As you can see by my art I am clearly an animal lover and have shared my life with many gorgeous creatures over the years.  I always love painting them too.  This acrylic on board artwork is from the vet’s waiting room and of course I had so much fun painting it too.  This story today is from the Undercover Vet who had an amusing story to tell about a patient of his and a rather intoxicated owner.

THE ART OF DRINKING

A middle age woman came into the vet with a large dog who was scratching and licking himself constantly.

The vet examined the dog while the nurse held him on the table. On his fur, there was an army of fleas all over. His body was crawling with the little buggers!
It was all explained to the owner (more than a little surprised she hadn’t noticed the fleas herself). The recommendation was to initiate some flea treatment and also treat the house for flea eggs.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATION
This woman was clearly drunk, the alcohol on her breath was so strong, that her just breathing on the dog would probably have been enough to kill the fleas (or at least make them intoxicated enough to fall off sideways!). Her response to the advice was that we had no idea what we were talking about and that all her dog needed were steroids to stop the scratching. She denied that there were any fleas at all on her dog!

Here is another art blog with a similar theme 87 Art & It could be worse, they could be fleas with a cat painting and lots of bees and butterflies.

We then tried to point out all the fleas, the little parasites crawling around her dog’s body. The fleas were absolutely all over the dog, with a population density like Singapore, with bodies everywhere. The owner said that we were lying and there was nothing there. Understandably, the vet was getting annoyed by this woman’s stubborn and drunken behavior.

It was pointed out to the lady that both the vet and the nurse could clearly see the fleas and that if she didn’t have her beer goggles on and could actually see with any clarity at all, she would also be able to see them! She was told that she clearly didn’t value the vets professional opinion and promptly sent her and the poor dog on their way (probably back to the pub!).

THE ART OF APOLOGIZING

The following day, the lady returned to the clinic and sheepishly apologized for her behavior the previous day. She agreed that the diagnosis was correct and took both the flea control and medicine recommended.

So here is a quote from George Eliot that I think fits well here; “Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all.

Love Marie xxxx

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.

No this time it’s not a tale about my poor long suffering daughter who wishes her mother would keep all those embarrassing childhood stories to herself.  No, this one is about Kicki the cute; butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, bitsa dog.  This painting below has the puppies in a gum boot being on their best behavior unlike the puppy in the story below.

You see my mother and father are cruising the Pacific, on the Dawn Princess no less, stopping in Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia and the like for two weeks, having silver service every night, playing dress up, sitting with the captain on his table no doubt, whilst we got stuck with little Miss Wee Wee (or Miss Pee Pee). Oh the unfairness of it all!

THE ART OF A PUPPY MINDER

Now Kicki is one year old and absolutely gorgeous, just a little puppy and so sweet BUT she has this one little fault – every time you come in the door, or go upstairs and reappear or talk to her or just about anything – she does a little pee.   It doesn’t seem to matter whether she is excited or frightened or happy or sad.  Any old time will do, just a little squat and whoops there is another pee to clean up.  No wonder when my parents dropped her off Mum arrived with a big bag full of goodies.  I was quite impressed; there was food and snacks enough for a month, then there was the cleaning products (mmm..perhaps that should have been a clue) and also some puppy training pads.  Turns out they are totally useless too, as it must be much more fun to pee next to them!

So an exciting time has been had by all, cleaning rag in the back pocket and a bottle of “Ajax clean and wipe” on the ready night and day.  As soon as there is a knock on the door, little Kicki gets rushed outside, as that is the only safe spot to say hello to the cute little girl, and don’t get me wrong she is adorable!  Just WET!

Here is another art blog and a movie too about dogs which you may enjoy; 98 Red Dog & Art

MORE ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

First day she is here we take our normal 40 minute morning walk, this time with the 3 dogs, very happy to see lots of pees and other “business” is getting done away from the house.  We laugh as she runs like the cartoon dog from “Footrott Flats” with her hind legs overtaking her head or alternatively is just like a fly on a string!  Then we spot a big dog off the lead heading straight for us and my poor hubby trips and falling down like a timber in the woods!  In the commotion he lets go of the 2 leads and there is a major panic with dogs and leads and traffic.

