It doesn’t take long for the year to roll around and before you know it is Christmas again!  This year as we often do we are going to see the spectacle Carols by Candle light in Elder Park, Adelaide.  It always inspires the creative process and I am sure many artists feel the same way.

CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT

These days we celebrate Carols by Candlelight all over Australia in all the capital cities and smaller country towns and they are held on many different dates all throughout December.   This time my husband and I together with our daughter and her boyfriend are planning to attend.  It is great that this tradition has now spread around the world and people gather usually outdoors in parks and sing carols in choirs and usually accompanied by musicians.  Lots of wonderful artists both very famous and up and coming stars do the rounds of the different shows and they are compared for the most part by Radio and Television personalities here in Australia anyway.  The audience of course sing along and everyone has a candle or two which they hold up and sway from side to side with the music at times, a very atmospheric sight just glorious!

ARTISTIC INSPIRATION

As a family together with my mum and dad we started going to the open concert after our son Kai was born and soon joined by the little miss Hillivi and we have only missed a few along the way.  In times gone by we used to arrive early in the afternoon to stake our claim on a spot close to the stage put down a picnic blanket with a basket full of delicious goodies and lovely wine.  It was always a few hours wait before the show began at sunset and we would take turns to stake our claim on the blanket whilst some of us would head up to the city to shop and walk about.  These days we arrive a little later but it is still something we look forward to very much.  However there was one year that nearly turned us off for life when the weather suddenly changed and turned so nasty we thought we would freeze to death.  We still talk about how the coldness that night was equal to shopping down Canal Street in New York at Christmas time, well nearly anyway!  This time the weather is supposed to be nice and warm so lets hope that is the case.

CERAMIC AND MOSAIC

It was this time last year that my art blog and painting featured the acrylic painting of Swedish Lucia which was used for Project mapping on the Swedish Embassy in Poland see this story 205 Projection Mapping & Art in Animation This week however the artwork is a wall based sculpture and made from handmade ceramic and mosaic and features a sing-a-long family around the piano, with some recognizable artists artwork on the walls! (If you look close, you will find Picasso and Miro among others)

Here is a quote I think fits well by Carol Nelson;

“Christmas is a time when you get homesick — even when you’re home. “

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and Happy Holidays 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.

So those of you who read my art blogs regularly know that I met Richard Branson last year when he was in Adelaide, South Australia for a couple of days.  It was all organized by a reporter Paul Makin from Chanel 7 for their Today Tonight program and if you wish to recap on the crazy and very convoluted story of how we finally pulled that off here is a link 189 ART and Kissing RICHARD BRANSON

It is no secret that I have long admired Richard both for his entrepreneurships and also for the man that he is.  Meeting him was great and the fact that he genuinely seemed to like my art made it all the better.  However there is still a bit of unfinished business – I still want to paint one of Richard’s Virgin planes!

VIRGIN DREAMS

Dreams, we all have to have dreams don’t we, goals to work towards and ideas to inspire us?  Dreaming, well daydreaming is an essential quality for an artist and one of my dreams is to one day paint a plane.  Above you can see one of the ideas I have for a Virgin plane and I do have quite a few other ideas too of course.  It would be something to see my artwork in mega size and flying in the sky that’s for sure, I just love to see art on airplanes.

PROJECT MAPPING

I guess the closest I have been to having my work in a large scale was late last year when my paintings were used for project mapping in Warsaw, Poland.  Projection mapping or Video mapping also known as spatial augmented reality is when an image is enlarged to cover an entire building and then superimposed in a light show.  In my case in Poland my artwork was also animated so it was a moving image.  If you want to find out more about that and a bit of the history of Project mapping here is the artblog 205 Projection Mapping & Art in Animation

PUBLIC SCULPTURES

Well I guess also into the category of large scale would be the public sculptures that I have done over the years.  The largest public sculpture of mine spans 44 meters across and is 3 meters high sitting as you enter the town of Balaklava in South Australia’s mid north.  It was commissioned by the Wakefield Regional Council and took some 18 months to complete.  Dale Gathercole and my husband were an integral part as were many many volunteers from the local community who all helped to make it happen.

