Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans, is what John Lennon said and he was so right.

This acrylic on board painting is one I did for the son of Jim from Elders Fine Art Gallery when he was recuperating after a car accident called Bandaid for Matthew, but I will have to borrow it now for my own husband!

LIFE AND ART

There we were hubby and me” happy and gay the laxet way” (borrowed from an old advertisement) going about our business as usual.  Well usual for us is that I do the art thing and hubby is the manager and runs the household.  Ever since he had a back injury some 20 years ago we have been used to take each day as it comes to some degree.  For the most part he manages very well and does a little bit of this and a little bit of that with a rest here and there.  Hubby is not one to wallow is self pity, the pain is always with him but it is not something that he talks about or dwells on.

HEART ATTACK NOT ART ATTACK

However a couple of weeks ago it got really bad as it does from time to time and he had a few days in bed, but seemed to be on the mend.  So this particular night we went to bed as usual and the next thing I know I am being woken up by hubby standing next to the bed saying “I think I’m having a heart attack, you better drive me to the hospital”.

Now I was in a very deep sleep and suddenly didn’t know if I was Arthur or Marthur, but I shot up out of bed in a jiffy and ran for the phone in the office to call an ambulance.  Hubby thought I should drive him in, “no way” I said as I know from the First Aid training that is a big mistake.  If the patient suddenly looses consciousness or stops breathing there would be no one to do the CPR.

Anyway when I got to the phone I realized I couldn’t see to dial and had to run to find the glasses, felt like I was running around like a chook with my head cut off, lol finally got through and the ambulance was on their way.  Patient was resting on the bed with severe chest pain, but otherwise his color was good and he wasn’t clammy or had any other symptoms.

I called our son Kai who occupies the “man-cave” downstairs so he could keep an eye on his dad whilst I at least got some clothes on, and asked Kai for a running commentary of how the patient was looking.

THE ART OF THE HEART

The ambulance was there within 10 minutes and then off to hospital we go.  After a long night hooked up to “machines that go beep” (as Monty Python would say) blood tests, and ECG and finally an Angiogram the diagnosis was in.  Not a heart attack luckily, however what ailed him was Pericarditis.  What’s that I hear you say, well that’s an inflammation of the heart sac.  From what I understand most commonly comes from a respiratory infection, but it can also come from a mouth or skin infection.  So in this case we think it may have stemmed from a cut/infected finger a few weeks ago – remember when he fell like a timber in the woods, in the LITTLE MISS WEE WEE art blog.

So all is well that ends well, after a few days in hospital hubby is home resting now and for the next 10 days and driving me nuts with the orders of scrambled eggs on toast and other requests, which for someone who normally burns toast and only excels at the boiling of water and possibly an egg is no mean feat.  So it’s quite obvious we all look forward until the 10 days are up! LOL

So life happens to you whilst you are busy making other plans and here is another quote I like on the subject this time by Robert A Heinlein (writer).

“Don’t ever become a pessimist…a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun – and neither can stop the march of events.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you and stay healthy,

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.

Well that is easier said than done sometimes isn’t it?  For me it is something that I understood with time and to make oneself happy may not always be through art necessarily but I do think it comes from making a decision and getting absorb and involved in something other than our own feelings and what ever it is that is troubling us at the time.

I have just had one heck of a day and don’t you just hate that.  You are minding your own business going about your life with all its ups and downs when someone throws a curve ball at you for no good reason whatsoever.  I think sometimes because they are unhappy with their own life and see others happy around them and want to take them down a peg or two.

ARTFUL AUTHORITY

It seems very strange to me that people get very militant about the smallest of issues when they are part of a committee.  It seems that when some people do not have enough authority over their own life and are unhappy within themselves they feel the need to exert their authority over others no matter how silly their arguments are.  My wish for people like that is that they would find something creative to do that would give them peace.

ART OF THE MIND

It made me think very much about this painting that is one of my early works.( excuse the quality of the image) ‘HAPPY AS A PIG IN SHIT” And no I refuse to call it mud, because shit was how I felt when painting it, well not the whole time obviously lol but I realized that I could take away my own pain and worry by getting totally absorbed in my art, and that you can make yourself happy and that happiness is a state of mind, something you choose to do.

That said let’s not diminish the fact that in some extreme circumstances that may not be possible to do for a long time, as when a loved one dies or other tragedies.  However I do believe that eventually when the pain and hurt settles somewhat we can again choose to be happy, perhaps not happy all the time but at least some of the time, well that is my naive view.

HEALING THROUGH ART

You see at the time I discovered that I could heal my own pain was about 22 years ago.  I had been painting for about a year, and had gone to The Northern Territory for 8 months, we had a large mortgage on our house in South Australia and lived in a caravan in the Northern Territory whilst my husband worked on the Tindal Base, and had a little 1 year old child.

I had left my glamorous life as a model to become a mum (being a mum was something I totally loved) although I had not counted on the isolation or the fact that I had relationship troubles with my own mum, and shortly after that problems within my marriage.   I was feeling homesick and living in a caravan and coping with the heat.   My darling dog died from rat poisoning in SA and to top that all of we suddenly found ourselves in big financial trouble.  Yes you know the drill – one thing after the other happened.  So my rescue from all these troubles was being able to get absorb in my paintings and making myself happy.

So life happens to you whilst you are busy doing other things as John Lennon is famous for quoting.

Another interesting fact I found out is that the saying Don’t worry be happy was originally said by the Indian mystic Meher Baba who lived 1894-1969, and not as I thought by Bobby McFerrin who made those words so famous in his song by the same name.  What a wonderful gift they both gave us – “DON’T WORRY BE HAPPY”

Till I see you again, happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Much love

Marie xxxxxx                                                                                       (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.

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