I got that sorted and back to the injured hubby who at this stage, was still was not moving.  We thought he had a broken foot & finger at the very least, as he slowly limped home.  Luckily it was a just a sprained foot and a cut and dislocated finger, but it hurt like hell according to the poor patient.  Guess what, the “Pee- cleaneruperer gang” is now cut by 50%, well you can’t do that with dislocated finger can you!!  I am telling a little fib now as handsome son Kai certainly is doing his share of the “Pee- patrol” too.

THE ART OF DESSERT

Must say though as it turned out little Kicki got her just desserts too, lol.  The next day she was out in the back yard actually sniffing around looking like she was really going to squat and do her business somewhere good, when our dog Cheech came along.  As fate would have it; just as Kicki lifted her head up, Cheech cocked his leg and let go of the longest pee and little KicKi just looked and blinked and blinked as the stream went all over her face and eyes and nose.  She looked cute as a button if you still can do that with your face full of pee?

So here is a quotation to contemplate from Max Eastman and the Enjoyment of Laughter:

“Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and dog minding to you all,

Love Marie xxx  (C)

If you enjoyed this story and artwork about a dog here is another of the art blog that may amuse 8. Thunder in the Thunder Box & Art

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 just received a Christmas card from the kids, nothing unusual about that I hear you say and you are so right – normally.

It read “To Mum and Dad, Seasons greeting, Miss you both! Don’t worry we are getting lots of treats up in ‘dem dare hills. Love Zipper & Pringles.

This naive acrylic painting depicts the Werocata Pony club which was located next door to our property for many years (that’s me on the left kissing my horse Rumor).

Back to the greeting card and we were tickled pink, as it was from our little miniature horses we had on the farm and their lovely new owners, who must have helped them with the spelling, lol mm.. maybe?

SEX, ART & HORSES

They are the cutest little misters around, Zipper is a gelding and Pringles a stallion and a very frisky little one he was too.

He would try to have a go at Zipper who was most put out and not at all interested in Pringles advances.  When that would not work he would be chasing my big horse Cally-she however was very interested and happily backed up to towards him, their only stumbling block was that she was more than twice as tall as him and there was no way that he could ever reach.

Oh the pitfalls of a short man (well in the horse world that is!)

So when that had come to nothing and poor little Pringles still had the urge he would have to scale the fence and try to find some lovely ladies somewhere else.  It happened quite a few times that my husband would come in and tell us we all had to hop in the car to go and try to find the little Horny Mr!

ART INSPIRATIONS

Once he had a female in his sight (the neighbor’s horses) nothing would lure him back home, we tried apples and carrots and stern words and praise, but in the end we had to try to come in from all four sides and throw a rope around his neck and the walk him back across the paddocks of the farm.  Of course he would still be ducking and weaving and doing loop the loops to get back to the pretty girls.   In the meantime Zipper is patiently waiting for his companion to come back and probably enjoying the peace and quiet for a little while.

Zipper had won a couple of ribbons at Pony club, well not really any big deal in the horse world but very cute.   Zipper belonged to our son Kai who was no more than 10 years old when he led the little horse around a little obstacle track and got a purple ribbon to show for it.

When we recently moved from the farm I found the bag of ribbons from the various horse shows but neither kid wanted to pack them, but I think we still took them, it’s hard to throw away all those memories!

So has the frisky little Pringles mellowed with age I hear you ask, well not according to the horses new mum and dad, Pringles does still, if the occasion arises so to speak, lol take off for dem dare hills to look for cute girl horses.

If you enjoy stories and paintings about animals here is another of my art blogs about my pet bird; 154 Galah Art

Therefore I think some wise words from Winston Churchill (British prime minister) is in order here although I think Pringles only listened to the first part before he took off!

“Never give in, never give in, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty.  Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”

Till Next Time happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie                                                                                   (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.

In this painting “Spring at last” is a sweet little bird named Floyd, a cockatiel whom we shared our life’s with for several years after Bryan and I got married.

You see, at that stage we lived in an apartment and the rules were no pets.  Well I think a bird did not count with the landlord, at least I hope so because Floyd was there.

He was our “Practice child” if you like.  You know how it goes you do not feel ready for real children but you want to nest and share your life with the patter of little feet and in this situation they were very little indeed.

