Marie Jonsson Harrison » the old fella

65. That Old Fella & Art

mariejon — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 04:56:08 +0000

ART & THE OLD FELLA

You know sometimes when you go to see a comedy show you may not be expecting too much, as the names on the show list are not people you are familiar with. Well that is what happened to us a year or so ago. We are avid comedy fans and go quite regularly and our top pick would have to be Billy Connolly, and as you can see by this acrylic painting called “A Viagra tab a day keeps the blues away” my humor can be quite naughty too at times. Here is a link to an even “naughtier art blog” 53. Art & Bachelorette – A Hens night out

COMEDY NIGHT

However this night in question was a fundraiser for Shamus Liptrot a gorgeous local boy who was injured in a bike racing accident. The Balaklava Institute (a great venue for any artistic pursuit) was full to overflowing this night with 250+ people in attendance and there were 4 comedians there to entertain us with local boy made good Anthony Lamond who although a comedian in his own right did the job as MC which he is very skillful at.

Now this could be hit or miss but I am happy to report that they were all good, however it was the last fellow who stole the night – Rodney Gregory, the old fella, as he calls himself. Yes, that is how he comes across too, he is an old retired farmer but what comes out of his mouth is not the language usually associated with the farmers I know, they are usually big on discussing the weather and the crops etc. With Rodney it was a different matter altogether, with Viagra being one of the topics, not that I remembered hearing any swear words but the subject matter certainly is not for the faint hearted.

THE ART OF LAUGHTER

He was absolutely funny as a fit and quite unexpected too as when he first appears on stage you feel sorry for the guy and think he is way too old to be sharp and on the ball. I couldn’t have been more WRONG!

So after this night I have followed Rod’s career and seen that it is just going from strength to strength with many sell our shows and great gigs like the Comedy club in Sydney and the upcoming Fringe Festival 2011 in Adelaide as well as appearing with the Australian Queen of comedy Fiona O’Loughlin at another fundraising show in Ardrossan. Just recently he took part in the filming of a new Comedy DVD with another great comedian Mickey D at the Arkaba here in South Australia in front of 600 people with another 70 or so people turned away at the door.

I goes without saying then that we have been to see him again, and saw another fantastic show just a little while ago at the Noarlunga Art Centre, together with another bunch of very good upcoming comedians. Rod was the headliner and closed the show and had us all crying with laughter. The age range at our table was from 19-75 whom all thought he was funny as a fit, his humor appealing to a broad range of ages.

MORE ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

I must say that I was quite surprised when we caught up afterwards – his stage persona is more like a dottering old fella, but that is just a very clever stage act and the real life Mr. Rodney Gregory is quite debonair, with a real sophisticated charm and seems years younger than his onstage persona.

So if you as yet have not caught up with his show, I strongly suggest that you do so, here is the link to his website www.theoldfella.com.au/ for more information.

I am sure most of you would know by now that The Old Fella’s career has just gone from strength to strength, after he was selected as on of the 10 finalists in last years season from the Australia’s Got Talent. My husband and I were invited to fly over to Melbourne for the final and we spent a whole day at the Docklands, supporting Rod whilst the show was taped and also met quite a few of the other finalists. A great couple of days! Lots more ideas for future artworks.

Rod’s catch cry is; wouldn’t be dead for quids! Perhaps Rodney had Samuel Johnson’s (writer & lexicographer) words in mind when he left farming behind.

“Don’t think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.”

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.

59. Art & Hairy legs and Stuff

Marie — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 01:07:37 +0000

ARTIST INSPIRATIONS

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.

42. Art & All That Packing ..mmm Better have a Holiday

Marie — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:00:50 +0000

THE ART OF MOVING

Now who was the idiot that thought that would be a good idea!!!! Fourteen days in Bali sounds nice, yea right! Mmm…might have been moi ! (well Bali was fantastic, it was the aftermath that sucked! Lol) You see the timing of this little holiday really sucks but it worked out this way as we had our house on the market for a while and decided to live our lives as we always do regardless which meant painting and sculpting and also having holidays.

We had no idea that the week after sunning ourselves in Bali (at the time of booking the holiday) we would also have to move the entire contents of the previous 17 years of our lives out of our huge farm house. We tried to change the settlement date but had to work in with the new owners, so for the first part of the holiday we were feeling decidedly STRESSED, so much to do and so little time! Not only did we have to shift all our stuff but also all the animals we own, birds and cats as this painting shows and also the dogs too.

COMEDIAN; THE OLD FELLA

I suppose I only have myself to blame with the timing of this but I couldn’t help but laugh when a comedian friend of mine Rodney Gregory, you probably know him as The Old Fella from the Australia’s Got Talent (check him out on Youtube here) said:

“Good luck with shifting, great idea to go away in the middle of it??” I might try that, we are shifting in about 3 weeks, can hardly sleep in anticipation”.

There is no way in words to describe, what a terrible and stressful time we had for that last week at the farm, as we sorted, gave away, threw away, burned, packed, dusted, scrubbed and cleaned and I thought it would never end. As the settlement deadline loomed closer and closer we were 5 people working our fingers to the bones, including our cleaning lady and the window cleaning guy and my baby boy.(here is the window cleaning guy, Craig as he has appeared in a previous artwork, in ceramic and mosaic)

THE ART OF SORTING

Of course we could have hired removalists, however as we were downgrading and only taking half of our belongings we actually had to go through everything ourselves anyway. We had of course started packing before we went away but we are talking 17 years of accumulated stuff.

We also have many objects of value and sentiment, however I cannot understand why I agonize so much about throwing away stray bits of paper and ornaments with a chip in it and clothes that are out of fashion, never mind the perfectly good rubber bands and paperclips and the like.

Why do I think it will all come in handy one day lol! Someone SAVE me and just put it all in a big skip!

For the last 2 nights Bryan and I only got 3 hours sleep each night, the pace was that frantic that I’m surprised we didn’t have heart attacks so I can only deduct from that our hearts are probably quite healthy! We still managed to go over the time limit by 2 and a half hours but the new owners were very gracious and did not complain.

So here are some wise words from Ernest Hemingway (writer) that I think fit well here. “Never confuse movement with action.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you.

Love Marie xx