Marie Jonsson Harrison » prints

147 Art and the Olympics

mariejon — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 03:20:55 +0000

PAINTING FULL TIME

When you are an artist who paints on a full time bases you occasionally feel that “THIS” is the best painting you have ever done and that is how I feel about this acrylic on canvas painting called “London2012”.

GICLEE PRINTS

It all started in March this year when I was approached by Mark McCormick from Giclee Link who commissioned the Olympics artwork. Giclee Link is a young and new company founded on the principles of quality, transparency and fairness both in the way they treat their artists as well as the retailers they deal with. Mark says “It’s our mindset that karma and the adage; what goes around comes around, will be in play”.

Mark and his partner Pam are committed professionals in the art and photography space and come from a background with Getty Images and The Art Group (UK largest publishers).

I have had tremendous support from Mark with links and images of all the buildings and preparations going on there in London, things that only the locals would have known about, which made it so much more fun for me. I loved the collaboration and sense of humor that we shared!

FABERGE EGGS

For instance with the Royal Jubilee celebrations London was awash with Jubilee Eggs – which are a cross between Easter eggs and Faberge eggs. In any case there was an Egg Hunt for the people of London and some took the hunt very seriously auditing their efforts on a mobile database. There were apparently 209 eggs in total however some had been stolen and other damaged.

So that is why if you look closely on the painting you will see a Cat bugler running off with one egg and another thief in Soho with another as well as a big stash of stolen eggs in the apartment next to number 10 Downing Street.

THE ART OF AUSSIE HUMOR

Another bit of fun I had was with the controversy over the proposed basketball courts to be built in the Waltham Forest. This area is a beautiful place where the locals treasure the natural habitat around the river and where you find the canal boats that are often pictured on postcards. Leading up to the Olympics there was protesters there and some of them tried to stop the builders by blocking the path of their vans, so of course I had to paint that. I actually had named the builders The Big Tosser Building Company – as us Aussies are always poking a bit of fun at the authorities and the fat cats, lol, however the Brits did not appreciate the joke so now they are just called Big Toms!

GICLEE LINK

The London2012 image has been made into Giclee Prints in a limited edition of 95 and is available through Giclee Link as the wholesale company who welcome Retail galleries, Interior and Furnishing Retailers, Multiple Retailers, Interior Designers and Online Retailers to stock their prints.

UNION ART

As well as Union Art who welcome everybody who are interested in art and specialises in limited and open editions prints, photography, sculpture and original works of art.

UNION ARTISTS

Union Art represents only the very finest contemporary, established and emerging artists in the business. What impresses me very much about Union Art is that collectors and enthusiasts can browse their collection at any time through their website , however the added bonus is that they are available to offer help or answer any questions over the phone between the hours of 10am – 10pm 7 days a week! They offer competitive prices together with efficient and friendly service so call them now! (London, UK, 08455441452) You may also like to visit Union Art on Facebook.

COMMISSIONED ARTWORK

I know a lot of artists do not like to do commissioned work, they feel that it is limiting and cramps their natural style. I actually feel the opposite – it often makes me stretch myself and paint topics and themes which I may otherwise not have thought of. Of course it is also nerve racking too, what if the client does not like the finished product and yes that is something that has happened to me too. However all is not lost then either, in my experience as there is always someone else who will love that artwork.

RESEARCHING ARTWORKS

I really felt part of the Olympics whilst doing the research and hoped to include as many sports as possible, look closely and you will find; High Jump, Pole Vault, Running, Shot put, Discus, Javelin, Sailing, Synchronized Swimming, Rowing, Swimming, Diving, Wind Surfing, Show Jumping, Beach Volley Ball, Basketball, Cycling, Gymnastics, Tennis, Soccer and Water Polo. Then of course there is the concert in Hyde Park as well as the goings on in SoHo, the new model of the London Double Decker busses, the Prime Minister and his wife at number 10 as well as the Queen in a spot of bother and of course all the people from all the different races and cultures around the world.

Yep everyone is in London 2012!

So here is a quote I feel goes well here by Henry Ford;

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

Till next time happy painting,sculpting and partaking in sports 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.

138 Leaving Sydney Harbour & Art

mariejon — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 09:08:49 +0000

THE ART OF GETTING HOME

I am back!! Finally home again after a cruise on the Pacific Jewel to New Caledonia and Vanuatu. I do apologize for the break in my normal ART blogging and social media routine and thank you for the lovely messages whilst I have been away.