THE CENTENARY OF FEDERATION GATEWAY

The idea is that the whole sculpture looks like a Federation house, complete with roof and a veranda.  In the center are two six meter by three and a half meter walls, located at 22.2 degree angle to each other which are rendered to look like sandstone with red brick quoins on the corners and around the doors.

One wall represents 1901 and the other 2001.  In the 1901 doorway we see the back of a life-size woman, made from hand-made ceramic tiles and mosaic, strutting through the door in all her finery, long dress, hat and umbrella in hand.  Through the 2001 doorway, she emerges as the modern woman, complete with short skirt, sunglasses and a mobile phone.  This reflects the changes that our society has undergone during the last 100 years.

If you would like to find out a little more about that here is the link 109 Stories behind the Wall – Public Sculpture

RICHARD BRANSON’S PHONE CALL

So why not dream big I say you never know what awaits around the corner, maybe one day I will get a call from Richard Branson saying “Hey Marie, I’m sending my private plane over to pick you up – we really have to discuss your idea of painting a plane for me!”

Here is a quote I think fits well here by H.F. Hedge;

“Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare.”

Till next time happy painting or sculpting or daydreaming.

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.

I have PMT and a Hand Gun, any questions?

My girlfriend had that quote on her fridge for many years and it always amused me greatly.  Hormones have a lot to answer for don’t they, too much or too little and we all fall apart.  Remember the teenage years with the angst of emotions due to the raging hormones, when we didn’t know where we fit in and who we were and even what we were doing half the time.  Couple that with the stress of school, homework, nagging parents and peer pressure and there is no wonder that teenagers in general do some crazy stuff.

CERAMIC AND MOSAIC SCULPTURE

This ceramic and mosaic sculpture features the Scotch College students in Adelaide rowing, sculling a sport which  has people of every age enjoying life to their full capacity.  This is not a sport just for teenagers and I do have two good friends who still compete on a national and international level in the Masters Games at 65 and 85 respectively.   So OK, as you get older you may require a top up of those hormones but hey that’s no big deal!

GRUMPY OLD MEN AND ART

At the other end of the scale from teenagers, there is the Grumpy Old man syndrome and that seems to me to be a direct correlation to the lack of testosterone or thyroid problems which also has to do with hormones.  I figure the grumpiness comes from feeling tired, unhappy and depressed with a flagging sex drive – who can blame them really, that’s enough to make anyone feel low.  Often there may also be an underlying medical problem such as high blood pressure, diabetes and blocked arteries.

THE ART OF SEX HORMONES

Testosterone is vital in puberty responsible for the voice being deepened, helps to build the muscles and keeps the bones strong and also boosts the size of the penis.  After the age of 30 there is a gradual decline in the testosterone; however that should not normally lead to a lack of interest in sex.  So before you go and reach for the Viagra have a health check and sort out the other medical issues first and then check the testosterone levels and if need be get a boost.

THE ART OF HUMOUR

What I think is vital in tackling any health issue is a good sense of humour and that is what I try to do with my art.  Sometimes tackling the bigger issues through painting and sculpting to give you all something to think and laugh about.  Why not also with a joke; so here is one for you; Did you hear about the man who swallowed his Viagra too slowly?  He got a stiff neck!

So you would think women would be used to having to both deal with and talk about hormones having all suffered from PMT – Pre menstrual syndrome for a large part of their lives.

THE ART OF NOT MENTIONING THE WORD MENOPAUSE

It therefore perplexes me that women are finding it so hard to deal with and discuss Menopause.  Mention that word at a dinner party and find the women shut up, and the men looking around too scared to speak.   It is something glossed over and just not talked about unless it is during a heart to heart with a very close girlfriend.

Is it because for some, it signals that the child bearing years are over – well you can understand the sadness when menopause strikes a 30 something woman, or is it that it makes them feel old?  However for most women the “change of life” comes along in the 40-50 age group, with forty being the new 20’s and fifty the new 30’s that’s just not old anymore.  So just like hormones played havoc with your body in the teenage years so the pesky little devils try to again.