Floyd was an absolutely gorgeous bird, and I cried buckets when he died very young after only a couple of years.

ART OF BEING PARENTS

Poor Floyd,  you see as far as a ‘practice child’ goes, we were terrible parents,  well I haven’t had it confirmed because the vet told us an autopsy on  the little bird was out of our price range at the time.  However Floyd did develop kidney problems and I have a strong suspicion that had to do with his party trick of loving to drink out of our wine glasses when we had a party, much to the delight and amusements of our guests.

We were obviously young and stupid and very lucky he was not of the human variety or we would be facing serious charges by now for being bad parents.  If you fancy another art blog about birds with a funny and happy ending here is a link for you 16. In a Jam with ART

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

Another thing Floyd used to do just for kicks was to totally trick us.  He lived in a cage in the kitchen mostly, although he would fly around our apartment quite a lot, much to the dismay of our cleaning lady whom thought bird poop on the curtain rod or the tops of the doors was a bit much.  So even in that area we had a lot to learn about keeping house and looking after offspring, lol.

Anyway in kitchen at the time we had one of those kettles that would whistle as loud as can be until we came running to turn it off (technology has moved on somewhat!)

In any case Floyd learned to imitate the kettle perfectly and had both me and Bryan running into the kitchen constantly as if you didn’t turn that damn kettle off it would spill water all over the place and just continue with the noise until you did.

Clever little Floyd ran that house hold and fooled us time after time, whenever he felt like a bit of company.

I am happy to report our parenting skills improved and I think Flannery O’Connor (writer) quote fits in here.

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie                     (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.

]]> https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/38-little-birdy-floyd/feed/ 1 https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/32-what-a-thalidomide-budgie/ https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/32-what-a-thalidomide-budgie/#comments Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:16:51 +0000 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=978 CAT & BIRD PAINTING

This painting was one of several I painted on this theme of Cats and Birds for my gallery in Japan.

Obviously I am an animal lover so it is not too much of a stretch to be inspired by them, and over the years we have shared our lives with many gorgeous little creatures.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATION

So let me tell you about the Thalidomide Budgie, well  in a minute I will, let’s just make it clear first, that I am the type of person who always feels sorry for the broken winged among us and it does not even have to be alive either.

My mum and dad always tell the story when I came home from a stay with my grandparents with an old mangled and very rusty letterbox.

You see I was out walking with my Morfar (Mothers Dad-in Swedish) and we spotted a very old rusted letterbox lying in a ditch,  and right away I felt so sorry for it, discarded like that, it used to be such a proud shiny fellow, I imagined.   My poor grandad thought we should leave it there, He said;  it was just old rubbish ( he knew that he would be the one, to lug it all the way home too, poor Morfar, but I insisted.)    I also could see that it could regain its former glory, and it did after my artist dad had the same vision and restored and painted it and we had the most interesting letterbox on our street! Anyway I digress, back to the budgie.

ART OF RECOVERY

We now lived at the church (another story I have to tell you about) and had a big aviary, so I went to the Pet shop to buy some budgies, just a few to start.

Well I asked the shop keeper what‘s the story with the bird walking down on the floor looking a little forlorn, he said; never mind him he hasn’t got any wings.  This little birdy looked very peculiar with little stumps for wings and just walking everywhere and very cute so of course I had to buy him, along with a few of the normal variety!

I think all the birds must have liked the country air just like us, because they breed like rabbits and before long we had 14 budgies.  Lo and behold eventually the little Thalidomided Budgie started to grow some wings too, which was almost a shame, because he was ever so cute without them, lol.

Anyway one day the door to the aviary had been left open accidently and we lost the lot, they just all flew away.

We left the door open, whilst I moped around and went to work as usual and then 2 days later I was met by an aviary full of Budgies again, funny thing was though that now there were 15 of them, one extra!

Guess they found a wild one and convinced him life was easier with us then out there fending for yourself.

Here is another story & naive art in my art blog about another bird we shared our lives with 38. Little Birdy Floyd

So I think this saying fits perfectly here said by Toni Morrison (Writer)

“Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weights you down.”

