Marie Jonsson Harrison » sculpting

168. ART and KEEPING FIT

mariejon — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 06:52:17 +0000

THE ART OF KEEPING FIT

I have just joined a gym today, finally after 20 or so years since last time. Oh and before you get the wrong idea – I have still been keeping fit during that time. You see we had been living on a farm in the country with the closest gym an hours’ drive away, so I had a treadmill at home in my art studio and could watch telly there whilst I walked. I used to often do aerobics whilst watching the Good morning programs and go for a run outside (you had to keep the pace up as there were lots of flies in the Australian countryside) and then there were body pump and various fitness classes held in a hall in the local country town as well. My son Kai and daughter Hillivi would often join in too and we also used to light candles and do yoga in the TV room in front of a roaring fireplace in winter.

ACRYLIC PAINTING

Whilst I was pregnant I had several videos that I used to follow as although we hadn’t moved to the farm yet we had bought a renovated church in the countryside to live in. I did travel to the city and attended a couple of the keep fit classes for the expectant mum as this acrylic on canvas board painting shows. That is me in the middle of the artwork in black and green gym gear and baby boy Kai with the balloon!

However this big Gym set up seems like a real luxury to me and lots of fun. Strange really how things go as I had absolutely no thought about joining a gym again. Years ago when I lived in Melbourne and Sydney and traveled the world whilst modelling I attended Gyms in every place I traveled to.

THE ART OF DOING WEIGHTS

These days hubby and I are great walkers and do 40 minutes minimum a day often joined by the kids and always joined by our two dogs Cheech and Vegas. Although I have to admit people that see us often ask me ‘who is walking who’ when it comes to my Chihuahua – you see she refuses to walk for the first 10 or so minutes so I carry her to start. Lol I figure that is a bit of weight training for me and she has such a cute little face and big brown eyes that I just cannot resist.

THE ART OF A BARGAIN

Anyway my daughter and I found this Deal on the internet where they offered 10 fitness classes for 10 dollars, what a steal we thought and promptly went and checked it out, with the intention of just doing the 10 classes and that would be that. Well I guess these marketing guys know what they are doing because 2 lessons later and they have got us signed up for the foreseeable future.

THE ART OF THE HOT BOD

Well what can I say; the deal was too good to refuse and the classes so good and the body felt amazing after being pushed that little bit further than you generally do yourself no matter how motivated you are. It also felt good to be in a structured environment with lots of people keeping fit and all sorts of exercise machines there to use and some hot bods to spur you on too!

THE ART OF PILATES AND LAUGHTER

Yesterday time slipped away from us when we remembered the class was on and hopped in the car to get to the Pilates class. It is held in with the lights dimmed in a big room with soft atmospheric music and as we were beginners to this class we did a couple of wrong moves which made us giggle between ourselves. Then all of a sudden my daughter is in absolute hysterics, really trying to contain her laughter in between trying to quietly tell me something. Well I cannot for the life understand what she is trying to say but now she got me giggling too – both of us like two naughty school girls up the back of the class. As it turns out she was laughing at me – of course – in my hurry to get ready for the class I had put my yoga top inside out with the tag hanging out at the back! So much for looking Cool in front of all the buff and fit people, I guess you can take the girl out of the country but not the country out of the girl! I have to look on the bright side least there are always more inspiration for new paintings.

Here is a quote I think fits well here by Rita Rudner;

“The word aerobics came about when the gym instructors got together and said; If we’re going to charge $10 an hour, we can’t call it jumping up and down”.

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting to you all, oh and maybe exercising!

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.

If you enjoyed this health and art blog you may also be amused at my attempts at meditation; 97 Meditation are you serious & Art

164. ART, TOILETS AND TRAVEL

mariejon — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 09:09:48 +0000

TRAVEL AND ART BLOGS

Today I am continuing the travel and art blog about our adventures in Europe during 2012 and if you would like to recap of what has happened up to this point here are some links with lots of artworks too of course; 156. ART & FREQUENT FLYER POINTS and 157. Art & Never judge a book by it’s cover and 155 The Art of Packing Light

ACRYLIC PAINTING

This acrylic on canvas board painting shows the typical red and white timber cottage in Sweden although I have painted a very small house “stuga” here of course.

We loved our stay in Gothenburg and now we were catching the train for the 7 hour journey north to Sundsvall to visit my cousin Kent and his lovely wife Karin. But of course there is a call of nature to be done before we get on the train so I go for a quick visit to the ladies at Gothenburg train station.

ANOTHER PAINTING INSPIRATION

I opened the door into a small walkway and then tried to open the next one when I heard a cough and a stern voice call out to me, sitting behind some glass in the corner was a very grumpy man demanding money to enter, and he was sort of hidden behind the door. Coming from Australia where all the public conveniences are both plentiful and FREE the Swedish public conveniences was a shock to the system.

Anyway in I go and as I am washing my hands with another 5 or 6 ladies in walks this old woman in her 80’s and lo and behold – suddenly another door opens and in sweeps this grumpy man in amongst the rest of us women in the “ladies only” toilet and belittles this poor woman for not paying. She just like me had probably not seen him on her way in and was not trying to get a free pee, although the way he was acting it was more like she stole the queens silver!

The toilet visits in Sweden seemed rather expensive I thought and just to make it a bit more unpleasant as I later found out most of them are also unisex. Which means that at Stockholm’s Central for example where there are some 30 or so toilets you stand with a huge mixed group of people waiting, something I wasn’t a fan of and then to be ushered into the loo where a strange man with a newspaper under his arm just vacated. Never mind having strangers of the opposite sex staring at you when you retouch your make up, something I found very unsettling. I think some of them didn’t really need to go to the toilet but were just in there to have perve! (My apologies to the lovely men I do know read this who would not behave in this way I know, I am just talking about a few bad apples!) Although these type of moments for an artist provides great inspirations for paintings and sculpture though so you gotta look on the bright side!

LOL, I digress and that’s enough about toilets, anyway we now find ourselves 395km north of Stockholm in Sundsvall, a picturesque town with a population of 50 thousand plus another 45 thousand in the surrounding areas.

THE ART OF TRAVEL

The city has quite a history as it has burned down and been rebuilt four times. In 1721 it was set on fire by the Russian Army in what was called the Great Northern War. The last time was in 1888 when they think the fire was caused by a spark from a steamship, this fire was the largest in Sweden’s history and the town this time was rebuilt out of stone and nicknamed “The Stone City”.

However my cousin Kent lives in a traditional 2 storey timber Swedish house, but instead of it being painted red and white it is blue. Their house is a few kilometers away from the so called city of Sundsvall and about 5 minutes walking distance from both the forest and the water’s edge in an idyllic setting.

THE ART OF A GREAT COOK

Kent picked us up at the station, whilst Karin had gone all out bathing the whole house in candle lights and cooking up an amazing 3 course feast, starting off with a to die for Kantarell soup (a yellow Swedish mushroom that grows in the forest) and is my absolute favourite mushroom! Karin is a wonderful cook and lucky or unlucky for us we only had 3 days with them otherwise I think I would have put on some serious weight! Of course just like in Gothenburg we were spoiled rotten with wonderful sleeping quarters, we had the whole top floor to ourselves and food galore. We also visited their children and their partners and the feasts just continued. My hubby also tried elk for the first time which he enjoyed; the elk had been hunted in the forest by our host’s father. Being a vegetarian myself I found it hard not to think about the poor elk, but tried to comfort myself with the thought that at least he enjoyed a free life in the forest unlike all the cows, calves and pigs etc, that are penned and killed for human consumption every day.

I again felt so well loved and connected to my relatives and my Swedish roots and kept on talking Swedish all the time much to hubbys annoyance, but he coped very well considering.

So here is a quote about languages which I thought fitted well here by Franklin P. Jones;

“It’s a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water”.

Till next time happy Painting and Sculpting and travelling to you all!

Love Marie xxx

Footnote; Special Congratulations to the little baby boy born today up in Sundsvall to Asa & Tobias, a little brother to Anton, nephew to Kristoffer & Annikki and long awaited grandchild to Kent and Karin.

159. ART & Rose colored glasses

mariejon — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 04:38:52 +0000

OTHER ART & TRAVEL BLOGS

So here we are still in Gothenburg staying with Leif, Lena and Emma and if you wanna recap here are the art blogs leading up to this point in time. 156. ART & FREQUENT FLYER POINTS and 157. Art & Never judge a book by it’s cover

This is the first time I have been back to Sweden for 30 years, seems crazy that it was that long ago. We had good intentions of returning several times and showing the kids their roots but got waylaid by a travel deal to America and ended up doing LA, Vegas, Mexico and New York instead. This painting of Swedish Midsummer celebrations was bought by my aunty Lillian at an art exhibition in Sweden organized by my USA Art Gallery.

ART OF EMOTIONS

Oh well, finally my husband and I are here the kids were too busy with uni to make it this time, and being in Sweden fills me with mixed emotions too. It is both exciting and scary to revisit your home country, my thoughts go to the people no longer alive particularly my 2 sets of grandparents whom I loved so very much and miss every day still. Coming home to Sweden feels melancholy without them here. Then there is the other relatives that I have missed too and the times and get-togethers – birthdays, Christmases and parties. Over the years I often felt regretful and sad to miss out and imagining how they cherished each other’s company and fun.

THE ART OF HOLDING IT TOGETHER

So it is with very mixed emotions that my childlike view of the world is brought back to reality when I find out that in many cases even though they live in relative proximity to each other some of them have not seen each other since I was home last 30 years ago! And no they are not fighting or dislike each other from what I can see they just simply got on with their lives and time slipped away.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

Over a series of 9 days travelling from Gothenburg – Sundsvall – Stockholm we gather together with both my mothers and fathers side of the family and have many lunches and dinners and catch ups. I felt so blessed to be within the bosom of my longed for family, at all times I felt cherished and loved and the misapprehension and melancholy soon lifted.

The first gathering in Gothenburg started at 11 am and did not conclude till 11pm with lunch, dinner with coffees and snacks in-between some fine wine. The company was wonderful with Lena, Leif, Emma who we are staying with, then joined by my 82 year old aunty Actress and Director Gun Jonsson and she is something else altogether. Only in the movies have I ever seen a woman that is 80 and looks and acts 50 but here she is. The thing about Gun is it is all natural – no plastic surgeries or trout pouts, nothing fake, a few lines but they do not detract from her beauty, just a woman comfortable in her own skin with hutzpa and vivaciousness, oh I hope I take after her in the “getting old” department! If that is what getting old means we have nothing to fear at all.

She was a chorus girl in her day and a former Miss Stockholm Lucia before she got into acting and has been held dear by the Swedish people and even received a medal from the King and Queen of Sweden for her services to the Arts just recently. If you fancy reading more about her and my fathers upbringing in Sweden in the Circus here is an art blog about that; 20. Antonis Tivoli Art and 21. Life in a Circus Tent .

ART AND SEX AGAIN

Guns most recent engagement was at the theater in Falkenberg where she presented “A naked man” a story by Johan Werkmaster about friendship in life’s autumn. Perhaps on reflection it is from my aunty my own fascination with sexuality comes from, lol.

The “teaser” from this production reads:

“Miss Lasker is old and alone. Mr Jansson is old and fat. They are neighbours . They drink coffee and talk. Afterwards Mr Jansson goes home again. But one night he comes back. Miss Lasker wakes up. Her door bell rings. She opens the door and screams because there is Mr Jansson totally…..

Shame it was not still playing when we were there as it sounded right up my alley!

Anyway back to the gathering, we were also joined by Gun’s son and my cousin Mikael Lind who being the fruit of two actors, his father is Lars Lind, couldn’t help but also getting involved in the limelight in one way or another. Mikael has for the last 20 something years played on cruise ships with his band where he plays the drums. Just like my brother in his band the Clowns of Decadence 25. Shake Rattle and Roll & Art & Music The next generation has also followed in this path with Mikael’s son and daughter enjoying some showbiz accolades through acting and music.

MORE ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

The other people present this day was my gorgeous cousin Sonja and Per-Ove who also have lived a very interesting life. Per-Ove was an agronomist and Sonja taught in schools among other things and they lived together in several of the African countries. Their main objective was to help the poor pull out of their circumstances and learn alternatives to conventional agriculture, aiming to produce crops in a sustainable way. Couple this together with their stories about living life in Sweden and alternating that with living in third world countries and you have conversations which was just fascinating. We then spend the next day on tour with them being shown Gothenburg through Per-Oves eyes who was born there and told stories to transport you back to when he was a little boy, a wonderful and enriching experience.

Here is a quote by Gaston Bachelard which is how I felt during my time in visiting Sweden again;

“So, like a forgotten fire, a childhood can always flare up again within us.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie xxx

157. Art & Never judge a book by it’s cover

mariejon — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:58:37 +0000

ART INSPIRATION

This painting is one commissioned several years ago by my cousin Leif who lives in Sweden. The naive art scene is of his brother Dan & Johnny’s former house here in Australia and depicts us all enjoying a day together by the pool. As I told you in my previous art blog 156. ART & FREQUENT FLYER POINTS (there is the link if you wanna recap) we are now on our European tour and have arrived in Gothenburg where we got picked up by my gentle giant cousin Leif, his partner Lena and daughter Emma.

My cousin Leif decided early on that he wanted to work with disabled children and there he met the lovely Lena, the love of his life and they set up house together. They both have hearts of gold and worked tirelessly to give their all to make life better for the kids in that institution where they both worked.

Eventually they decided to start a family of their own and as fate would have it when Lena finally gave birth it was to a little girl Emma, cute as a button, but severely handicapped herself with both Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (which is water on the brain)and several other problems too and requiring a wheelchair.

At first glance you may feel compassion and perhaps pity for this very special family unit, and yes of course that was also our first reaction. However never judge a book by it’s cover, wait instead till you have had a good read.

ARTISTIC LICENCE

You can see Emma on my artwork on the right by the pool, with my husband and I close by. Artistic licence of course as no aeroplane will allow her to fly, so going from Sweden to Australia has so far been out of question for her, but Lena and Leif have made the trip each with another travel partner so that the other one is home with Emma.

Emma communicates manly through noises which only her parents could properly decipher and really we did at first think that was wishful thinking on their behalf. Well what fools we turned out to be because after spending time with them we saw Emma really does understand and can make herself understood in most instances, not only that but she understands English too!

Lena, Leif and Emma live in a gorgeous house on the outskirts of Gothenburg, just perfect for the 3 of them but as a lot of European houses no spare bedrooms so perhaps a bit harder to have people come and stay. However they insisted that we take over their bedroom whilst they slept on trundle beds in with Emma, such lovely hosts and they spoilt us rotten.

THE ART OF LOVE

So my other observation was what a HAPPY little family they were, their little household sparkled with joy and happiness and their lives revolved around each other – not in a martyr or sacrifice type of way but in a way that showed such joy and happiness you couldn’t help but feel good in their company. Emma had an infectious laugh and they all giggled around the clock, she did of course get upset at times particularly if it was time to get out of the car as being a passenger was her favorite pastime, but even then upset, she was gorgeous and that mood soon passed.

In a way I envied them – now don’t get me wrong I am eternally grateful that my two children were born healthy and I wish and pray that they will always be so. No what I mean is when Kai and Hillivi were little I wished that they would never grow up and leave us, just be our little darlings forever.

That is what Leif and Lena have got – they have their little girl still cute as a button even though now she is 37 years old, sharing their lives together the three of them. What more can you wish for in life then to be loved and to truly love in return!

So here is a quote I think fits well here by an unknown author;

“A bend in the road is not the end of the road… unless you fail to make the turn”

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting to you.

Love Marie xxx

156. ART & FREQUENT FLYER POINTS

mariejon — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 08:50:46 +0000

ART, CIRCUS & TRAVEL

I have always loved travelling; I think the bug bit me even before I was born. My grandmother ran away to sea at 15 and then she met my grandfather Anton and they both ran away with the circus. Here are the art blog about that 20. Antonis Tivoli & 21. Life in a Circus Tent. My father joined the merchant navy as a young man whilst my mother did a stint working in England as a young woman. Born and bred in Sweden we did our fair share of travelling before we immigrated to Australia too. I have then crossed the globe many times both for work as a model and artist and on family holidays.

THE ART OF PERSUASION

However this time when we had our European holiday all mapped out I did not want to go – and neither did hubby, go figure! Our kids actually talked us into it, you know the old chestnuts “you only live once, and you will forever regret the things you didn’t do” etc. And yes they were so right, who would have thought? LOL. The kids took us to the airport; I think mainly to make sure we were on that 30 hour flight to Sweden!

30 hours I hear you say, yep when you use the frequent flyer points that’s what you get, lots of take offs and landings all around the world. Luckily we soon got in the groove, I had yummy Indian vego meals booked and we saw some great movies and docos and just chilled. We even thought of joining the Mile High club, lol, but decided the space was too cramped, ha ha.

UNION ART

When we got to London we wisely decided to forgo the waiting at the airport option and got a bus to Windsor Castle instead. These painting details are from my artwork London 2012 that is also available as a Giclee print with Union Art .

LONDON2012 ARTWORK & MEETING THE QUEEN

Windsor was lots of fun, I had not been there before and we saw the changing of the guard which was quite spectacular and then poked about up and down the alley ways. The queue to the actual castle was a bit long for our liking and the queen wasn’t even in residence that day so we gave that a miss. I mean we would have made the effort if she was making us tea and cucumber sandwiches! (If I had checked the painting above I would have known she was really still stuck in a traffic jam).

Then back to the airport with all the rigmarole of check ins and security and the like. I must look really suss as I always gets pulled aside for the extra screenings, not sure if they think I am a terrorist or a drug smuggler or whether they just want to fiddle with my stuff, lol.

ART & THE OLYMPICS

Also if you would like to read about how the London2012 painting came about have a look at this art blog 147 Art and the Olympics.

We finally arrived in Sweden a little worse for wear (a spruce up in the airport loos just don’t cut it does it?) luckily we were met by my wonderful cousin Leif and his family who overlooks this fact. Leif is one of those truly beautiful souls, gentle and kind and caring man in a 6 feet 4 body, a gentle giant.

So here is a quote I like about nice guys by an unknown author.

“It is not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game even starts.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to all of you or just enjoy the view!

Love Marie xxx

155 The Art of Packing Light

mariejon — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 05:35:28 +0000

PUBLIC SCULPTURES & SUITCASES

The art of packing light is obviously not something that I have mastered and with all the travelling that I have done for work firstly as a model and then as an artist and just for pleasure that’s a real shame. I always find that I need whatever it was that got eliminated from the suitcase, so instead I carry everything but the kitchen sink around with me and get held up at Customs & Security at every airport for some reason or another!

This Public Sculpture is part of 9 freestanding sculptures of mine at the Airdale Primary School in Port Pirie, South Australia

As you can hear we have just come home from another trip, this time to Europe for 5 weeks and what a fantastic time it was too. Hubby did all the coordinating and organizing over the net with hotels, planes, cars, pickups and trains which worked a treat.

PAINTING INSPIRATIONS

We arrived in London where after some sightseeing caught a flight to Gothenburg, Sweden (3 nights), Sundsvall, Sweden (2 nights), Stockholm (4 nights), Katowice, Poland (2 nights), Prague, Czech Republic (4 nights), Budapest, Hungary (3 nights), Zagreb, Croatia (1 night) Dubrovnik (3 nights), Venice (2 nights) Amalfi coast (7 nights), Paris (3 nights) and then back to London before the 30 hour flight home again.

Of course there are lots of travelling tales and inspirations for future paintings and art blogs to come but what I will start with today is the reason we undertook this trip in the first place.

ART & THE LOVE OF ITALY

This Mermaid painting sold in Japan but I think the inspiration comes from under the sea by Hotel Onda Verde, on the Amalfi coast.

Our good friend Robert had decided that Italy may be a great spot to celebrate “that” big birthday in. His lovely wife Christina’s family comes from there so they wanted to share this wonderful country with the rest of us. That’s how come 11 people from Australia found ourselves at the stunning hotel Onda Verde situated in between Positano and Amalfi at Praiano, a hotel fashioned into the side of a cliff overlooking the blue, blue Mediterranean sea. Not just any hotel mind you but one where the owners, staff, rooms, ambiance, food & drinks were second to none – just ask Pierce Brosnan or Jessica Alba, as they stayed there too just recently!

ARTFORM IN A GROUP

As if that wasn’t perfect enough we then had the good fortune of having a group who just fitted together like a glove. All the elements were there; we had Judy who supplied the guts and hutzpa, her husband Jeff gave us irresistible one liners, Coralie sorted out any kinks in the tour/gratuities arrangements and Emma was the expert tour guide with her knowledge on everything Italian whilst her boyfriend Paul keep us amused with funny stories (my cheeks still hurt from laughing). Carol added sensibility & practical advice and her hubby Graham was the thoughtful one (he saved me from swimming all the way to Capri) Husband Bryan was the steadying hand as always whilst Christina and Robert the perfect hosts, showing us “their” Italy on tours & boats and treating us to drinks and long lunches. The usual Mr Grumpy was nowhere to be found and in his place was Mr Perfect and clearly I bought the birthday boy the wrong T-shirt as the photo shows! Oh and I’m not sure what I added to the group but I like to think it was a touch of enthusiasm for life!

INSPIRATIONS FOR ARTWORKS TO COME

I think perhaps all of us fell a little in love with Italy and everything Italian- their passion, the language, scenery, people, wine & Limoncello and the food.

I always thought the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach but go figure it works just the same on a woman, lol. My mantra has always been; “Just because I am on a diet, doesn’t mean I cannot look at the menu, right?” Yes and look I did, well what’s a hot-blooded girl to do when the “chef extraordinaire” says he is making love to you with his eyes and through his food, bringing out dish after dish and then watches every bite you take….

Oh temptations… here are a couple of quotes on the subject which amused me;

“ Nothing makes it easier to resist temptation than a proper bringing-up, a sound set of values – and witnesses.”

(Franklin P. Jones)

“Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell.”

(Author Unknown)

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting!

Love Marie xxx

If you enjoyed this art blog you may also enjoy these about our cruising adventure; 139 Cruising on the Pacific Jewel & Art and 138 Leaving Sydney Harbour & Art and 144 Mystery Island & Art and 143 ART, LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE ISLE OF PINES and 149 Art,Lifou and Sharks

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154 Galah Art

mariejon — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 04:39:18 +0000

PAINTING BIRDS

Galah is sometimes used as a derogatory Australian slang word meaning ‘fool’ or ‘idiot’ or someone dressing in a gaudy fashion, which is where the term “flaming galah” probably comes from. However I can reassure you that the real thing, the parrot is certainly a very clever bird.

THE ART OF SOCCER

I have had my lovely Galah for the last 28 years, her name is Pele named after the Brazilian soccer player, strange name for a girl – well at the time when she got her name we thought she was a boy.

Although I have just recently found out that there is also a connection to an Australian team of footballers that played against the Irish, in a series of test matches of International Rules Football in the late 1960’s which were nicknamed “The Galahs” so perhaps the name Pele, does fit her for many reasons.

Still to this day whenever I refer to her I call Pele “him” even though she has demonstrated many times by laying EGGS that she is a girl!

NAIVE PAINTING OF BIRDS

You familiar with my art would have seen that in most of my paintings there is a galah somewhere and more often than not a whole flock of them. They are such a lovely bird to paint with the distinctive bright pink body with a pale grey to mid-grey back and rump, a pink face and a light pink mobile crest.

Pele picked all her feathers on her chest out when she was very young so she looks a little like a half plucked chicken, LOL. The fact that she likes to tear up and hide in newspapers at the bottom of her cage doesn’t help her looks either as the black from the print turns her lovely color a little dirty too.

Without the warmth of her chest feathers Pele lives in two cages one outside during the day and then I get her to hop on my finger and she comes in to the studio where she has a smaller cage to sleep in. If the weather is very cold she stays inside amusing herself with cardboard boxes and newspapers and toys, rustling around keeping me company as I paint.

THE ART OF GETTING FAT

However a check up at the vet today revealed that she is getting too fat! My Galah is obese with some fatty tumors called lipomas on her abdomen and legs. So now the poor bird has to be on a diet, no more treats of cheese, bread and sunflower seeds, just vegies and special pellets and budgie mix is allowed. Poor darling I know how boring diets can be, well I guess most of us do in the western societies.

Galahs are very loyal and mate for life and Pele thinks we are married and dislikes my real hubby very much, trying to give him a nip if he walks past.

This quote made me laugh as Pele would no doubt love to do to my hubby if she could;

“Birds of a feather flock together and crap on your car.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and bird keeping,

Love Marie xxx

If you want to read a funny story about dogs here is an art blog about that; 28. ART & Sometimes its just about the little noises you hear

153 The Art of Saturday Night

mariejon — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 09:42:31 +0000

THE ART OF HAPPINESS

My husband and I have always had a happiness trick that we have used throughout the years and that is to play Saturday night!

The art of happiness, what is that I hear you ask – well it goes something like this;

You know when you have those days or weeks where life gets you down, the car won’t start in the morning and then you get the electricity bill which throws you and then you drop the jar of jam which makes a mess everywhere. Mmmm… that is when my husband and I looks at each other and decide now we got to play “Saturday Night”.

Playing “Saturday Night” is great and the best thing about it is it can be any day of the week. All you have to do is to make it cosy. A yummy dinner is required but it can be as easy as a take away pizza or as fancy as a 3 course meal. Take away containers are not allowed in sight as it should feel special, so no plastic cups either just good glasses. Setting the table in an artistic fashion adds to the mood, all the colors in the paint pallet makes me feel good. Candle light is always nice, as is a roaring fire or sitting by a pool in summer or running water (even a small water feature will do.)

Now for us a bottle of red wine is a must but of course, use whatever drink is your favourite. When we were having money problems early on in our marriage the budget would only stretch to a $4 dollar bottle of wine, but that didn’t spoil our fun one bit, it tasted just fine to me at the time.

If you feel like talking do so over dinner but if you need to just switch off get a good movie and just get lost in it.

When the kids were little we always had chip and dip and lollies on a Saturday and watched a family movie together before they went to bed and then we would continue with the adult version of our Saturday night!

THE ART OF BEING CREATIVE

Of course you could also schedule in a picnic or a day’s outing as you can see in this handmade ceramic and mosaic artwork – where we are going to Granite Island, South Australia. Of course painting,sculpting and just creating anything has always helped me be happy too. So I would really recommend that – a hobby of some kind, even cooking is creative.

If you have little kids they may enjoy an extra Saturday night every week too. We swear by it, of course whatever problems you have are still there in the morning but to take a little vacation from the stress and worry even if it is only for a few hours, certainly has always helped us.

Oh before you think that our poor kids were fed a diet of chip and dip and lollies I have to say that during the week both at school and at home we all ate a very healthy diet, so once or twice a week to be able to have some “naughty” foods made it all the more special.

Just as sometimes if we went to an all you can eat type of place we would let the kids attack the dessert bar before their main course, lol. This happened rarely mind you but it was so worth it just to see their excited little faces!

So here is a quote I think fits perfectly here by Jacques Torres;

“Life is short. Eat dessert first”. – Jacques Torres

Till next time, happy painting or sculpting!

Love Marie xxx

If you fancy reading another art blog about how to make yourself happy here is a link; 33. Art & Dont worry be happy

152 Art of Ducks (Canard) in Noumea

mariejon — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 08:52:30 +0000

THE ART OF HOLIDAYING

We set sail for Noumea after leaving Lifou and had a few cocktails on deck before the silver service dinner at the Waterfront restaurant.

Had we realized it was Island night and all that entailed we would have joined in the BBQ festivities up top deck as the ship was jumping that night – we later found out.

If you like this acrylic Duck and Cat painting it is available as a free E-card on my website. Also If you would like to recap on the previous stories of our big adventure, here is some links to my travel and art blogs; “LEAVING SYDNEY HARBOR” and “CRUISING ON THE PACIFIC JEWEL” and “ART,LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE ISLE OF PINES

THE ART OF THE PARTY

When we finally emerged from dinner the Island Deck Party was in full swing and as you would have it – it was only me the “party animal” that still had the stamina to boogie on down lol. But with 5 others to consider and 4 of them half my age I tried to contain myself just for a change!! Not easily done when you have ants in your pants and love to dance and party!

The music was pumping with Grooveline and the entertainment team got everybody grooving and the Pacific Cirque did a Circus de Solae act which was amazing. A really spectacular Island Party, so just a hint for you cruise takers – read your daily newsletter and get to the party so worth it.

In the morning the ship entered the reefs of New Caledonia through the Havannah passage then through the Woodin Canal entering the Petit Rade and berthing at Quai Des Longs Couriers in Noumea. From there we could walk of the ship no tenders required and found our way to a tour bus to explore the island, getting an all day hop on hop off bus ticket.

THE ART OF THE FRENCH PACIFIC

The travel brochure says “Noumea combines all the flavor and ambiance of a bustling, sophisticated provincial French town with the friendly charms, adventure and heavenly climate of the Pacific Islands”. However I was surprised to see the western influence was much stronger than the Islanders. I think I was more expecting a New Orleans feel with the French and colored mix, eclectic and exciting. To me it felt a bit clinical or nouveau riche.

After a market visit and seeing the aquarium we decided to take a water taxi out to Canard Island (Duck Island) This tropical paradise is very small and intimate but had a lovely restaurant and a great reef for snorkelling. As the day was the warmest to date even I decided to snorkel.

THE ART OF SNORKELING

Hillivi and Brett decided to just chill on the lazy-boys but that was quickly nipped in the bud when they were asked to pay up for the pleasure, at some astronomical rate of $10 dollars per hour per person to lay on a chair in the sun – should one wish to have a sun umbrella for some shade that would double the price! Lol, so we were met by some rather grumpy faces when we finished the snorkeling. Added to that we timed our departure from the Island a bit wrong as both the water taxi as well as the ‘you beaute’ hop on hop off bus must have been on “Island Time” as the promised 10 minute intervals was more like 40 minutes.

THE ART OF SPEAKING FRENCH

What impressed me no end on the bus was Hillivi’s normally reserved farmer boyfriend Brett suddenly starting to speak French to the bus driver as the rest of us were panicking when the bus took us in the opposite direction to the cruise ship. (Not just a little bit of French but full on – could have knocked us over with a feather LOL.)

So it was a rather flustered 6 people who finally made it back to the cruise ship with 2 minutes to spare before cast off. We were the lucky ones, one other couple missed the ship completely and they had to sail away without them, poor buggers, that would have spoiled the holiday!! I wonder what their excuse was.

Here is a quote I think fit well here by Kimberly Johnson,

“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxxx

151 The Art of not sweating the small stuff

mariejon — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 15:24:25 +0000

ART AND FEELING GOOD

All of us sweat the small stuff from time to time but really we shouldn’t, however that’s easier said than done. So what about making a list of the things that make you happy, the things you either love to do or think about.

I have created such a list here, in no particular order mind you! I would love to hear what makes you happy too so let me know?

This acrylic on board painting is my family and friends in Bali for my birthday surprise party that hubby had organized, which is certainly an experience that made me very happy!

But you know the things in life that causes the most happiness are mostly things that are free or at least does not cost too much.

MY HAPPINESS LIST

Time spent with my Swedish cousins

Skipping (even if you are over forty and your husband thinks it is unbecoming for a grown woman)

Puppy breath

The smell of horses

The smell of freshly cut grass

The colour and smell of flowers

Watching the sunset

Hugging someone you Love

Dinner and drinks with good friends

Being in Love

The smell of sundried sheets on the bed

A hot shower

A glass of Red Wine

Childhood memories

Fresh Flowers

Sparkling Red

Cuddling with my dogs

Tail wagging when you come home

A cuddle with my 28 year old Galah

Rain on the Roof

Hearing “Mummy I Love You” – at any age

Painting

Creating in any medium

Reading a good book

Walking on the Beach

And Just walking anytime – anywhere

Swedish Daim chocolates

Dutch extra salted liquorice

My Dads phone calls

My mother’s sense of humour

My husband’s cooking and knowing he loves me still after all these years!

Exploring a new city

Train rides

Favourite songs on the radio

Giggling and not being able to stop

Laughing so hard your face hurts

Loving someone and knowing they love you

Knowing somebody misses you

The smell of the ocean

A summer’s breeze

The view from our house

Twittering birds

Green, green grass

All the colours of nature

A favourite quotation

Seeing a good piece of art

Creating a good piece of art

Naive artists – all artists

When my paintings find a “good” home

Being offered a new artistic venture

Remembering my kids as little children

Seeing my children growing up and becoming delightful adults

Memories of my loving Grandparents

Getting a massage

Paying it forward

A gift of handmade biscuits, cakes & Rocky road

First coffee of the day

Breakfast in bed

A shoulder to lean on

Shopping with my daughter

My son tracking our travels & checking we arrive safely

My daughters planned “Mother & Daughter” surprises

A good movie

A night at the theatre

Listening to children giggle

Phone calls from my kids

Family holidays

Having an open fire

The smell of a wood oven

The smell of bread baking

Sleeping with our dogs in the bed!!

Buying a gift for someone you love

Giving a present

A drink in a Bali hut by the pool

Being busy with lots of projects on!

Meeting people who collect my paintings or read my art blogs

A cup of Belgian Hot Chocolate

My son teaching me something new

Dancing ALL night

Swimming on a hot day or night time swims

So now I hope you will go and make your own list too! Here is a quote I like by Richard Carlson

“Learning to stop sweating the small stuff involves deciding what things to engage in and what things to ignore. From a certain perspective, life can be described as a series of mistakes, one right after another with a little space in between.”

And this one;

“Choose to be kind over being right and you’ll be right everytime.”

So till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx

Here is another way to make you feel good that have made a huge difference in our lives; 153 The Art of Saturday Night

149 Art,Lifou and Sharks

mariejon — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 05:37:34 +0000

TRAVEL AND ART BLOG

Next stop on our cruising adventure was Lifou, and if you have just joined me and want to recap on how this P&O holiday actually started here are some links for you to read of our adventures so far and see the paintings and artworks in these travel and art blogs “LEAVING SYDNEY HARBOR” and “CRUISING ON THE PACIFIC JEWEL” and “ART,LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE ISLE OF PINES”.

ISLAND INSPIRES AN ARTIST

Lifou is the largest island in the archipelago of Loyalty Islands. The population is just over 10,000 people who speak French and Kanak dialects and the currency is French Pacific Franc. It is a beautiful Island with long stretches of white sandy beaches, limestone caves, grottos and cliffs and small coves. They say time passes more slowly than in other places and are measured by the tides, sunrises and sunsets rather than by clocks. Not that we could enjoy that part as coming off the cruise you have strict instructions – the last tender back to the boat leaves at 4 o’clock and if you miss that you’re buggered! LOL

However we did have a gorgeous time even so, firstly we took the 25 minute walk through a little forest to the Lady of Lourdes church built by the Catholic missionaries in 1898. Beautiful white exterior stands out against the green forest with stunning views all around, could even see the cruise ship too.

ACRYLIC PAINTING

This acrylic on canvas board painting shows the underwater experience to come, many of my paintings and sculptures yes all artworks often have a water theme.

THE ART OF STAYING ALIVE

Then we went and had a look at the snorkelling reef which we later returned to before taking another exploring walk heading to the Secret Grotto. That was really interesting navigating through the rain forest down steep steps (felt like a scene from Tomb Raider) and into a dark dark grotto, where all of a sudden we saw a movement and were met by the white of someone’s eyes. Turns out it was a gorgeous local man with a speech impediment apart from the obvious language barrier, however he told us all we needed to know with grunts and sign language. Lucky he was there and had a torch or we would no doubt plunge to our deaths in a crystal clear 10 meter deep pool which was just inside the entrance of this black cave!

Our next death defying adventure was when we went on a tour to the township of We, it is a sleepy town in the bay de Chateaubriand on the east coast and is the main center of Lifou well apparently the whole of the Loyalty Islands.

The brochure boasts “try some of the local cuisine in one of the town’s restaurants or cafe.” However all that we could find was a take away shop and a supermarket, and we were now on a guided tour mind you so our guide should have known! We ended up buying some chips and sat on the beach and took a walk instead.

The one hour car ride was more than scary as the female driver was overtaking everything in sight one minute and then kept falling asleep and having to hang her head out the window to stay awake the next.

She delivered us back in one piece where we tried a bit of Kava (not a big hit, lol) and then headed over to the snorkelling place. We all love snorkelling however there was a little dampener put on this thought after we heard about the “Shark attack in Lifou” which Hillivi then Googled and yes sure enough in the very place where we were going for a swim a French nurse was taken in 2007 by a Great White whilst snorkelling with a friend.

THE ART OF A SHARK-SPOTTER

Still the water was welcoming and the tide and reef provided some good protection so swimming seemed not too dangerous and I was took the post as “Chief Shark Spotter”.

So here is a quote I think fits well here by Ovid;

“Chance is always powerful, let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish”.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and maybe snorkeling to you all,

Love Marie xxx (c)

145 Art Lovers & Artists Unite

mariejon — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 06:19:13 +0000

FAVORITE ARTISTS

Have you been wondering why your favorite artist, whether it is visual art, singer, band, writer, photographer or whatever page you have already LIKED is not showing up in your HOME page anymore.

Well the reason is simple since facebook was listed on the stock exchange and did rather worse than expected they are now pulling out the big guns in how to turn a profit.

Artists are passionate people and what could be more passionate than getting married so I thought this acrylic on canvas board was a good fit for this art blog. This naive painting “BALLOON WEDDING” is also available as Giclee Prints.

ARTIST FAN PAGE

If an ARTIST has a FAN page, facebook are requiring them to pay to have their status updates read by all their subscribers. This is even though you have already “Liked” the page thus indicating that you would like to see their updates through your homepage regularly. Instead the content we are currently posting goes through less than 10% of the news-feeds. We used be able to post updates as messages but that function has been removed as has suggest pages to friends.

ARTISTS PAGES

However there is a way around this. Go to your favorite Artists pages and hover over the button on the page where it says “LIKE” or “LIKED” and then make sure you are check marked to “show in news feed”. This will not cost you anything nor the artist and you won’t miss updates from your favorite pages.

This week I have had several messages saying that none of my posts are coming through to my fans and friends as the same thing is also happening on our own profile pages. With 3700 fans on my Naive Art by Marie Jonsson-Harrison and a further 2300 subscribers and over 5000 friends on my personal page (never mind 12000 followers all told on social media) I thought this strange to0. It seems as Facebook is up to the same trick with our friends pages and trying to make you pay either by having a post highlighted, superliked, announced or promoted so that your friends will see it.

SUBSCRIBED TO ARTISTS OR PEOPLE IN GENERAL

So there is a way around this too. Firstly go to the profile page of the person whose content you would like to see in your HOME page and then make sure you have subscribed to their post. This is of course if they are not already one of your friends and are happy to have people subscribe to their content. At the same time hover on the subscribed button and tick “all updates” and make sure the events are ticked as well such as status updates, photos, music & video.

FRIENDS NOT JUST ARTISTS

Finally the same thing is happening to you and your friends own profile pages. At the moment Facebook is not putting your friends updates on your home page unless you have specifically asked for it. So make sure you go to your friends profile pages and hover over the “FRIENDS” button and the dropdown list will come up – there make sure that “show in Newsfeed” is ticked.

What I find sad is that artists all create work because they have a passion; they want to make you FEEL. Some artists like I would like to make you smile, brighten your day; make you forget your troubles for a little while, make you feel good about being alive and perhaps also make you think about something that you hadn’t thought of before. Whether it is in regard to human condition the plight of animals, environmental or just a funny situation.

So come on EVERYBODY and support your favourite ARTISTS and brighten everybody’s day.

Here is a quote I like from the movie P.S. I Love You;

“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you,

Love Marie xxxx

So I hope this information was useful to you, however if you want to read something a bit more amusing, here is a link; 6. San Francisco Art Blog

140 ART n BED

mariejon — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:23:04 +0000

PAINTING ON BEDDING

Finally I can share with you my exciting news; my artwork is now available in a bedding range with ARTnBed which launched in New York this week and available throughout the USA.

ART FOUND ON THE WEB

It all started in October 2011 when I was approached by Mr Lior Rapaport an Israeli entrepreneur, who had found my artwork on the MOMA Facebook website (Museum of Modern Art NY) and from there looked at the rest of my artwork on my own artist website.

ARTnBED bought the copyright (bedding) for my acrylic painting ‘The True colours of Hindley Street” and I will also receive royalties for the items sold.

Although I have been approached with various ideas before, this time I had no hesitation as Mr Rapaports care and consideration both for me as an artist as well as for the product and what he wanted to achieve was second to none.

HIGH QUALITY ART

The utmost care has been taken in the design face with high resolution printing on sateen fabrics, 100% cotton which was chosen because it was best suited to printing the high resolution images in the highest quality possible and was also beautiful to sleep in.

The exciting quilt features all the one-time familiar icons of Hindley Street, Adelaide, Australia which is the place where everything happens, Action, Atmosphere and Nightlife –Jules Bar, Downtown Leisure Centre, Flash Coffee Gelateria and Jerusalem Restaurant in a splash of vibrant street life. Crazy Horse nightclub is depicted alongside Goodwill Stores. And the instantly recognisable eclectic imagery is jammed with a multi-cultural crowd of people.

The South Australian Tourist Commission’s David O’loughlin thought this was so much fun and came up with the slogan; “Thousands of Americans are sleeping in Hindley Street tonight!”

The whole ARTnBED concept springs from Lior Rapaport and his wife Sharons 4 year spell living in Paris where they enjoyed strolling the beautiful streets, exploring the incredible museums, sampling the rich cuisine and soaking up the sights and sounds. They discovered that they shared a passion for the arts and started a art collection together and when they finally left Paris it was with a trunk full of memories, original paintings and two beautiful daughters.

When it came to setting up a more permanent home together they found a gap in the market – there were no original artwork on luxury bed linen. So they started a search to find exciting artists so they could convert their vibrancy and spirit from the walls and on to the beds and voila ARTnBED was born.

With much success in Israel it is now New Yorks turn with many more cities and countries to follow. Our Art, Your bed so follow your heart, sleep in Art.

So here is a quote by Jean Paul Richter which I think fits well here;

“Art is indeed not the bread but the wine of life”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and maybe sleeping to you all,

Love Marie xxx

Here is my blog about the many crazy nights spent having fun in Hindley street called Girls Night Out.

139 Cruising on the Pacific Jewel & Art

mariejon — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 03:42:11 +0000

THE ART OF THE CRUISE

If you have just joined me now you may want to read the travel and art blog “Leaving Sydney Harbor” as this tale is the continuation. My family and I are now on the Pacific Jewel a P&O ship sailing from Sydney to New Caledonia and Vanuatu, stopping at Isle of Pines, Mystery Island, Lifou and Noumea.

We departed Darling Harbour and set sail under the iconic Harbour Bridge, passing the Opera house and Fort Denison before leaving the Heads in the evening twilight. The entertainment onboard was rocking and the drinks flowing as we turned into a long North-Easterly course towards New Caledonia, initially passing Nobo’s Head and Port Stephens before leaving the mainland astern.

PAINTING INSPIRATIONS

Here is a acrylic painting on canvas that I recently painted dreaming of our cruising holiday.

The Pacific Jewel has a capacity of 1915 passengers and 730 crew, it was built the same year my daughter was born 1991, and for you that loves facts and figures its length is 811ft/245 metres with a gross tonnage of 70,310 tons, draft 8.2 meters and the max speed is 20 knots. Captained by Tony Draper from Scotland and the rest of the senior officers are from England, Italy, Zambia, USA, South Africa, France, India and Bulgaria, so a rich mixture of cultures from all over the world.

The Pacific Jewel can carry the equivalent of five fully laden 747 jumbo jets and is 50% bigger than the Titanic and the same size as the Cunards Queen Elizabeth with a two story show lounge that can seat 800 people. So it is a big ship – a great ship to work on according to some of the crew who told us that they don’t have too far to go to work as compared to the Queen Mary ll where you need to get up and hour earlier just to be able to walk an hour to work each day!! Hard to imagine isn’t it.

THE ART OF BEING GREEN

Anyway after we set sail and had a little rest we dressed for dinner which the silver service restaurant required, smart casual today. Kai’s girlfriend Sam was putting on a brave face and joined us for dinner even though she was looking a little green around the gills – if that is possible for a beautiful Fijian woman! Poor baby, it wasn’t long before she had to excuse herself and retired to her room with green apples and bread rolls for dinner as prescribed by the crew to ward off seasickness.

Next call would have been the on-board Doctors seasickness injections, luckily Sam found some tablets that seemed to keep it at bay as the injections were $120 a pop we later found out. Too bad if you had a real bad case and needed a couple of shoots a day!

THE ART OF THE CHEF

The rest of us enjoyed our 3 course dinner and Hillivi and myself were in heaven – we are both Celiac (gluten intolerant) and vegetarian but that was no obstacle as a special menu was arranged and every need taken care of by our wonderful maître de Eroni Vvetibau (Fijian) and Chef Bupendra (India). It is no wonder that people put on weight on cruises, the food is absolutely magnificent, a wide choice of dishes every night to choose from, everything that you could wish for from every part of the world too. Oh Chef Bupendra I want to take you home!!

We were spoilt rotten by our waiters Rajesh Dzouza (Indian) and Nathan Legaspi (Philippine) with our every need taken care of; they were funny as a fit too with all sorts of tricks! I had no idea that so many things could be made out of serviettes – no idea at all!

THE ART OF THE DIET

There is no wonder that quite a few rather large people were on the cruise – I am not sure what came first though, if they came on the cruise because of their size and leisurely style of holiday or they put on the weight whilst on the cruise because of the wonderful food. All I know for sure is that when you get home you have to diet for a while – oh how boring I hate diets!!

Here is a quote I like by Woody Allen on the subject;

When we lose twenty pounds… we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you,

Love Marie xxx (c)

137 ICE SKATING IN CENTRAL PARK & ART

mariejon — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:37:58 +0000

ACRYLIC ON CANVAS PAINTING

This acrylic on canvas board painting is called “Ice Skating in Central Park” and was inspired by our trip to New York a few years ago. Here is the start of that story if you would like to recap in the paintings blog “I MISS NEW YORK”.

THE ART OF ICE-SKATING

We were in the mood for some ice skating and initially we went and had a look at the ice rink at the Rockefeller Centre but that was standing room only absolutely chockablock full of people – not that we were planning for any laying down on the ice but you got to have some swing room right?

Perhaps that would have been the perfect place for me to skate as I have a bit of a history when it comes to ice skating. Just to digress from New York for a moment my ice skating incident was in Melbourne some 10 or so years ago.

The kids and I had gone over there and stayed with friends and smarty pant “moi” thought I would show off a little bit. I was born in Sweden after all and spent a lot of time skating as you do in a cold climate. I had my own white skates when I was little and could do all the fancy spins and turns like a regular ice princess. So I obviously thought that skating was just like riding a bike, never mind the decades that had passed in the meanwhile!

THE ART OF THE SHOW OFF

When we arrived there were some competition skaters practicing and I thought this would be my moment of glory to show off for the kids, so off I went and did my spins and turns like a prima ballerina and the kids were so impressed. Oh mummy they said; “You are so good at it” and my head swelled even bigger as I copied the fancy turns of the practicing couple. By now the kids accolades had completely gone to my head and I had thoughts of being asked to join a professional group for the winter Olympics or even a gold medal, the sky is the limit right? I thought I would do some backward tricks next and that’s when I came undone – fell down HARD on my bum and broke my coccyx.

THE ART OF BEING A STAR

Yep that’s what happens when you get too big for your britches and think that you are a star; you land on your bum quick smart!

It was such a strange experience when I fell as suddenly even my hearing disappeared and it felt like I was enclosed in a glass case with the kids and all the other people outside, I could hear them talking to me and see them but all muffled and dreamlike. Instead of glory I got 3 weeks of lying on a mattress watching telly instead, waiting for the pain to subside! Note to self don’t be a show off!

So back to New York and this time the kids and I went skating in Central Park, to the same place where they filmed Serendipity, no showing off this time and we all stayed on our feet and afterwards enjoyed some hot chocolate.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

I really wasn’t prepared for the size of Central Park, it is so big. We were there during December so there was lots of snow on the ground and most of the trees had lost their leaves. Another time it would be lovely to visit when it is all green too. We also enjoyed a horse drawn carriage around the park which was lots of fun and of course reminded us of Kramer and Seinfeld. Lots of images for artworks and Artworks blogs, how to fit in making all the sculptures and paintings?

Here is a Danish proverb I think fits here

“Bad is never good until worse happens.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all and maybe skating,

Love Marie xxx (c)

135 History of Mosaics

mariejon — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:12:56 +0000

THE ARTWORK LAST SUPPER

This work “Last Supper” is one that I have painted in acrylic and also done in ceramics and mosaic and as today’s topic for my art blog touches on the history of mosaic I thought this work would be a good one to feature.

MOSAIC HISTORY

The History of Mosaic seems to begin in the ancient near east, with some of the earliest known pieces made with pebbles of contrasting colors, coming from Greece.

It was the Romans however who really developed the art of mosaic.

The first most intricate mosaic from Pompeii was made in small panels, many of which have survived the volcanic eruptions of Mt Vesuvius. This year I was very fortunate to actually visit Italy and go and see this amazing site for myself. Pompeii is truly remarkable and a real lesson in history, that’s for sure.

Mosaics have been used as a decorative medium on walls and columns for nearly 5000 years.

After the renaissance, the art of mosaics went into decline, but was revived in the mid 19th century.

But even before mosaic became popular, man was creating images in clay from almost the beginning of his existence.

ARTISTIC DRIVE

Sometimes the pieces were used for everyday purposes and other times just as a means of expressing his own artistic drive.

Either way it was the tactile quality of the clay that allowed the artist to combine from and texture and feelings to produce work that can be appreciated whether it was made 10000 years ago or last week.

It was in the 50s and 60s that form and function were really challenged by modern potters, experimenting with avant-gard work.

Funky pottery and individual approaches which now frees the artists own creativity and self expression.

I do believe that every human is artistic; it may just take a little time to find the medium that suits the individual.

I wish you all the best on your creative journey, whether it is purely for pleasure or profit or both.

Put your heart and soul into it , develop your passions, work hard and stay focused.

Don’t worry about setbacks, every one has them, believe in yourself and most of all enjoy creating and dreaming.

If you are passionate about your work and love doing it, then there can be no greater high, I believe.

When I had finished my first ever artwork (36. How it all began)my father bought me a set of acrylic paints and brushes as well as made me a painting case with the words “Dream on, because dreams are what art is made of” and darling dad – I couldn’t agree more.

Till next time happy painting, sculpting and mosaicing,

Love Marie xxx (c)

134 Mothers Day and Mothers Guilt & Art

mariejon — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:38:44 +0000

THE ART OF MOTHER’S DAY

Another Mothers Day is drawing close and I have to admit I do love them. It is lovely to get those little treats and spend the day with the family. This year baby girl is taking me out for the day, starting with lunch not sure what else is planned but later in the day we will go and visit both sets of Grandparents too, Happy Mother’s Day Mormor and Nana!. To me it’s not so much the pressie giving etc that is important but to spend time together and let the mothers in your life know that they are loved.