THE ART OF TAKING A CRUISE

This was the first time ever on a cruise ship so a very new experience for the Harrison family. We had planned the holiday for a while as it was part of a 21^st surprise present for our daughter Hillivi, and she was mightily surprised on the night.

There were 6 of us on this adventure, my hubby and I, daughter Hillivi and her partner Brett as well as our son Kai and his partner Samantha. We all caught an early flight to Sydney and as there is a train under the airport that according to hubby goes straight to where the cruise liner is docked we jumped onboard. Hubby is usually pretty good at organizing us however I was having some doubts when he told us to get off at Circular Quay and go to number 5 Warf. We cracked up laughing at Warf 5 standing next to the ferry to Manly as hubby said:”Here we are now where is the ship? The Manly ferry is rather puny in relation to the size of a cruise liner!!

ACRYLIC ON BOARD PAINTING

This acrylic on board painting is of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the original artwork sold many moons ago in Japan, however there are Giclee prints available here UnionArt .

Luckily we had plenty of time up our sleeve and instead of searching for a taxi that would accommodate 6 we decided to walk, not such a trick these days when suitcases have wheels. We must have looked a sight as we made our way through the winding roads of The Rocks towards the ships real dock, although the short cut downs some very steep stairs was probably pushing things a bit!

THE ART OF THE VIEW

Finally the ship came into view and it was huge, the by now sweaty six were very pleased to get the ship formalities over with and get onboard and find our cabins. For the cruise ship novices among you out there (like us) let me give you a tip – book a cabin with a window. We hadn’t this time and although the cabin was roomy enough and very nice otherwise it made me lose track of night and day and feel a bit couped up.

Next it was time for a “look about” and familiarize ourselves with the layout of the ship, 14 decks in all with lots of bars, restaurants and shops and spa and fitness club.

Then we enjoyed a lovely lunch and drinks before cast off when the entertainers got into full swing and put on a great show as we sailed under the Sydney Harbor Bridge taking in all the sights of Sydney Harbor and wondering what our adventure would bring.

Here is some good advice by Susan Heller that I should have listened to, lol;

“When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx (c)

130 A Love Letter & Art

mariejon — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 01:40:50 +0000

MY BEST ARTWORK

To my gorgeous daughter Hillivi who is beautiful both inside and out, Happy 21^st birthday! I cannot understand how the years passed so quickly since the day you were born. We have Doctor Jack to thank for your safe arrival as of course with my track record with pregnancies and Kai’s emergency cesarean things could not just go smoothly! But never mind you arrived safely and were just perfect. Your dad and I thought we were just the best parents in the world as your little brother Kai was such a little angel, who just fed and slept and looked around satisfied with his surroundings. Here is the painting I painted as a Thank you for Dr Jack.

THE ART OF NOT GETTING TOO BIG FOR YOUR BOOTS

We often talked about our fantastic parenting skills your father and I and the lack of such in other people, lol and were smugly satisfied with ourselves. Well how wrong you can be – you certainly gave us a run for our money! From the minute you were born until you turned one year old, you screamed blue murder unless I was rocking you in my arms, no other arms would do either just mine! Everyone around us now looked at us with pity, lol and wondering about our parenting skills. Oh how quickly one falls from the pedestal!

MOTHERS LOVE

But you know honey – you needed me just like I needed you and thank god you hung on to me for dear life. You must have known that I was going to a rough patch in my life as I was struggling in my relationship with my own mother (which thankfully is much better now.) I craved to feel loved, needed and wanted so much and you gave me that – so THANK YOU baby girl you made me feel whole again.

ARTIST MOTHER

Growing up with an Artist as a mother must have had its own trials and tribulations too. Not being one for the normal lullabies you grew up listening to your mothers very bad renditions of Ry Cooders “Little Sister”, the Swedish “3 Wandering men” and the Beatles “Help”. How people were amazed to hear a 2 year old child’s word perfect singing “Help” on top of her lungs “When I was younger so much younger than today. I never needed anybodies help in any way……..

I still call you my “Little Uppas girl” but these days you do actually walk yourself, however until you were 10 years old you used to be able to convince me to carry you more often than not, I finally had to stop when your feet were dragging on the ground as I held you in my arms!

DISTRACTED ARTIST

I am sorry I had to leave you sometimes, sorry about having to go to Japan or Japapan as you would say when I had to go over for another art exhibition. Sorry I was preoccupied with my artist thoughts and not listening at times. One such incident springs to mind.

