Ever since my late teens I have done some form of exercise every day.  Usually an hour’s worth come hail, rain or shine; the only exception would by New Years Day when my head hurts too much!  Although I am one of these people that need to sit around and sip coffee, have a piece of toast and just veg out first thing in the morning with the Good Morning Television shows, before I get cracking as the artwork below shows.

Always admire the people like my husband who can get straight up and get stuck into chores whilst I sit zombie like for at least an hour.  I think if I didn’t have the exercise routine going I would still be sitting on the couch still at 3 o’clock in the afternoon!

THE ART OF AEROBICS

Anyway for most of my life it’s been aerobics that’s been my thing, in front of the telly, hopping skipping, side stepping and the like, clunking on the floorboards and driving everyone crazy as I won’t stop whilst anyone talks to me or when one of the kids shoes goes missing and we have to search or if the school excursion paper needs signing etc.

Goes without saying then that I have painted a lot of aerobic and sport paintings over the years and here is a acrylic on board one called “I must, I must improve my bust”.

These days of course the kids sort themselves out but now the 2 dogs want all the attention instead.  The minute I go down on the floor for a spot of stomach crunches they are right there ready for a cuddle and pat, climbing all over me, just like the kids did when they were little.

THE ART OF MIXING IT UP

I used to also attend aerobic lessons as well as kickboxing for a while, water aerobic, step classes, yoga and go to the gym but always seem to find it easier to just do it myself first thing in the morning and then have the rest of the day in the studio.

At the farm I would also try to do some running, although I could never get to the runners euphoric state they all talk about – getting past the pain barrier and just going for it.  It just always seemed boring and a hard slog to me, it was better to get on my treadmill and run in front of the TV without having to fight the elements which included hundreds of flies on the farm, lol.  Not a good look when they hang on for dear life and try to climb into your nose, ears and eyes at the same time.  Probably less of a good look if you actually spotted me with an old onion bag on my head!!  A real model look that one!  Here we buy onions in bulk; in a big red bag made of netting and ingenious moi, decided that was just the trick to keep the flies off.  Hubby thought it also worked very well also as a “passion killer”, lol!

THE ART OF WALKING

These days I walk everyday and my husband has joined in this endeavor (if injury allows) as we live in a very hilly area it is actually much harder than it sounds.  We have about 5 different routes that we alternate depending on weather and how we feel.  Very lucky to live by the sea so the choices are a plenty – beach walks, cliff walks, boardwalks, local parks some complete with dams and bird life and also along the streets looking at gardens and houses.

So you get the drift – I am quite fit, apart from a sore arm and neck.    The local Doctor thought I should go and see the physio, well I have been complaining about my neck and right arm for years, my painting arm!

Anyway trotted off to see the physio and was totally gobsmacked in the end – as she said I had absolutely no muscles whatsoever in my back, really my whole upper body strength was really weak!

How can someone exercise all their life, every day and be a total weakling at the end of it!

I may as well have been sitting on the couch eating chips for the last decade.

Here is a quote I think fits well here by Marsha Doble,

“I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I’m doing”.

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

Love Marie xxx

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

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At this stage I had signed with the Japanese Art gallery and then spent one year painting like crazy.

This painting “If I could turn back time” was one of the artworks that the Japanese Gallery wanted to see in real life before we signed the contract and it was sent over during the negotiating stage (available as a limited Giclee print).

My contract stipulated 40 acrylic artworks in various sizes from small 30cm x 40cm to the larger ones at 120cm x 90cm, luckily I had a few in stock but all the rest needed to be produced.

The problem for me is that all my artworks take a very long time as they are so very detailed and also the paint is layered with lumps and bumps (all bottoms and breasts stick out!)   At times I wish I was an abstract artist and could just slap the paint on and make at least one painting each day, but oh no life cannot be that easy, mine take at least a week for a small one and more like a minimum of 3 weeks for the larger works.

ART STUDIO

My studio is just outside the backdoor in a separate building with views of the paddocks and the trees along the river, so it’s just as well that I love being there and painting as that next year and the years following I nearly spent every waking moment in there.  My husband always jokes to friends that he keeps me locked up in there, and that is almost true, lol.

Finally the big day has come, I had an all expenses paid trip to Nagoya Japan Business class mind you, for me and for the two art gallery guys from Melbourne who were my art agents at that stage.  We get picked up from the airport and put up in one of the nicest hotels and wined and dined every night at some of the most wonderful and interesting restaurants in Nagoya.

However it was the actual opening of the exhibition that really threw me!  I am used to going to exhibitions obviously, lol with a drink of wine or champagne in your hand you stand around and chat to the clients and friends and have a merry old time, and that is what I was expecting.

ART EXHIBITION OPENING

Wrong!  Around an hour before the opening I get told that I am actually going to be sitting behind a desk and drawing little pictures for their clients.  So now I get really worried, I am really not very good at drawing on command like that.  As you know I am an naïve artist and my drawings look more like stick figures – so now I was really breaking out into a sweat.  If that wasn’t enough now I also find out that we have to sit in a tiny little room and wait for the gallery to fill up with people where I will be presented like the Queen, lol,  I have to walk through the crowd as they part ways and line the sides and clap, and present me with a huge bouquet of flowers before the speeches.