Hope you come back and see me soon, till then happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie  x                                                                                       (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.

As I was writing a art blog about another painting where I depicted us losing our false teeth while we were madly dancing, I was reminded about what happened to a good friend; she unfortunately had to have all her teeth removed at an early age and was made a set of false teeth by the dentist.  Here is the link to the art blog & painting of us loosing our teeth 23. Don’t let your arthritis get in the way & ART

MORE ARTISTIC INSPIRATION

Good looking girl who lived alone apart from her two dogs.  (The two white dogs in this painting on the right hand side of the art work are the ones in question.)

Anyway she was just starting to get used to wearing these false teeth, but they had been hurting a bit so she put them in the glass by the bed, got an early night as there was a family gathering the next day.

As she explains it, she woke up and just sort of dozed in bed for a while, contemplating the day ahead.  Then she slowly started to take notice of this strange sort of crunching sound under the bed and thought she better investigate.

Well under there, she found her two darling Maltese Terriers looking up at her ever so innocently, each with a brand new set of false teeth in their mouths,  well that’s probably an over statement let’s just say that a few hours ago they were brand new…now they were distinctly chewed up and broken into several bits.

Brave lady this one, still made it to the party wearing her temporary ones whilst the dentist made another set.

CAT AND DOG SERIES OF ARTWORKS

It has been a lot of fun to paint for the dog and cat series and they are all so cute and great to research too, plus I have the perfect subject’s right here, our dogs and also two cats called Milo and Ozzie ( named after Ozzie Osbourne)

Ozzie is really an outdoor cat who we normally do not see for weeks at a time, however since Kai came home he has been hanging around constantly, guess we weren’t the only ones to miss the baby boy !

Here is a quote by Helen Hayes from the book Wag Lines, that fits perfectly here.

“When I hear tell of the character and the loyalty and devotion of dogs, I remain unmoved.  All of my dogs have been scamps and thieves and troublemakers, and I’ve adored them all”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie xxxx                                                                                   (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.

]]> https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/28-sometimes-its-just-about-the-little-noises-you-hear/feed/ 2 https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/16-in-a-jam/ https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/16-in-a-jam/#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 08:22:07 +0000 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=662 TEXTURES & COLORS

My mother always cooked and really well too, she used to have all sorts of biscuits and cakes and buns waiting for us when we came home from school.She also made jams and so did my mother in law,  I was always fascinated by their skills although none of it unfortunately rubbed off on me.  Oh no not a skerrick rubbed off, my husband Bryan is the cook of this family and for a very good reason.  I burn everything even water he is fond of telling me,  you  know it is actually possible to burn water if you forget it is on and let it all cook away then you will burn the saucepan.. well I am good at that.  So lucky I at least could paint food to satisfy at least a little bit of my cravings!

FOOD IN ART

However I am fascinated by the process of cooking and I do looooove food,  I also like to paint food, I am interested in the different colors and textures.  Perhaps it also stems from a life deprived of food during my modelling days, when just looking at it would make you gain weight & old habits die hard even as an artist!

Here is a acrylic on canvas board painting of Jam making in a country kitchen, whilst the cats amuse themselves with the mice.

This reminds me of a funny story that my brother just told me, which seems perfect for my art blog.

ARTISTS INSPIRATION

My mother had decided to make toffee and unfortunately it had not turned out that great, it was incredibly sticky so she decided to throw it away and make another lot.   She then thought, waste not, want not, and decided that the dogs may enjoy it instead.

I think they probably had a little go at it but also found it impossible to eat and left it in their dog bowls outside overnight.  So when my brother got up the next morning he describes a site for sore eyes.

Stuck in each dog bowl were 2 sparrows,   up to their knees in  toffee and flapping their wings like crazy when my brother approached but to no avail-my mother’s toffee had set around their feet like glue.

But, do not fear, they were duly rescued and all finished well.  So that will have to be another painting idea for me next time.

This is something Bill Cosby said, which made me laugh, being a vegetarian myself.

“Did you ever see the customers in health-food stores?  They are pale, skinny people who look half-dead.  In a steak house you see robust, ruddy people.  They’re dying, of course, but they look terrific.”

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

Love Marie xxxx  (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.

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.