You were 3 years old dressed in a red dress and black patent leather shoes and I held your hand firmly as we negotiated traffic in the city on our way to a very important meeting. You were saying: “Mummy, mummy, mummy” and I said “not now darling, just walk we are in a terrible hurry.” So we rushed ahead with you barely keeping up, trying to walk as fast as you could with your little leggis. Then you again said “but Mummy, mummy, mummy” and finally I had the good sense to listen. That’s when you told me you had lost your shoe 2 traffic lights ago and there as we turned around and backtracked we found your little black shoe lying in the gutter of the footpath.

THE ART OF A BEAUTIFUL HEART

You have grown from a beautiful little girl into a stunning young woman and as lovely as you are to look at, it is the inside that I admire most. You have a beautiful heart, treat everybody fairly and with respect, a champion for the underdogs and a lover of animals. Your principals are so high you are a vegetarian and won’t even wear leather and chastised me so much I could hardly sit on the new leather lounge we had bought without thinking of the poor cows either. You are the life of the party, the girl all the boys want to call their own and the girls want as a best friend. You have the beauty to be a top model and the voice to pursue a singing career and also the smarts to go to university. The world is your oyster darling – but even with all these assets you have your feet firmly planted on the ground and know that everything that glitters is not gold and so far you seem content living a country life and pursuing a life dedicated to others as an emergency nurse.

BEST ARTWORKS

For me having you and your brother has been the best thing that I have EVER done in my life, there is nothing in my life either as a model or artist, travelling or in monetary terms that can ever measure up to the love I feel for you and the joy you have brought me every day of your life.

So Happy Birthday 21^st Birthday darling Hillivi and from the bottom of my heart I thank you for coming into my life when I needed you most and hearing my call for “Help”.

Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody’s help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody’s help in any way.
But now these daya are gone, I’m not so self assured,
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh.

Happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxxx

116. Art and Music with Marie

mariejon — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:23:22 +0000

PAINTINGS AND MUSIC

That is the name of my new YouTube Channel “Art and Music with Marie”, and I have just uploaded another installment of paintings and indie music in conjunction with the fabulous singer/songwriter James Abberley.

This time the song is called “Ghost” and I actually like it even better than “I’ll be a Bird” if that’s possible.

I find that the melody to Ghost just stays in my mind for hours after I have heard it and I hope that all of you like it too, as well as the paintings, sculptures, prints and public sculptures that the images shows too of course.

James Abberley says that “Ghost is a very dark song. I wanted it to be confronting but still relevant. Sometimes we can end up in a place that we never wanted to be in. Sometimes you can feel like a Ghost, but there is always love and there is always someone that can see you.”

This song is also from the new album called “Some kind of Relief” and in the Indie genre as he is becoming known for and if you would like to find out more about James go to this link and have a little read. Indie Music & James Abberley. Also if you are in Adelaide, do not forget to catch up with James every Friday night in the front bar of the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, known just as the Gov to us locals.

ART ON YOUTUBE

I had made a couple of Youtube video clips before which also featured our two dogs Cheech and Vegas whilst we still lived at the farm and we dressed them up in all sorts of doggy clothes and put the photos in between the artwork, as I told you before you have to be a little bit crazy to be an artist!

ART AND SOCIAL NETWORKING

The new changes to YouTube, means that you can personalize the look of your YouTube site and create the feel that you want. They have also included a new “feed” to make it more interactive as well, something I think may have been inspired by Face book. It seems to me that a lot of the Social Networking sites are rolling out new changes at the moment, and just as quickly there are groups that form who are against that, just check out all the “I hate the changes to Face book” groups. As someone who has only in the last couple of years learned the ropes so to speak, any new changes always take a little time to get used too. However I read somewhere that Cyberspace is the only place in modern culture there should be nothing BUT change, it is necessary to keep the innovation alive. So hey we better get used to it!

ART AND COMPUTERS

The younger generation take to it like ducks to water and if you Google to find some advice half the time it will be a 6 year old, lol well maybe a 10 year old that is doing the tutorial on how to use a certain function. It reminds me of what Dolly Parton said about computers “Truth is, I wouldn’t know a gigabyte from a snakebite”, lol but she can afford to employ someone to do all the computer work for her it’s the rest of us that have to try to keep up. I like my new telephone, my computer works just fine, my calculator is perfect, but Lord, I miss my mind!

So if you just like me need some time out and just chill why don’t you pour yourself a nice glass of wine click on my new YouTube contribution and relax with James and I.

So here is a quote just in case wine is not your drink of choice by an unknown author;

“Take life with a grain of salt, a slice of lime, and a shot of tequila.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx