This water feature sculpture is one I was commissioned to do for the Balaklava Library (mid-north in South Australia), a few years ago.   I had of course lots of fun designing this sculpture and as I love both the water and books, so it was no stretch.   It is made from hebel and handmade ceramic and mosaic and took hours and hours to complete.

SCULPTURE GARDEN

The mural, water feature sculpture and garden were created in memory of Des Ross in recognition of his service to the local area as well as Australia.  Des was both the President of the Local Government Association as well as the Australian Local Government Assoc., and a board room in Canberra is named “The Des Ross Room” in his honor.   I will tell you more about him another time when I talk about the mural which accompanied this sculpture.

ART AND LOVE OF WATER

My love for the water started early in Sweden when I as a little girl where I used attend “learn to swim” during the summer months and would spend all my available time in the water at Lake Malaren which is the third largest lake in Sweden.  When I think about it I was also rather fond of the yummy freshly baked bun all the children were supplied with (less so of the lukewarm milk that went with it, yuck!)

SWIMMING & PAINTING

When my own children here in Australia went to primary school and I occasionally helped out with the schools swim lessons it was suggested that I may want to get paid as well.  So I went and did the AustSwim course and got my accreditation.  It was a fantastic way of spending some extra time with my kids and also getting out of the art studio, mixing with people and getting paid at the same time.  The swim teachings  grew into 12 weeks of the year and as the hours were 9-3pm I could still get quite a few hours done in the art studio when I got home.  Leading up to exhibitions etc I would even take the paintings to the pool and paint during my lunch time to keep up.

I really enjoyed the company of the other instructors and also found it very satisfying to see the children gain confidence in the water and eventually learn to swim.  My only beef was sometimes when the weather was freezing and we had to spend every lesson in the water, thank god for wet suits I say.  I think that perhaps that is why quite a lot of swimming instructors have a bit of shall we say- extra padding on their bones.  I would look at them with envy as they frolicked in the water whilst my lips were turning blue, lol.

So it was a combination of the cold and the following tale that made me apply for the Instructor in Charge job, where I would be spending more time doing the admin work than in the water.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

We had a lot of special needs children at the school with various problems and one of them I will call ‘Neville’ who was 16 years old and a big guy with Down’s Syndrome whose party trick was to run out of the changing rooms starkers to the delight and amusement of the other kids who thought it was so funny to see us instructors trying to get him to go back and put his pants on.

Then it was the time when I was in the water and trying to teach him how to swim.  We were playing a shark game – I was chasing him and being the shark, we had lots of fun and were both squealing in delight.  However the tables turned when it was his turn to play shark and he took it absolutely seriously and I nearly drowned in the process.  Lucky for me another instructor noticed the “shark attack” and stopped him.   Lesson learned, Neville just did not realize his own strength, lol.

So here is a thought for all of us from Ramakrishna (mystic) which I like,

“Live like a mud-fish: its skin is bright and shiny even though it lives in the mud.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting,

Love Marie xxx          (c)

If you would like to see some art blogs about other Public Sculptures here are some links;109 Stories behind the Wall and121 Volunteers our Backbone and  128 Sculpture and Women

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

Dancing asparagus I hear you say, mmm…well moi have always been a little bit crazy and that probably is and asset when you are an artist! Lol Anyway this painting was the first one that I actually painted, on canvas that is.

MURAL ON THE NURSERY WALL

You see I was pregnant with my first child and was getting the house ready for this little bundle of joy (and as it turned out he was too) I asked my brother who is a very good artist if he could paint me a mural on the nursery wall.

So he came and started, laid down the background of grass and hills and a sky with the start of a train running through the country side.  However at the time he was the drummer in a band called Clowns of Decadence, and they had a very strong following and were always out on tours.  So I would be calling Matt up and asking when he would be back in town, and it would be “oh sorry sis, we are touring New Zealand now and won’t be back for a month.”

In the meantime I was getting fatter and fatter and fatter, and being a bit of a perfectionist there was no way that my baby was going to arrive with a half painted nursery.

So I thought to myself there is nothing to do but roll up ones sleeves and get on with it and start painting .

Now there were a couple of things wrong with that idea, one was that I had some complications with the pregnancy and should be mostly having bed rest.  The other was that I could not paint my way out of a paper bag!  I mean that literally, you see both my father and my brother are fantastic artists, very skilled and can do anything, whatever I had ever tried to draw or paint was usually laughed at, well not in a mean way but probably slightly mixed with pity,  lol.

ART IN SCHOOL

On top of that during my school years in Sweden I would be receiving maybe an F for Art,  I remember distinctly having to paint a still life; fruit bowl and mine was very hard to figure out what it was.    Us naive types find it very hard to see perspective (and hey maybe we don’t want to, maybe the world is just better when everything is close and within your grasp!)  In those days you were only considered good in art if you could reproduce something like a photograph.  So therefore I had not drawn or painted for years.

But as I was a woman on a mission and nesting,  watch out!  I got the paints out that my brother had left and off I went, and you know what, with an eye blink it was lunch time, too busy to eat. Kept on painting although I would lie down on the floor from time to time and look at my handy work (doctors orders you know) I blinked my eyes again and now it was night.

FEELING LOVE & HAPPINESS THROUGH ART

The next morning I woke up, feeling so very excited and energetic and I did not know why, I was 8 months pregnant and usually exhausted, so I laid there and tried to figure it out.  Well you know what, it was LOVE, I had fallen in Love and not with another man, no with painting.  I did not care what anyone else thought of my handy work, but I loved it, I loved painting it and I loved looking at it and it made me feel good.

That was how it began and if you are curious how this led to my life as a full time artist in the Naive genre here is a link for that art blog 114 Elders Fine Art Gallery.. never give up

So take heart you budding artists out there, don’t let anyone say you can’t and that you are no good, if it makes you happy then DO IT.

This saying by Winston Churchill fits very well here;

“Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie  xxxx                                              (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.