DRAWING

Then as promised I sit at a table with my translator and meet the people one by one as the clients stand single file in a big line which snakes along the room.  Each Japanese person has got a white board embossed with gold edge which they ask me to draw something on.  Most of them know what they would like me to draw, maybe a bird, a cat or a flog (well that’s how they pronounce FROG lol) and I am to write their names and a little message as well as well as sign it.   As paintings sold I also had to write a message on the back of them too.    So I was flat out working for a couple of hours straight and not a drink in sight (unless you count the glass of water lol, but that doesn’t count does it?)

I must say though that in the end I thoroughly enjoyed it and found the Japanese people so very lovely, warm and giving.

The exhibition was held over 4 days with four separate openings and each night we waited in that small room until it was time to start.  I felt like a movie star by the end of it and each day an average of 10 paintings sold until it was a sell out!  (I have now made many trips to Japan over the years, but I will tell you about them another time.)

Here is a saying by Michael Jordan (basketball player) that I can appreciate,

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost almost 300 games; 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed.”

This Japanese family bought this painting at my first Japan show in 1993 and then came back for the 2006 exhibition.  They are holding up the drawings I was talking about.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you.

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.

Wow what a week,

I guess I better start to get used to this with Christmas coming up and all the extra functions and shopping and socializing that leads too. It has already started, as Monday night hubby suggests we should go to the movies.

This is rather an unusual thing for him as he is pretty much a homebody and it is me who usually runs the social calendar and often feel like I have to drag him out.
My excuse for going out is always that it is important for an artist to see and do stuff, for inspirational purposes only of course, lol nothing to do with champagne and fun!

It goes without saying then that I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and off we went.

It is rather a novel thing for us to be able to do – go to the movies like that at the spur of the moment.  As we have spent the last 25 years in the country and having an hour and a half’s drive for this type of venture, it is rather fun to just go down the road with not much effort.

Off we trot to a local Vietnamese restaurant, the food is very similar to Thai and yummy and then of to see “Red” rather a  unbelievable tale of former spies who get nudged out of retirement rather forcefully a la Bruce Willis style.

It also starred Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman and was fast paced and action filled like a James Bond movie.  As both I and Bryan are both rather fond of this sort of tale we thoroughly enjoyed the ride!

Wednesday night was another movie night out with Kai and his gorgeous girlfriend Samantha when we went and saw The Social Network.   I really found it interesting and thought the acting was great.  The whole social networking thing is such a phenomena and something as a website owner that you have to be on top of.  Crazy to think that before 2003 Facebook did not exist, it seems to me that it has been around for ages.

ART & RACES

In between all of these engagements I have been in the studio too of course and that then brings us to Friday and Orana 60^th Anniversary luncheon which was held at the Morphetteville Racecourse a rather “swanky do”  and a fundraiser for people with disabilities which they help through various programs.

The invitation said” race wear” so one had to get spruced up of course.

So there I was in the car in my finery with Bryan driving when the sunlight just shone down on my freshly shaved legs, when I spotted my less than satisfactory job with the razor.

There seemed to be several little areas that were sprouting hairs and looking rather undignified.  Time was of the essence and with no razor in my clutch I was very lucky to find the tweezers.

So if you spotted someone looking fabulous in her race wear pink suit but with her feet up on the dashboard plucking her legs, that was me,lol.  Can’t take the girl anywhere says the long suffering husband.

ART& MUSIC

The food and wine at the luncheon was great but what I enjoyed most of all was a mad little boogie on the dance floor to “Swanee” (John Swan, who is the brother to Jimmy Barnes and a Rock star in his own right, never mind the rest of the band- they are all fabulous too).

I and a couple of girlfriends decided to give decorum and tact a break and just go for it and enjoy ourselves and dance wildly and we did.  The day did not end there however we then went to a comedy show at the Norlunga Art Centre the same night.

For you who have not caught up with comedian Rod Gregory (the Old Fella), he is a must.  As a matter of fact here is a art blog about him 65. That Old Fella

Saturday morning and start the day with a walk as usual and then Christmas shopping with my daughter which was an all day affair, but lots of fun with a nice little lunch.  So busy busy busy but getting nothing much done at all!

In regards to the hairy leg situation Xi Zhi (philosopher) puts it perfectly, although I am not sure he really had hairy legs in mind when he said this-

“You should examine yourself daily.  If you find faults, you should correct them.  When you find none, you should try even harder.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting!

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.

]]> http://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/59-in-the-suburbs/feed/ 0 http://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/27-save-the-moon-bears/ http://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/27-save-the-moon-bears/#comments Mon, 05 Jul 2010 03:26:46 +0000 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=855 ART & THE MOON BEARS

I first started this painting “Save the Moon bears” about a year ago because a dear friend, Joanna Polities was actively involved in the charity Animals Asia.

She has been the South Australian voice for these bears and raised a lot of money for them through various functions and fundraisers that she has organized over several years.  In any case I put the painting aside when I was half way through as I had some urgent artworks that needed delivery.