Now luckily we live in an era where we do not have to put up with that – I mean who would voluntarily  put up with the Oestrogen deficiency symptoms such as; hot flushes, light headedness, headaches, irritability, depression, unloved feelings, anxiety, mood changes, sleeplessness, unusual tiredness, backache joint pains, muscle pains, new facial hair, dry skin, crawling feelings under the skin, fewer sexual feelings, dry vagina, uncomfortable intercourse and urinary frequency, loss of memory, muddled thinking and heart palpitations.

It is bad enough to have to suffer through one or two of these symptoms never mind having the smorgasbord effect, lol.

THE ART OF GETTING YOUR LIFE BACK

So women of the world unite, don’t suffer in silence.  Go and speak to a Doctor who specializes in menopause a normal GP will not do (unless you are lucky enough to find a GP with very sympathetic ear and all the specialized skills required).

There is help out there in form of HRT and it is not the bad guy that the press have been making it out to be either.  Best medical information has HRT as very safe for the otherwise healthy woman.  However what is important is to get the dosage right and that takes some consultation over a few months and the added benefits apart from the oestrogen deficiency symptoms disappearing is the long term reduction in diabetes, bowel cancer and osteoporosis.

THE ART OF BEING HEALTHY AND SEXY

GET YOU LIFE BACK, feel as vital and energetic, positive and sexy as ever.  Menopause once treated is no big deal at all.  What’s made it a big deal is the way we have handled it for so long, swept it under the carpet and talked about it in hushed tones.

So here is a quote for the boys by Rita Rudner that I think fits very well here;

“Male menopause is a lot more fun than female menopause.  With female menopause you gain weight and get hot flushes.  Male menopause – you get to date young girls and drive motorcycles.”

Although the ladies may prefer this one instead by an unknown author;

“My husband, being unhappy with my mood swings, bought me a mood ring the other day so he would be able to monitor my moods.  We’ve discovered that when I am in a good mood it turns green and when I am in a bad mood it leaves a big red mark on his forehead!  Next time he will buy me a diamond..duh!”

Till next time,

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.

I have actually painted a couple of paintings on this theme, as well as the original “Adam and Eve”, which I will tell you about another time.  What inspired this particular artwork which is done in handmade ceramic and mosaic was that my gallery here in Adelaide was having a Christmas show called Erotic and Exotic, and as I discussed this fact with a fellow artist (who paints wonderful landscapes mainly) she suggested the scene of Adam and Steve in the bridal getup.

ARTISTS SUGGESTION

The second she said it, I saw the whole finished image in my mind.  That is a funny thing with me, it often happens like that, one sentence and the finished painting or sculpture is already formed.

Well in any case home I went to start it, but it never made the Christmas show instead I kept it for my solo exhibition where it sold before the opening.

This conversation was related to me by the gallery director, and I found it quite amusing.

An elderly client in his 80’s came in to have a look with his elderly wife and after having looked around the exhibition for a while he pointed at “Adam and Steve” and said that he would like to buy that one.

His wife was up in arms over this suggestion and told her husband in no uncertain terms; “Goodness me, whatever for, you are over 80 years old and for goodness sake, what are you going to do with THAT artwork?”

Whereupon the elderly gentle man replied “That is exactly why I would like to purchase this artwork, because I am TOO OLD to do all the things I used to do or would like to do, but what I Can Still Do is to sit at home and look at this artwork and be amused by it.”

And without further discussion he went ahead and purchased the piece. (I may also have to paint that interaction at some later stage. Lol)

ADAM & STEVE IN A BOOK

It should also be said that this image was use for a book published in America (Hendrickson Publications Peabody Massachusetts USA )

Here is a quote I think fits here by Walt Kelly (cartoonist) from the book which I find very amusing called ‘Don’t forget to sing in the Lifeboats’

“Don’t take life too seriously.  It ain’t nohow permanent”

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

Love Marie xxx                                                                             (c)

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