Marie Jonsson Harrison » pictures

110 Artists Lunch

mariejon — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 02:52:52 +0000

DISCUSSING ART

On Tuesday this week it was my very overdue turn to have “The Artist lunch” at my house. You see a bunch of us have been meeting every now and then for the last 20 years, getting together over a good meal and some drinks and talking shop! Well not just about art, life in general too and along the way we have shared in the ups and downs of life and as you would expect over time there has been plenty of those too.

THE NAIVE GROUP

We were trying to figure out how we met the other day – there were 3 of us “core” people, all 3 naive artists that initially got together, we think it came about when another naive artist Howard William Steer (Story Art) had wanted to meet the new kid on the block, moi! As he and I had a joint exhibition over in Melbourne very early on in my career, I did not attend the opening so Howard came to visit when we lived in the church and brought Ursula Kiessling with him.

ARTISTS OF ALL GENRES

Ursula paints bush and wildlife in a semi naive repeated pattern – her use of colors is second to none. How we then met Bronwen Roodenrys (who paints gorgeous sophisticated naive ladies and big cats) is for now a blank, lol but anyway glad we did, and we have added more “core” people to the group and not just naïf but all sorts of artists. Catherine Fitz-Gerald who paints mainly large succulent and delicious fruits that cover the whole canvas, which makes me hungry every time I see them and Lynley Cooper who can turn her hand to any medium and style and always experiments and surprises us every time often with large scale contemporary works. My image above is from another lunch that whoops, lol turned into midnight, funny how that happens. It is handmade ceramic and mosaic and if you look closely on the left hand side you can see me with the ponytail sticking up in the air and hubby a little worse for wear spilling his beer. Fun time had by all!

ARTISTS & ANIMATORS & WRITERS

The person that hosts the lunch can invite whoever they please and can add and subtract the invitation list as they chose which makes it very interesting. So in attendance on Tuesday at my place were apart from the aforementioned were Valli Palmgreen, a Finish/Estonian artist who I have admired from afar for many years, she paints quirky pictures with the feel of Beryl Cook but in her own way. Sarah Philip, the wife of our electrician that did our new house and as it turns out she lives on the same street as us and is a talented muralist and abstract artist. Jenni Mumford paints in oils in Post-Impressionistic styled landscapes and still life and lives in Encounter Bay with views to die for which no doubt inspires her work. Also in attendance was Suzie Flashman, my neighbour whose talents include animation (she did my animations on my website) and wildlife photography and she has also recently started drawing in pastels. Of course we cannot forget Nadine Williams, journalist and award winning Author of the book From France with Love, which is optioned for a movie. She also runs her own website which is in magazine style and always very interesting.

ART AND FOOD

The only problem now was what to feed these lovely people as I don’t cook, well unless you count burned toast and boiled water as a good menu for a dinner party! Lucky for them I had a flash of an idea – I am good at assembling, lol. So off to the supermarket I trot and with help from a great guy behind the counter, who was very amused at my lack of knowledge in the small goods section (as a vegetarian that is not my forte, lol ) I came home with shaved smoked ham, turkey, roast beef and salami. To that I added cheese, dolmades, boiled eggs, tossed salad, olives, broccoli and capsicum sticks, crackers and dip, red/white wine and sparkling red (my favorite). The artists brought dips and bread, chicken, coconut rice, fruit and cake, wine and champagne and so we had a feast fit for a king. Hubby who was supposed to have a rest day could not keep away and was like a bee in the honey pot! This time around all the artists was women, but that is not the rule! We finished up just before 5pm and I look forward to the next one!

Another naive artist I greatly admire is Grandma Moses who lived to the ripe old age of 101 and I named my darling dog Moses after her and just like his name sake Moses lived to the grand old age of 18 which for a dog is pretty good. Grandma Moses didn’t start painting until her late 70’s, a late bloomer so to speak and spent her old age as an American celebrity. Here is one of her quotes that I like:

“Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and whatever else you are doing,

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.

57. Art & Signing the Contract

Marie — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 05:36:19 +0000

ART CONTRACT

I had been painting for about 5 years when my gallery in Melbourne called me to let me know that a scout for a Japanese gallery had been in to see them and were very interested in showing my artwork in Nagoya.

This painting depicts my Qantas flight over to Nagoya in Japan for my first exhibition, however there was a lot of I’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed before that first trip. You see the Japanese do not do things by half and it took more than six months before that first contract was signed.

So in the meantime I lived on hope, as during both my days as a model and then in the art business I have come to know that you win some and you lose some, and I didn’t know which category this was going to fall into.

Firstly I had to send pictures of my artwork to Japan, price lists, mediums and sizes etc, and then they wanted to see some of the actual paintings in real life so a couple of paintings had to be sent over to Nagoya. Then there was lots of to-ing and fro-ing about the price I was to receive for each art work and the commission for the art gallery in Melbourne.

Eventually a representative from the gallery in Japan flew to Melbourne and they flew me from Adelaide for the final meeting and signing of the contract, which was held at the Melbourne gallery who were my agent in this new art venture.

ART & KIDS

I took one of my dearest friends Christina with me as well as my two kids, Kai and Hillivi. So off we go; Miss Hillivi my daughter was 2 years old at the time and had just sat down in her seat on the plane and fastened the seatbelt before she threw up all over herself, (there are quite a few stories like that with little Miss Hillivi) luckily I had Christina there to help me out.

I do know that first impressions are really important and thought my chances with the Japanese would not be enhanced by being covered in baby spew, so by now I was getting a bit worried.

ART MEETING

The problem was we had to go virtually straight from the plane to the Japanese meeting, as typically the plane was delayed. However as one door closes another one opened and I ran into an acquaintance on the plane that said we should come to his hotel and get changed. Saved by the man on a white horse so to speak as both I and Hillivi did not smell so good by this stage(brave man), so that offer came in very handy.

Then there was another small problem with taxis. Here in Australia you have to have children in seatbelts and in booster chairs when travelling if the child is under 7 and of course, I had not thought of that.( I am normally very safety conscious but tell me how you get around in a new city with kids and no car.)

We eventually found a taxi driver to take us (although we had to duck in the backseat all the way) and surprisingly enough still made it to the meeting on time. Christina, bless her cotton socks amused the kids in a café down the road whilst I against all odds and with nothing left but hope finally had that contract signed and sealed.

If you would like to know what happened on my first trip to Nagoya to attend my art exhibition there here is a link; 64. Flying to Japan (continuation of Signing the Contract)

So here is a saying from Lu Xun (writer) that I think fits rather well here.

“Hope can neither be affirmed nor denied. Hope is like a path in the countryside: Originally there was no path-yet, as people are walking all the time in the same spot, a way appears.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting!

Love Marie xxx (c)

2. SWEDISH EASTER & Art

Marie — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:17:54 +0000

ART FROM SWEDEN TO AUSTRALIA

We Swedes are weird, you know in a nice way, and it wasn’t until we immigrated to Australia that I realized that fact. Well if you don’t believe me take a look at the painting below. That’s an Easter painting that I was commissioned to do 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!

As a child we would dress up as Easter witches, raided mums or grandma’s wardrobe for long skirts wore colourful head scarves and painted our cheeks red, and then we would go from house to house in our neighbourhood and knock on the doors and be given lollies and sometimes fruit. Much like the Americans does for Halloween.

PAINTING EGGS

We would also spend a day painting boiled eggs which would later be eaten for 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.

Here is the painting framed and now you can see the eggs on the side. Yes we would receive an Easter egg to 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.lol

If you fancy seeing this painting animated with all the witches flying around use this link on Youtube Art and Music with Marie

Here is a true fact from the book “The mammoth book of useless information”

Chocolate contains phenyl ethylamine, the same chemical that your brain produces when you fall in love.

So eat up good folks and also happy painting and sculpting everyone!

Till next time

Love Marie xxx