an art blog about mothers day here is a link; 134 Mothers Day and Mothers Guilt & Art or perhaps read about my talented father and his own art;20. Antonis Tivoli Art and 21. Life in a Circus Tent

THE ART OF THE FATHERS DAY CELEBRATION

Sonora Dodd was the founder of Father’s Day in 1910 in Spokane, Washington. She wanted to celebrate her father the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, who was a single parent and raised six children. Her initial thought was to celebrate it on June 5^th which was her dad’s birthday. It didn’t meet with much enthusiasm initially and by the 1920’s Sonora got busy with her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago and stopped promoting the celebration. It wasn’t until 1930’s when she enlisted the help of some trade groups such as manufacturers of ties and tobacco, which would benefit from the holiday that the special day started to make small inroads. You know the drill – money makes the world go around, lol.

The celebration was resisted by many as being too commercialized but the trade groups saw the benefit from such a day and continued the publicity until the rest of us weakened and gave in to the idea. Well actually the American President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers with a special day in 1966 and then six years later President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972 – so you can thank him for that too and not just Watergate LOL!

Normally we would spend father’s day all together as a family, and catching up with both sets of grandparents but this year we celebrated my dad’s day a couple of weeks early and had a really lovely time.

SWEDISH MID SUMMER PAINTING

Just as we always did in Sweden too, here is a painting of the Swedish Midsummer celebrations that we so enjoyed. This acrylic on board painting was commissioned by my USA Gallery and sold there.

This time I had a day out with both my mum and dad, just the 3 of us and that was really lovely. We met at the Holdfast Bay Discovery Center at Glenelg where I am part of the Sala Festival exhibition; Play at the Bay. A great show with lots of uplifting and colorful art by some 20 artists, who for the most part live by the sea.

ART TRAIL AT GLENELG

We followed that up by venturing out on the Art Trail on Jetty road which advertises itself as a “Visual feast to stimulate your senses”. It was great to see that the local shops had for the most part gotten on board and there were lots of signs advertising art in coffee shops and galleries on the side roads too.

THE ARTIST REG MOMBASA

We particularly enjoyed the exhibition at Sussex Street Art, Music & Books; seeing the art of Clinton Habib, Shelley Hughes, Chris White and Dean McPherson. They also had some limited edition prints by Mambo artist and former Mental as Anything band member Reg Mombasa who I am a big fan of.

I was introduced to Reg once at a gallery and he said he was a fan of my work too, so that put a smile on my face!

Anyway after the diet of art we went to Indochine for some lunch and artistic discussions, followed by another meander down the street and coffee at Gloria Jeans. A really lovely day, so Thank you mum and dad, love you both lots!

Here a quote that amused me about father’s day;

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” (Author unknown)

This one reflects more accurately how I feel about my daddy also by an unknown author;

“Dad, your guiding hand on my shoulder will remain with me forever.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx

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.

102 Mother In law in Art

mariejon — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:05:24 +0000

ART AND MOTHERS IN LAW

There is always a joke or two about the mother-in-law, isn’t there? Here is one to get us started;

“I haven’t spoken to my mother-in-law for eighteen months. I don’t like to interrupt her” or how about ; “ Honolulu, well it’s got everything: sand for the children, sun for the wife and sharks for the wife’s mother.” (Both by Ken Dodd)

The acrylic on canvas painting above is a subject matter I have visited many times, happy memories from my childhood with artistic licence of course.

THE ART OF ALWAYS BEING THERE

Well I am very pleased to say that I actually like my mother-in-law, as a matter of fact LOVE her. Her name is Avis (as in rent a car, lol) and she has been a constant influence and full of love and advice and always been ready to lend a hand no matter what. She is one of these people that you can truly rely on.

So that said and made clear, she also drives us nuts, LOL. Yes I know, I do always say that it is a wife’s job to drive her husband nuts and I do a good job of that myself, so I don’t need any help on that front.

Let’s just say that over the last 30 or so years my husband or I have called Nanna up in the week or 2 leading up to an important occasion, like a birthday, Easter, Christmas, Mother’s day, Father’s day or the like. Asking very sweetly what the plans are for this occasion so we can put it in the diary.

You see we live very busy lives with the diary full of work commitments and social engagements of our own or the kids and also some time reserved for just chilling too. So we like to know ahead of time so we are prepared.

THE ART OF MOTHERS DAY

Let’s take Mothers Day this year; I made the call to my mum and to Nanna. Dinner with my side of the family at 7pm, however Nanna said “No I am not going to have anything this year, but if you want to pop in your welcome”. That suited us, stop and see Nanna and Pa late afternoon on our way out for dinner.

So with that in mind we planned a lovely day, I got brekky in bed, leisurely got ready and went to the Botanical gardens where we planned on having lunch and seeing an art exhibition and looking at all the botanical exhibits too. We had only just got there when we received a rather frantic call from our daughter asking where we were. Nanna had lunch ready and were waiting for us! What the!!!

THE ART OF FATHERS DAY

So much for the lovely day right!!! Mmmm… then it’s Fathers day, I make the phone call again, same deal, Nanna says she ain’t having anything, as she is feeling a little tired. So I said ok that’s fine, we will just pop in on our way to my mum and dad’s around 4PM for a coffee.

Father’s day comes around, hubby gets brekky in bed, big treat for him, I am very fortunate to get that rather often (yes I know, I am spoiled!) Anyway hubby was lapping it up and planning to do boys stuff that day, potter around and play with his new cordless drill and other exciting things like that (you have to be of the male sex persuasion to understand the joys of power tools I think, beats me!)

Well you guessed it come eleven o’clock in the morning and I get a call from Nanna who says “I am feeling better today so got up at 9am and have been cooking up a storm since then, so you have to come for LUNCH now!

Lol you should have seen me trying to tell hubby that his lovely plans for his Father’s day had gone out the window yet again. The added problem we have is the four heart attacks and one stroke that Nanna has had, so we don’t want to upset the apple cart so to speak either.

THE ARTFUL SURPRISE

Anyway yesterday we were all invited for a BBQ at Hillivis boyfriend’s house. Both sets of grandparents were coming up, hubby and I were picking up Nanna and Pa originally but they decided to instead take their own car. We were expected to arrive at 5.30 and had set off for the drive up to the country when Hillivi called in a panic from the shower “Mum what’s going on its 4.15 and Nanna and Pa are outside, the house is a mess, dishes everywhere and I am washing my hair, why are Nanna and Pa here already?”

Well beats me, but I was glad it wasn’t us this time.

So with affection Nanna and with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, here is another quote that amused me on the topic, by Henny Youngman;

“Just got back from a pleasure trip: I took my mother-in-law to the airport.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx (C)

If you enjoyed this art blog you may enjoy this one too about my mother 123 Still Smoking Hot