So there I was sitting in my studio working away on various projects whilst I listen to the radio as I always do (usually an ABC channel with current affairs and news of the day, magazine style you could say) when Simon Bryant a well know chef, who up until recently had his own cooking program on TV starts talking about his passion for the moon bears and I am yet again reminded of the half finished painting.

So again I am back painting some more on it until another deadline looms.  Sometimes this is how the paintings evolve with other more urgent artworks coming in between, and as my work is so detailed it does take quite a long time to do each piece.

ARTWORKS AUCTION

To cut a long story short, the painting was auctioned at a major fundraiser at Adelaide Zoo July 2010, together with many other donated items.    The crowd fell silent when Jo and her husband Richard took to the stage to announce that the total amount raised from the event was $125,000 and every penny of that would go to the Moon Bear Rescue. An amazing result and the highest ever raised for Animals Asia in Australia from one single event.

The invite is below and if there are some people that would like to donate just call 1800 666 004 or go to the Animals Asia website.

I cannot bare to even write about how these gorgeous bears suffer other than to say it is barbaric and atrocious to say the least and it makes me so totally depressed, so instead if you are not across the details of their plight please look up Animals Asia (the link will take you there) and see their  website and get ofay with their terrible situation so we can all band together and stop this cruelty.

Here are some wise words from Henri Frederic Amiel (writer) about grace under pressure.

“It is dangerous to abandon one’s self to the luxury of grief; it deprives one of courage and even of the wish for recovery”

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting everyone!

Love Marie xx                                                                                    (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.

I had so much fun designing and creating this work, all the animals are hand made out of clay, set to dry over several weeks on boards on the floor of my studio and then fired bisque.  Followed by, in some cases up to five coats of paint, two coats of glazing and of course drying in between and then fired again in a kiln up to 1000 degrees.

MOSAIC

The artwork is much like a giant jigsaw puzzle, glued on a waterproof sheet and then mosaic around.  My ceramic work hang equally well inside or outside as everything is waterproof and the glue is the same as they use in swimming pool tiling.

I am particularly fond of this art piece and love to imagine all the different species of animals all being friends, no one is being anybody’s lunch.  All in perfect harmony, everybody is happy, just like I would like the world to always be.

ARTISTS PASSIONS

This artwork which recently sold, “All Creatures Great and Small”, celebrates the wonderful animal kingdom of our planet.  As does a lot of my artworks both in sculpture & painting.

So another passion is of course animals, how anyone could live without animals is beyond me.  Particularly dogs, man’s best friend (and womans.lol) right now we have two dogs Vegas named after Las Vegas of course, where we renewed our wedding vows a few years ago and Cheech named after the comedy duo Cheech and Chong.

And really those names so suit them ,Vegas a Chihuahua and very lady like and likes the finer things in life and Cheech is like and adolescent with ADHD and a learning disorder, lol.

He is all over the place all at once and drives us all crazy even Vegas, but hey, is extremely cute and very lovable.  They told us at the pet shop that he was a cross between a Chihuahua and a Mini foxy, but I am sure another “ring in” got in on the act. I will tell you about all our other animals another day.

Here is another thought that I like by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

“Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms”

Hope to see you again in the meantime Happy painting and sculpting everyone!

Love Marie xxxxx   (c)

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

We have two dogs, and in this artwork I started out painting Cheech but changed my mind as I went along and ended up doing Dalmatians instead.  Although Cheech has the same colouring (check the YOUTUBE video on the Bio page, he is the black and white pup dressed in various outfit, poor child with a weird “mother”.) Great soundtrack too eh?

We suspect  that Cheech has A.D.D; he is like a fly on a string when you take him out for a walk on his lead.  I think he was probably traumatized as a pup, perhaps when he was left all alone in the pet shop cage for a couple of days after his 8 siblings had already found their new owners.

ART STUDIO

Well anyway he is scared of most things and very needy, follows me about and lies in the studio whilst I paint or sculpt, and also sleeps under the covers in our bed by my feet.

So this particular night I woke up because suddenly I had a dog in my face, shaking panting, dribbling and telling me to wake up.  It wasn’t long before I realized that we had a thunderstorm going on and as you guessed this brave little soul is a bit of a ‘scary cat’ .  As we were now both awake I thought we better both get up to do our ‘business”,  his turn first, but oh no do you think I could get him out the door.  Not on your Nelly, not with all that thunder rumbling, no he insisted that I come too and stood right next to him whilst he found a bush.

ART IMAGE

Now it was my turn, off to the bathroom we go, and you know this was 4am and I was still half asleep and stumbling down the hall way.  I  finally sit down, and lo and behold quick as a flash after another big thunderclap I suddenly had a dog in my lap on the toilet, and there was no way that he was going to get off until I was finished.  Lol  mmm…I feel another painting coming on…

Here is another saying from the book Wag Lines, said by Rita Rudner.

“My husband and I are either going to buy a dog or have a child.  We can’t decide whether to ruin our carpets or ruin our lives”

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting everyone!

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.