THE ART OF BEING A MOTHER

For being a mother is the most fantastic gift but at the same time a guilt ridden curse. It was hard enough when the kids were little but at least then I was the boss and could tuck them safely into their beds at night and keep the monsters from the door. Now I need a Lear jet and an Uzi to be of any use.

This acrylic on canvas board painting is called” It’s too late to turn back now” which is a quote equally appropriate to both parachute jumping and motherhood!

THE ART OF KEEPING THEM SAFE

Kai our son is safely (LOL) living with us now but a year or two ago when he spent his gap year overseas I was driving him nuts with my various warnings of imminent danger.

Kai had been living and working at a hotel in Cheltenham and travelling around Europe on his days off so every car, bus or train accident and the like talked about on the news sent me scurrying to the phone to text and make sure he was oK.

Like Darth Vader against a terrorist bomb, that was me! Suddenly the volcano erupted another thing to worry about, he already had his flight home with a Bangkok stopover cancelled for a week. Let’s not forget there is also swine flu, Pick pockets, the Bangkok riots, sitting no further that 7 seats from an exit on the plane, drink spiking and gangs with knifes!

THE ART OF DRIVING THE KIDS NUTS

My mantra to myself was “Oh grow up girl and get a grip” I know I should, but my children are so precious, bad enough with baby girl here in Adelaide, I know I drive her crazy too. Poor baby girl at 21 years old still has to text her mum after every car trip to say she is safe, never mind the fact that one could get ones eye poked out with a sharp stick (lol that was always my dad’s warning too, as soon as me or my brother did anything remotely dangerous).

The Swedes have a very good word for my behaviour and that is “Mesar” which is a bird in Sweden that is known as a little coward, wimpy, so that’s what an overprotective mother preaching excessive caution is called!

So Mums take a deep breath and enjoy your day, relax, permit yourself to get pampered and forget about the worries for one day.

Here is quote I think fits well her by Sophia Loren;

“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.”

Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and stop worrying!

Love Marie xxxxx

If you enjoyed this art blog you may also like this one; 86 A million miles an hour and little miss chuck up in Art

133 Pie Floater in Acrylic or Sculpture

mariejon — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:29:27 +0000

ACRYLIC PAINTING

This acrylic painting is called the Pie Cart and I have also made a similar one in ceramic and mosaic as a commission that hung at the Adelaide Airport. Perhaps you also have some pie carts in your town?

Here in Adelaide we have had them since 1870 in Norwood and later in the city, at one stage there were 13 of them around town. My memory of them does not stretch that far lol, but I do remember one on Franklin Street and the other in front of the Adelaide rail way station.

THE ART OF THE PIE CART

A Pie Cart is a caravan or trailer with a window along one side where you can sit and eat, although most people stand and eat, perhaps that is because you want to test yourself, to see if you still can. Well that is because the pie cart is usually the place to go late at night after too many drinks, when you start to get hungry and need a little help to sober up. Of course I had to paint from experience as usual – you know I had to stay up till 2am in the morning, have too much to drink and really gage the atmosphere right? All in the name of research of course, suffering all the way!

THE ART OF THE TECHNI-COLORED YAWN

Not that they sell too much that I could eat there anyway being a vegetarian and all. The menu consists mainly of pies (funny about that) they did sell hot chips which I could eat and pea soup. Speaking of which, pea soup that is, as you can see above not all people like it – or is that a reflection of too much to drink. Here in Australia we call that a Techni-colored yawn. LOL. If it also looks as if someone has Casino chips and throwing money around on the painting that is because our Casino is in the same building as the Railway Station in Adelaide.

Then there was Beef pie, Camel pie, Chicken and Vegetable Pie, Chilli Steak Pie, Egg, Bacon and Tomato Pie, Lamb Pie, Steak and Kidney Pie, Roo Pie, Tuna and Vegetable Pie, also ice coffees and soft drinks as well as hot tea and coffee, donuts and some cakes. I do have a distant memory of scoffing down a vanilla slice early in the morning way before I even had my painting research to blame that on! I am reliably informed that more recently they were also offering vegetarian pasties, spinach and fetta triangles, but the most famous of all their dishes were the Pie Floater.

THE ART OF THE CONDIMENTS

So what is that I hear you ask, well self explanatory really, a bowl of soup with a pie in the middle, often served with tomato sauce on top, you can also add other condiments such as Worcestershire sauce or vinegar. We actually have it every Australia Day now at home, my hubby makes a great vego version with a vego pie and it is delicious. As the Pie Floater was recognized as a South Australian Heritage Icon in 2003 by the National Trust of Australia we think it is fitting to serve it when we have overseas visitors too. You know a bit of Aussie fun and so far it has always been a big hit.

There are 2 trains of thought how the pie floater was originally created. One story takes it back to the Great Depression, whereby pie manufacturers would donate their left-overs to soup kitchens, who in turn would add the pie to their soups to make the meals for the homeless more substantial.

The other thought goes back even longer than that – 130 years no less as early records held by the South Australian National Trust puts the Pie Floaters origin in Port Pirie where a man named Ern “Shorty” Bradley ate one. It is not known if it was his intention to put the pie in the soup or perhaps he dropped it into the bowl by accident, no one really knows. But I am glad he did.

ARTISTS WHO LOVE IT

Famous people who love the Pie Floater are Joe Cocker, Billy Connolly, Nigel Mansell, Shane Warne and Angus Young from one of my favorite bands AC/DC.

Here is a Jewish Proverb by that I think fits well here;

“Worries go down better with soup”.

Although perhaps this quote by Robert Byrne hits the mark a bit more;

“Anybody who believes that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach flunked geography.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and eating to you all,

Love Marie xxx (c)

If you liked this food and art blog you may also enjoy this one; 83 Art & Are you fond of Fondue

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

127 Easter and Animated Paintings

mariejon — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:56:22 +0000

ARTIST WEBSITE

So it’s the week of Easter and this year my Easter surprise was that my website crashed for 4 days!! Apologies are in order to those of you who tried to unsuccessfully access it, nice to know that it was due to a lot of traffic, so thank you.

EASTER AND ANIMATION

Anyway the story this week is of course about Easter and this will be our third one here by the sea, time flies when you are having fun. The animated painting is of course a scene from my background as a Swede and the Swedish Easter painting is animated and set to music by my friend Susan Flashman. I can sense the confusion on your faces as to what witches has to do with Easter so here is the story about that.

COMMISSIONED PAINTINGS

We Swedes are weird, you know in a nice way, and it wasn’t until we immigrated to Australia that I realized that fact. I was originally commissioned to paint a Easter painting 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, you know who I mean! I think the animation and the naive painting really suits Halloween too.

THE ART OF EASTER

When I was little in Sweden we would dress up as Easter witches, raid mums or grandma’s wardrobe for long skirts. We wore colorful head scarves and painted our cheeks red, and then we would go from house to house in our neighborhood and knock on every door and be given lollies and sometimes fruit. Much like the Americans do for Halloween.

PAINTING BOILED EGGS

We would also spend a day painting boiled eggs which would later be eaten during 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. Every Swedish household would have a vase of these on the table.

ORIGINAL PAINTING

The original painting was framed with the Easter eggs on the side. Yes we would receive an Easter egg too 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!

This quote by Matt Lauer made me laugh today:

“Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana. The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two but can’t remember what they are.”

Hope you are enjoying your chocolates!

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie xxx

If you enjoyed this one you may also like another art blog on Swedish customs 113 Art & Swedish Traditions, Another weird one